|
By Roxanne Miller
East Central Region Information Specialist
Terri Whitaker, nutritionist for the St. Louis Public Schools, was puzzled about why the large number of Bosnian schoolchildren would take the hamburgers off their buns and eat the bread and pickles.
"For months, we've been working with them to understand what they would eat, so that they would get adequate protein," Whitaker said.
At the Foodways Conference, sponsored by University Extension in St. Louis County, Whitaker attended a workshop on Islamic traditions where she found some answers: "The conference helped us take a big step toward better understanding the needs of our Bosnian children. We've been successful finding other foods, such as soups, stews and tuna that they like."
Whitaker was one of 159 health and nutrition professionals from the St. Louis area who attended the Foodways Conference, which provided nutrition information in the context of culture.
The conference was designed to help participants and their agencies work more effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
|
Arlene Citerman, program director of the William S. Seltzer Building in University City, said about half of the elderly residents in the federally subsidized apartment building are minorities, with a large number of Chinese and Russian refugees. She wanted to know more about nutrition-related health issues of various ethnic groups.
"Many of our residents do not speak English when they come here," Citerman said. "I'm constantly looking for informa-tion to help us work more effectively with our residents, and that's why I came to the conference.
"We have a big problem if our non-English-speaking residents become ill and don't eat properly. They can become very isolated."
|
Topics covered at the conference included: communicating through an interpreter; Asian, Islamic and Mexican food, health and medicine; cultural influences on mother/child relationships; traumatized families; legal categories of new arrivals; access to health care; conducting home visits with non-English-speaking clients; adapting health education delivery for multicultural clients; and taking culturally sensitive diet histories.
Sister Paulette Weindel, immigrant support program director for St. Pius V Church, works with refugees. "I needed to know the signs of stress to look for in the refugees we work with," she said. "I also needed to know about the new immigration law."
The Foodways Conference was the first of its kind offered in the St. Louis area. Cynthia Fauser, extension nutrition specialist, coordinated the daylong program. A multidisciplinary planning committee included University Extension specialists, as well as representatives of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Maryville University, International Institute and Missouri Department of Health.
Partial funding for the conference was provided by a grant from the Roblee Foundation and the St. Louis Dietetics Association.
Keynote speaker was Joanne Ikeda, extension nutrition specialist at the University of California-Berkeley, who has worked extensively with several minority communities, including Hmong, Vietnamese, Mexican-American and Native-American.
|
Ikeda said it's important to realize people tend to be "culture bound," assuming their way of doing things is right.
"When confronted with different values, customs and behaviors, most health professionals initially feel uneasy and uncomfortable," Ikeda said. "They must learn to develop cross-cultural competence to view the world from another's point of view without making judgements of another."
An African-American dance troupe, "Rhythms in Anoa," performed traditional West African dances at the end of the conference.
"This conference was the best one I've attended on issues affecting minorities and the elderly," Citerman said. "The sessions were excellent, with front-line people who knew about the issues. I also learned about a refugee consortium I didn't know about."
Katie Brock, administrative nutritionist, was another St. Louis schools staff person who attended.
"Sensitivity was a big thing I picked up at the conference," Brock said. "As a nutritionist, once your sensitivity is up, you can think of a solution nutrition-wise. But first, it's important to be sensitive to the cultural issues involved."
For more information, contact Cynthia Fauser, extension nutrition specialist, (314) 889-2911 or Internet: fauserc@ext.missouri.edu.
| Next | Previous |
|---|
| Return to the Story Index |
