BRUSH PRAIRIE, Wash. – Eating healthy, receiving reliable medical advice and learning correct food-safety practices can mean spending more money than the average person or family can afford. Thanks to Clark County WSU Extension’s Health and Wellness Program, this knowledge and help is accessible and affordable.
According to extension’s description: “In order to improve the health and wellness of county residents, this program promotes food safety for consumers and the food service industry. It provides nutrition to low-income families, children, seniors and the general population in selecting, preparing and managing the food they eat. Proper nutrition can reduce obesity and decrease health costs.”
The Health and Wellness Program can be broken down into five specific programs:
Food $ense
This program provides nutrition education to low-income families, seniors and children. Classes teach participants how to make healthy food choices, manage limited budgets and promote physical activity.
Sandy Brown, who oversees food safety and nutrition, said people often think fresh produce is more expensive than quick-and-ready foods. However, she said, if people eat a variety of in season fresh produce and look at the cost per pound, it can be cheaper.
“Think about how much a pound of potato chips costs versus a pound of potatoes, and how full of fiber and how full you get eating that pound of potatoes – with less calories and fat, as well,” Brown said. “That kind of perspective helps.”
Classes emphasize that fruits and vegetables do not always have to be fresh. Frozen and canned varieties offer enough nutrition to be good choices and are less expensive when fresh ones are not in season.
“For some families it is tough to purchase in the quantities needed to reap the cost savings. But teaching how to do some cooking and making things for themselves … will save them money,” she said.
The Food $ense Program aims to reach families that receive food stamps or qualify for them. Brown said the program reaches a lot of children because many classes are taught at schools. However, educational newsletters are sent home with the children that participate in order to give the parents some insight too.
Expanded Foods and Nutrition (EFNEP)
Like Food $ense, EFNEP concentrates on working with low-income families with children in the household.
Like Food $ense, EFNEP concentrates on working with low-income families with children in the household.
Participants learn to make food choices that can improve the nutritional quality of the meals they serve their families. In addition, they learn to better manage their food budgets and related resources from federal, state and local food assistance agencies and organizations.
Hispanic health and nutrition
Statistics show that people of Hispanic heritage are more likely to contract diabetes and heart disease due to a mixture of diet and genes. This program helps Latino families improve their health through eating habits and physical activity.
Statistics show that people of Hispanic heritage are more likely to contract diabetes and heart disease due to a mixture of diet and genes. This program helps Latino families improve their health through eating habits and physical activity.
Brown said Hispanic families tend to seek medical attention only when something serious goes wrong.
“When they have a heart attack or lose eyesight due to diabetes, they seek treatment,” she said. “Prevention and taking measures to prevent disease isn’t part of their cultural norm.”
La Familia Activa is a program that works with Latino volunteer leaders called prometoras. Together they help Latino families find resources, classes, activities or medical assistance in order to stay healthy and prevent disease. Families take part in nutrition classes, physical activity and health events.
La Familia Activa receives minimum funding from the Comprehensive Health Education Foundation, which works to prevent disease within specific populations through nutrition and exercise, Brown said. That funding will end in September 2010.
Diabetes education
The Diabetes Education Program improves the health and well-being of those with diabetes by reducing the risk of complications and providing education on how to manage the disease.
The Diabetes Education Program improves the health and well-being of those with diabetes by reducing the risk of complications and providing education on how to manage the disease.
Brown said that, though anyone diagnosed with diabetes qualifies for this program, it recently has targeted low-income patients. Many of these people do not have the funds to cover things like diabetic counseling.
“We have found that many diabetics don’t have the basic knowledge on how to maintain or help their diabetes with diet and exercise,” she said. “Dieticians spend much of their precious time counseling patients on the basic eating strategies and getting more exercise than on issues of medication interactions, complicated nutrition issues, foot care and eye care.”
Living Well with Diabetes is a program that teaches those with diabetes the basics of managing their disease with diet and exercise so that the time with the dieticians is spent on more personal medical- and diet-related problems.
Food safety and quality
Brown partners with the Clark County and Cowlitz County health departments to offer Person-In-Charge and other food-safety classes for the food industry.
Brown partners with the Clark County and Cowlitz County health departments to offer Person-In-Charge and other food-safety classes for the food industry.
Classes titled “Person-In-Charge” accommodate food industry requirements that restaurants have someone in charge at all times who knows about food safety and food-safety practices.
In some cases, Brown said, special classes are held at a restaurant for the entire staff, if a health department recommends it. If a food professional participates in these classes, they qualify for a five-year food-handler card, instead of only a two-year card.
“This can’t be learned in a 30-minute video,” Brown said. “This training covers food-borne illnesses, how they are contracted and spread, how to prevent them, how food spoils and actual food-handling practices that are necessary to prevent food-borne illness outbreaks.”
