The congregants of Stapleton U Ame Church on Staten Island are a diverse bunch: African Americans, Liberians, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Its soup kitchen serves primarily Chinese and Russian folk.
With so many cultures, each with a distinct diet and attitude toward health, the church is on the ground floor of a new wellness program aimed at teaching its congregation proper nutrition and obesity prevention in an effort to reduce the risk of diabetes, hypertension and other diseases related to poor eating.
What’s unique, however, is that it is embarking on a program called Training the Trainer, created by the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY). This aims to train church leaders to impart advice rather than have it come from outside professionals.
“When it comes from across the pulpit from the pastor or at a soup kitchen, you have the opportunity to reach a mass of people at one time, and you’re promoting health in that person, and that person’s friends and family,” says Rev. Maggie Howard of Stapleton U Ame Church. “You’re really impacting families.”
As Adina Kolatch, who is spearheading the program, says: “One of the primary objectives is to develop these tentacles deep in the community.”
Currently, Kolatch is conducting focus groups with NYC spiritual leaders and health professionals based in places of worship. From them, she hopes to glean what parishioners’ eating habits and food preferences are, and to launch Training the Trainer early next year.
“We have to translate healthy eating to the different cultural groups,” Kolatch says. “There is a growing Chinese population in [Howard’s] congregation, and their diet is very different from other diets. We have to hear about the different cultural groups and understand the foods they consume.”
Training the Trainer will also incorporate safe and easy fitness activities for seniors of varying abilities, based on those that are currently used in VNSNY adult day center exercise programs.
Nurse David Williams already provides preventative health tips and screenings for the people who come to Stapleton U Ame Church. He’ll participate in one of the first VNSNY focus groups, and he says the program is a welcome addition to his repertoire.
Howard expects the program will ultimately help the many men, women and children who come through her doors.
“It will help people make wiser choices still within their budget,” she says.
MAKING GOOD CHOICES
Kathy Knight, a VNSNY registered nurse, shares the following tips and strategies from the Training the Trainer program:
➊ Set your own real and achievable goals to succeed at healthier eating. Change is easier when you make your own choices. Making a commitment to having dessert only twice a week instead of after most meals or cutting down on soda can have a positive impact on your health.
➋ Enlist friends and family to help you achieve your goals and stay on track. Making changes is often easier when you have support from others.
➌ Add veggies and cut down on processed foods. Baby carrots crunch just as well as potato chips and they’re much better for you too!
➍ Keep a food journal—even jotting down what you eat every few days can help keep you focused on your goals.
➎ Kick up your feet and stretch! We spend so much time behind computers and in front of the TV these days. Find time to walk and stretch a bit every day. Take a walk down the block, or better yet, join an exercise class.
➏ Get menus and learn how to track and make better food choices by visiting choosemyplate.gov.