News
OHSU Graduate Programs in Human Nutrition Partners with Medical Teams International, Portland, OR and PREDISAN, Catacamas, Honduras
Svetlana Zubkova,Sarah Bergman and Melissa Kumagai spent a few weeks in Honduras helping rural communities with high rates of childhood under-nutrition. In March of 2009 they traveled with Diane Stadler, Ph.D., RD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of GPHN to a remote mountainous area of eastern Honduras to conduct home assessments of high-risk infants. They hiked in to villages every day to measure the height and weight of infants, and trained local health care monitors to accurately measure newborns, interpret these measurements and counsel parents about healthy diets for children. "It was a fantastic way to apply all that I have been taught,," said Svetlana.
In March of 2010 Whitney Ellersick--2006, Jessica Gutgsell--2007, and Melissa Kumagai--2009 trained local community members to plan and prepare nutritious snacks high in iron and vitamin A for children attending elementary school. In addition to recipe development, cooking classes, and taste-tests, they taught fun, hands-on, basic health and nutrition concepts to school children.
In March of 2011 Kelly Martin-2011 RD, Emily Kennedy-2011 Anne Southworth-2011 developed and presented lectures and workshops on maternal and infant nutrition to community health providers' to women who were pregnant, and to mothers with young children. The focus of the presentations were on preventing childhood malnutrition and treating acute dehydration.
