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Chronic Disease Workshops

Living Well with Chronic Conditions

The Living Well with Chronic Conditions Workshops are for people with ongoing health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, emphysema, heart conditions, high blood pressure, MS, etc. Participants meet once a week for 2.5 hours for six weeks in community settings such as senior centers, churches, libraries and hospitals in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties. The workshops are free or require only a small fee and are designed to help you build confidence for managing your health by staying active and enjoying life.

• Our program
• Workshop dates

Our program

A chronic condition usually begins slowly and increasingly progresses over time. Some examples of chronic conditions are high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, fibromyalgia, depression, headaches, emphysema, and liver or kidney disease. Often a chronic condition is hard to diagnosis and has more than one cause. The duration of a chronic condition is indefinite and often there is no cure.  Over time your chronic condition may cause you some problems and you may lose some strength, flexibility or energy that you once enjoyed. 

The workshops benefit adults of any age who have one or more chronic conditions. We discuss the issues that everyone living with an ongoing health condition faces.  You will learn how to accomplish the following:

• Manage medications              
• Communicate better               
• Fight fatigue and frustration
• Deal with depression             
• Start an exercise program     
• Solve problems
• Eat well                                  
• Manage stress                         
• Learn to relax Help control pain                  
• Meet your goals                     
• Handling emotions

Each participant receives the book Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions, and a relaxation tape. Workshop leaders are people just like you who have been trained to lead the group.  Leaders understand the challenges of living with ongoing health conditions; they manage their own health using the skills you will learn.  As a result, the group is both educational and supportive. Adult family members or support persons are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

Some of our participants have shared the following comments on the workshops:

"We learned what we are doing wrong and are fixing it.  We feel better already." 
-- 55-year-old couple

"The program helped me with the ups and downs of my disease."  
-- 78-year-old participant

"I had no confidence and now I do."
-- 62-year-old participant

"I have been feeling very discouraged but now I have hope."
-- 79-year-old participant

"I loved the program and will tell my doctor to tell others about it." 
-- 43 year-old participant

Workshop Dates

Below are the current workshop listings. Pre-registration is required.

Wednesdays, April 9 to May 14 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at Benton County Health Department

530 NW 27th St., Corvallis. Call Patty Parsons (541) 766-6659.

Tuesdays, April 15 to May 20 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at Samaritan Internal Medicine, Neville Building

3615 NW Samaritan Drive, Suite 200, Corvallis. Call Patti Dunning (541) 768-5693.

For more information on workshops in the mid-valley call: Carole Kment (541) 451-6466 or e-mail ckment@samhealth.org

For coastal community residents call: Kathleen Dougherty (541) 265-661, ext. 2314 or e-mail kdougherty@co.lincoln.or.us

Sponsored by the Oregon Public Health Division, Benton County Health Department, Linn County Health Department, Lincoln County Health & Human Services and Samaritan Health Services.

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