HELP Educational Services was established in 2002 with the purpose of ‘helping, educating, life-saving, and preventing’. Based in Saint John, New Brunswick, with nine staff (including owner/manager Christie Ruff), HELP’s role in health and safety includes training in the subject areas: oxygen administration, workplace standard first aid, CPR, medical response team training, emergency first aid, AED training and more. HELP aims to impact individuals’ through the prevention of injuries, lifestyle changes and the saving of lives.

HELP Educational Services has three major partnerships. The first two are with the Red Cross and the town of Quispamsis. The third partnership is with Shifting to Wellness as HELP is the primary broker of the Shifting to Wellness program in Eastern Canada. Ms. Ruff is also the only certified Shifting to Wellness Master Trainer in Eastern Canada, meaning she has been trained to deliver Shifting to Wellness Train the Trainer programs.

HELP has been recognized as a National Finalist in Community Leadership for the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, 2003 and most recently as Best Emerging Enterprise in Saint John by the Saint John Board of Trade, 2004.

Vancouver Coastal Heath and Providence Health Care have had a strong partnership with Shifting to Wellness since 2004. In November of that year, Shifting to Wellness delivered a pilot Train the Trainer session to 25 health care professionals at Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care. This pilot has subsequently led to the development of a long-term delivery and research partnership. Keyano College and Vancouver Coastal Health/Providence Health Care are partnering to create a customized version of the Shifting to Wellness Program for the healthcare industry.

The initial delivery of the customized program will be in the form of a 2 year research project aimed at measuring the impact of the Shifting to Wellness program in a sample of British Columbia health care sites.

The expertise of VCH/PHC researchers will allow Shifting to Wellness to implement the health care customized program in other health units across Canada. Additionally, the partnership has created a video on coping with a shiftwork lifestyle as one of the Shifting to Wellness program resources.