Breast is Best (Week 3)

Somehow I always struggle to choose one/ two experiences from the week to speak about. The answer to that struggle is definitely the fact that from the experiences we have had in our time at Worcester every single one of them has impacted me as a person and as a professional in some way. Usually a positive impact, and even if it is negative there is always something to take from the experience and grow from. With that being said I need to now decide what to speak about.

This past week has been World Breastfeeding Week, and with that comes a lot of Health Promotion. Breastfeeding and related Health Promotion. During the 5 days of our week we promoted breastfeeding on 3 days, and the other two days were simply because the activities for those days didn't allow us to(Avian park, usually older people with DM, and cooking for the children on Friday). But if we could have, it probably would have been 5/5 days of Breastfeeding and related promotions.

Being able to educate the care givers is very special, to teach them why it is so important, how to breastfeed and what to do next. We are empowering them to make the right choice for their children, themselves and their families(saves money, creates a bond, all the health benefits etc). We also promoted to the rest  of the clinics. This was incredible as we were planting the seed ,and hopefully allowing a few seeds to sprout, in the minds of those people that support the breastfeeding moms, the people that offer other advise to what we suggest and to the people that judge breastfeeding. We were helping them to understand the importance of it and to give them the same knowledge we share with the moms. By doing this we are giving the breastfeeding moms the best opportunity at being able to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months. Breastfeeding really can make a massive difference in our country in terms of child health. That's why weeks like these are so important ,but I think that promotion of breastfeeding should occur more regularly (every 2 weeks go all out, and hopefully new people are coming into the clinic in those times and that those that are there are able to spread the message. Doing this one would have to be very creative/interesting in presenting as to not bore those that have listened before)because it is that important and can play that big a role in the well being of our children.

Excluding doing health promotion at the clinics we also did a radio talk for "healthy eating during pregnancy", it was very nerve wracking but also I felt a sense of pride at what we as a group had just accomplished. It is definitely a way to get correct messages across to the population, as lots of people are listening. It would be fantastic if on the bigger radio stations (like 5FM)Dieticians/ people of the health profession could speak as they could reach even more of our population.  The fact that we were able to target the people that probably don't have as much access to the internet as 5FM listeners means that we could possibly have provided them with information they would never have had before. We were able to empower people, yet again.

Other then the Health promotion we were able to do throughout the week, we were also able to feed some children. We were able to give them a balanced meal and a healthy snack. Balanced meal meaning that they got starch, protein and vegetables through an economic recipe, so it's not just once off that they get this yummy food. I think this task is excellent as it allows us to test a recipe but also to provide food to the children. To know that the children(ages ranging from small to high school) enjoyed the meal I prepared for them and that they wanted seconds makes me happy. I love being able to make people happy with food normally, but this gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. I am looking forward to being able to do more activities like this in the future.

This week, in summary, has been about empowering the people with knowledge they can use for themselves, knowledge they can give to others and knowledge that will allow them to support those around them in the choices they have made(when they are the correct choices). What an accomplishment. I hope that from our knowledge we shared many people may benefit. That many seeds have been planted in peoples minds that will allow them to blossom into healthy people.