Our Creating Healthy Eating Families (CHEF) program, which focuses on improving the basic nutrition and eating habits of parents and their children, wrapped up its first cycle at Family Re-Entry with a potluck dinner. Residents each prepared several vegetarian dishes demonstrating what they learned during the program. Dishes included bok choy and mushroom stir fry; kale lasagna with whole wheat noodles; and brown rice with broccoli.

At the potluck, participants raved about the program and talked about the changes they had made in their diets as a result. One resident, Teresa, was able to reduce her cholesterol medication by making healthy substitutions, like baking instead of frying. Bernadette, who said she was skeptical of the program at first – “I like fried foods and large portions!” – started using fresh herbs to flavor her food and reduced her sodium intake. Gilbert said CHEF taught him to be mindful of what he was eating and how it affected his health.

Participants met with nutritionist Paulette Sinclair-Weir twice a week for six weeks and learned about topics such as reading nutrition labels, reducing portion sizes, increasing fruit and vegetables, and food safety. Sessions included hands-on cooking instruction to let participants implement their new skills.

The CHEF program was created with a $25,000 grant from Aetna. For more information on the grant, click here.

Aetna is continuing its support of Odyssey House with the development of a new initiative called Creating Healthy Eating Families (CHEF). This new program will provide hands-on nutrition and cooking classes for mothers living with their children in the Odyssey House Family Centers. The $25,000 grant will allow us to focus on improving the basic nutrition and eating habits of mothers and children, including crafting individual obesity prevention plans to establish goals in the areas of food selection, eating behaviors and frequency of exercise.

This is the third grant by Aetna to Odyssey House, and the second in two years to support our health and wellness programs. Last year, we created a health literacy program aimed at improving overall physical health and quality of life for young families in treatment.

To learn more about CHEF, read the full press release here.

Earlier this month, Odyssey House clinical staff conducted a Health Literacy seminar for our Family Center clients. Nearly three dozen mothers and fathers participated in the event, which served as the final component of the Aetna Foundation-funded Health Education and Literacy Program (OH HELPS).

During the seminar, learning was reinforced through practical and interactive exercises in taking temperatures, dosing medication, and seeking medical help. Each participant received an OH HELPS goodie bag that included a cold kit, a digital thermometer, and a first aid kit. The day closed with an entertaining version of “Baby Talk” Jeopardy that enabled the participants to demonstrate their newly improved levels of health literacy.

OH HELPS was developed with funding from Aetna. Odyssey House partnered with the Community Pediatrics Department at Columbia University Medical Center to develop and deliver the initial curriculum that focused on basic health care topics, including: “When and How to Use an Emergency Room,” “Treating Colds and Flus,” “Immunization,” and “Basic Home Health Procedures.” These sessions were delivered over the course of the year by second year pediatric inters from Columbia University Medical Center and Odyssey House staff.

The final half-day seminar served as a means to strengthen our clients’ family-focused and practical health literacy, and to celebrate the successful implementation of the OH HELPS program into our Family Centers. Odyssey House will continue to conduct these seminars on a quarterly basis.

Odyssey House is pleased to announce that Aetna is supporting the development of a new health education initiative aimed at improving overall physical health and quality of life for young families in treatment at Odyssey House. The $25,000 grant will allow Odyssey House to develop an enhanced health literacy program for pregnant women, women with infants, and parents with young children residing at the Family Center of Excellence.

Dr. Peter Provet, President of Odyssey House thanked Aetna for its ongoing support and partnership of services that improve the health and wellbeing of families in treatment. “We are grateful to Aetna for joining us investing in families while they are in treatment – an investment that pays off in helping families manage their health today, and in preparation for healthier lives tomorrow when they complete our program.“

For the majority of residents in our Family Center of Excellence Program, poor health literacy typically manifests itself in a pretreatment history of a disproportionate use of emergency room facilities, misunderstanding of and failure to follow treatment and prescription instructions, and low levels of participation in preventive screening – all of which can lead to poorer health status for themselves and their children.

The Healthy Literacy Curriculum is made up of three key health components:

•Access to healthcare: basic knowledge and understanding of the health care system, empowering parents to better communicate and be active participants in their family health care needs, and connecting them to a community-based health care provider upon completion of Odyssey House treatment;

•Power of prevention: knowledge of preventative and routine healthcare measures for themselves and their children including emergency medicine, immunizations, preventive screening, dispensing medicine and child development; and

•Healthy eating: develop parents’ understanding of how healthy eating relates to the prevention and control of chronic diseases for themselves and their children.

To read more, click here.