Participants needed for Ontario Health Study

By Rachel Stark

BELLEVILLE – Local residents are being asked to help with a provincial health study.

The Ontario Health Study – a research project whose goal is to understand the causes of  diseases like cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and to find ways to prevent and treat them – is opening local study centres this month in Belleville, Cobourg and Cornwall.

Residents aged 30 to 74 are invited to come to the study centres and provide a small blood sample. To register for a visit, go to the Ontario Health Study website and fill out a brief questionnaire.

After the visit, participants will receive “a comprehensive blood analysis report of where their personal health falls within a reference range,” says an announcement about the opening of the study centres.

The Belleville study centre will be at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 99, 132 Pinnacle St. It will be open Tuesday, Feb. 23, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Wednesday, Feb. 24, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.