There is no question the in-person approach to the CHANGE Program has a positive impact on health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact to our participants as in person visits with kinesiologists and dietitians were restricted and stopped.

The CHANGE Program teams responded creatively through technology expanded supports and built virtual resources to keep patients engaged by phone, on-line video conferencing and other virtual approaches. These virtual supports have extended the reach of the CHANGE Program to augment in-person programming in geographically isolated rural communities, challenging weather conditions and even to help with participant scheduling conflicts.

We have now co-created virtual resources to enhance our weekly training sessions and continue to co-create opportunities to add virtual supports where this makes sense to participants and providers. Our participant surveys tell us that the weekly sessions with the team make the biggest difference to staying motivated but we have learned virtual supports can help.