Members of the Chinese community who are overweight or obese will benefit from a new health coaching service provided in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Meredith Claremont, Executive Director of the Centre for Population Health said the Get Healthy Service Chinese Coaching program is now available to NSW residents who are 16 years and over.
“It’s great to see an effective telephone coaching program being tailored for the Chinese community. This is a great way to start the Chinese New Year,” Ms Claremont said.
“Mandarin and Cantonese speaking bilingual coaches support participants to reach their goals in healthy eating, being physically active, reducing alcohol and achieving a healthy weight.”
The Chinese coaching program has already received positive feedback from the Chinese community.
“很开心政府能安排健康服务，保持民众的身体健康，预防重大疾病，对整个社区、对家庭、个人都有重要意义”.
“I’m very happy the Government is offering a health service to keep people physically healthy and to prevent serious illnesses. This has significant meaning for the whole community, families and for the individual” – Chen, 47 years.
“健康指导员详细介绍如何做到健康饮食，积极锻炼，心理乐观等，告诉这样做的目的以及如何达到这样的目的”.
“My health coach explained in lots of detail how to eat healthily, be physically active, think positively, set goals and how to achieve these goals” – Michael, 55 years.
“我是一个糖尿病前期患者，通过了此服务加深了我对健康饮食、运动、保持体重的认识。今天我持之以恒，我的糖尿稳定下来。没有加深，我佷开心”.
“I have pre-diabetes. Through this Service, my knowledge about diet, exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight has deepened. I’ve maintained healthy habits and now my blood sugar is more stable, pre-diabetes has not become worse, I am very happy” – Michelle, 76 years.
The program has a website, phone services, text messages, emails and culturally adapted resources in English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
In 2019-20, the NSW Ministry of Health allocated $36.6 million to programs to tackle obesity, with $24.7 million of this for the prevention of childhood obesity.
For more information on the Get Healthy Service Chinese Coaching program visit Get Healthy NSW or call 1300 806 258, Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm.