February, 2010
- Cover Story For the HEALTH of it!
- VIV Cover Story Why go for Gold when you can go for Platinum?
- Health and Wellness By Dr F Stefani
- Bevan - Gone but not Forgotten By Judy Stephan
- Olympic Fever
Cover Story
For the HEALTH of it!
By Anne MiddletonFor over 15 years Northridge Health Performance Centre (formerly NR Fitness Centre) has been serving Nanaimo with excellence in facility and training. Owner and manager, Carolyn Hancox, is passionate about health, and has now partnered her successful centre with Dr. Cline MD, BSc.
Holding both Medical and Biochemistry degrees, Dr. Cline soon took interest in Integrative medicine which includes environmental, nutritional, biooxidative and chelation therapy. A master of diagnostics, he opened his Downtown clinic offering alternatives to patients suffering from chronic conditions. 15 years later, having treated thousands, he has acquired a state-of-the-art ‘Electro Interstitial Scanner’ (EIS). Hancox and Cline can now share treatment planning with the utmost accuracy.
Following Dr. Cline’s medical evaluation, the EIS,
a cutting-edge, bioelectric impedance analyzer
is attached to the patient by tiny electrodes. It
then records data through an applied computer
stats program and produces an in-depth analysis.
This scan is used from simple check-ups to a full
pathology providing data on tissue biochemistry,
risks and imbalances, origins of pain, infection
or disease.
The next step is to take this information
to Northridge Health Performance Centre. The patient is then carefully guided
through a physical assessment by the NUVIA Health experts at this spacious wellappointed
fitness centre. This computerized program provides scientific data for
you, the client. After calculating your precise physical age, this evaluation can
provide you with a vision of improvements and goals to be reached in less than
12 months. Randy Harney MSC -exercise physiologist and trainers create a tailormade
fitness program involving muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular
and body composition components. Coupled with a good nutritional daily guide,
mentoring and supervised bi-weekly checks, then re-evaluations every 6 weeks,
you will never feel alone nor overwhelmed. At some point a follow up EIS scan,
by Cline’s staff, will enlighten you to all progress and health changes.
The merging of these health practices lends opportunity to anyone to look at the
present and the future. This is an exciting new comprehensive approach to owning
personal health. Hancox and Cline together will provide the scientific evaluation;
followed by a tried and true program with compassionate support to help you to
reach the new improved YOU!
901 - 5800 Turner Road, Nanaimo 250.751.0505
Vancouver Island Voyager Cover Story
Why go for Gold when you can go for Platinum?
By Judy Stephan and Jason BelsleyNestled on Wharf Street in the heart of Downtown
Nanaimo is the only Apple Specialist north of Victoria. Boutiquemac
has been proud to serve Nanaimo and the surrounding areas for just
over a year now, becoming one of Apple’s fastest-growing Canadian
dealers. Part of their success can be attributed to their unique take
on after-sale service and support. As an Apple Authorized Service
Provider for Apple computers and software, this amazing emporium
of Apple computers and accessories is a much sought after destination
when purchasing, upgrading or accessorizing your Mac.
While big-box stores and web sites focus on selling boxes,
Boutiquemac sells solutions, ensuring that their ever-growing client
base are given professional pre-sales advice before they make the
decision to invest in the technology, and then ongoing support after
they purchase. Much of this is done under the guise of the Platinum
Support Plan, Boutiquemac’s own in-house technical support
program, whereby their customers are given a range of services that
give them access to education and problem-resolution. Making sure
your machine is running at peak performance is their passion, and
a job they take very seriously. Most repairs are done locally in the
store and within 48 hours.
To celebrate their successful first year in business and the
popularity and success of the Platinum Support Plan, Boutiquemac
is giving away a custom-built Platinum-plated iPod Touch. For
every purchase made of a Platinum Support Plan-equipped Mac
between now and March 31st, their customers will be entered in an
exciting draw to win this unique item (valued at $1,000).
Boutiquemac is also keen to share in the Olympic spirit by
inviting everyone to visit their Downtown Nanaimo store to view
their own Olympic Torch which was used during the first week
of the Torch Relay in Iqualuit, Nunavut. It’s a once in a lifetime
opportunity to not only see, but hold and have your picture taken
with an important part of Olympic history (no purchase necessary).
Only trust the best with such an important member of your family
- your Mac.
Boutiquemac 77 Wharf St, Nanaimo
1-866-717-0516 www.boutiquemac.ca
Health and Wellness
By Dr F StefaniAnticipation and a bit of apprehension describe
many of us as we come into a new year of well intentioned
fitness resolutions and better health. Have you decided
that running will be in the mix? If so, you’ve made a
fantastic choice. Running is a powerful base for both
optimal health and feeling great. “But I’m not a runner” or, “it’s bad
for my joints”, are common excuses. Here are 3 key points from the
running doctor to put those concerns to rest as you launch 2010. With
the right technical information and a champion’s mindset, you will
celebrate running achievements as yet unimagined! That is where your
success will begin.
Firstly, running is a personal journey and starts with a truthful
acknowledgement and acceptance of your present physical state. Where
you are is where you must start … and that’s OK! Never apologize to
yourself or others for how fit or unfit, how fast or less fast, how new or
experienced you are in this activity. It doesn’t matter. Where you are is
where you start … and that’s OK!
Secondly, to be successful you must
learn to adapt slowly. Your body is an
amazing integration of tissues, structures
and systems all of which have their own
timing for change. Here’s a hot tip. Your
joints, tendons and ligaments take longer to
adapt than your muscles, lungs and heart.
Allow for the hips, knees and feet to get used
to the running load before you go too far too
fast. Run slowly and run short when starting
up a program taking sufficient time to build.
Walk-run combinations are an excellent way
to initiate your running adventure.
The third key is efficient running form.
Initiate the run by slowly leaning forward and using small, shuffling
steps landing on the middle-front part of your foot, not on your heel.
Keep your feet placing down directly underneath you. At this point you
should be relaxed but deliberate. This is not about going fast. Your
knees are always a little flexed helping to efficiently absorb impact.
Swing your arms comfortably with hands loosely held in a half grip and
elbows bent at approximately ninety degrees. Get comfortable.
You now have some powerful concepts to apply as you hit the road,
trail or treadmill. For more information on running, training or sports
injuries feel free to contact Dr. Ferenc Stefani at Performance Health,
Nanaimo. www.islandrunningdoc.com
Bevan - Gone but not Forgotten
By Judy Stephan
If you travel west from Courtney along Lake Trail into the forest, and hit
the path down towards the Puntledge River, you might never know you were walking
down what once was a main street in Bevan. Bevan, one of the Island’s ghost towns, no
longer exists. A trained eye of a former resident could show you a wooden truss hidden
in the undergrowth; the ruins of the schoolhouse or an uncharacteristic hill (covered in
vegetation) that was once a mine dump.
I was fortunate to have a guided
tour by Eileen and Arfie Niemi, who
grew up and married in Bevan. They
pointed out the previous positions of
houses and various buildings along
the trail. I stood in what was the Niemi
back yard, and saw where the barn and
house had stood. The only evidence
now are a few bricks set in the earth
where the hearth had been. Now, half
a century later, it’s just a sparse field
with a fast encroaching forest and
overgrown vegetation.
Bevan was a bustling mining
town that sprung up when No 7 shaft
of Canadian Collieries Company
opened in 1902. The town originated
in 1907 and over the years, until the
mine eventually closed in 1953 and
the town was flattened in 1958, many
families lived and grew up there. By
1911 there were 50 houses, a school,
hotel and store. People from differing nationalities were drawn there by the mine, from the
UK, Scandanavia, Germany, China and Japan. Named after a BC Premier, Robert Bevan, it
formed a triangle with Courtenay and Cumberland, 4 miles south. Originally most miners
lived in Cumberland and travelled to work, but eventually gravitated towards Bevan. The
company train allowed Bevanites to travel to and from Cumberland with ease.
It has a short and colourful history, with Shaft No 8 opening in 1912 and closing
2 years later; a long miner’s strike and finally the No7 seam becoming exhausted. The
mines built sturdy houses, so some were boarded and others cut in half and relocated to
Cumberland. Chinatown was razed in 1922 by an accidental fire and was never rebuilt.
Some families chose to stay in Bevan, and
houses were rented to loggers. No 8 Shaft
was reactivated in 1936.
Because Bevan relied on the mines, the
community was like a family, experiencing
highs and lows together. Everyone knew
everyone else’s business and pulled together
in times of hardship. So if some men
staggered home from the hotel, cursing
when they slipped in the snow, everyone
knew. It was a time of large families,
learning to swim in the Puntledge on rubber
tubes, fishing and singing. Friendships were
formed that last even to this day among the
last remaining Bevanites who are scattered
over the Comox Valley and beyond.
Bevan, the little town that tried. Gone
but not forgotten.
Olympic Fever
An epidemic is sweeping the land ... have you been
infected yet? Coughing into your arm or obsessive handwashing will
not prevent contraction of the “fever”.
The symptoms are clear: Severe feelings of national pride;
visions of 5 rings, maple leaves, the symbolic stone Inuit sculpture
and abnormal concerns about snow depths in Whistler. If you
have these symptoms and get teary-eyed when you see
commercials that are truly Canadian with an Olympic slant
or have already purchased your Olympic gear and tickets
... you have caught Olympic Fever. There is no
immunisation or cure but to let it run its course.
Just revel in the athlete profiles on TV or in the
media; buy products because they sport Olympic
logos; watch the progress of the Torch Relay;
anxiously live through the countdown; view the
anticipated extravaganza of an opening ceremony and
root for Canada in every event.
This once in a lifetime occurrence needs to be enjoyed every
step of the way. Many will no longer be around when the Winter
Olympics return to BC. Seize the Day! If you can’t make any of the
events in person, be sure to watch them on the television or better still
with others at special screenings at sports bars and cinemas.
After the Olympic Flame has been extinguished, there will
be feelings of regret that it is all over ... but the memories of this
patriotic and exciting time in our history will linger for many months
to come.
Go Canada! Go!
