Over the course of the Spring semester 2019, The Department of Nutrition in the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences (FNHS) at Notre Dame University-Louaize – North Lebanon Campus (NDU-NLC), conducted a series of community activities in collaboration with different schools and municipalities in the North of Lebanon. Students enrolled in the community nutrition course (NTR 330) prepared, organized and delivered these seminars and workshops under the supervision of the course instructor Alia Makhlouf and in collaboration with the coordinator of the faculty Cécile Obeid. These activities were facilitated and supported by the campus director Fr. Francois Akl and Mrs. Elsy Kfoury-Girgis from the Office of Public Relations.
On the occasion of mother’s day, on the 31st of March, a community nutrition project titled “Tips for Healthy Snacks” was organized in collaboration with the Youth Orthodox Movement in Deddeh – El Koura. Nutrition Students Pamela Semaan and Sara Jerjes delivered a presentation for the mothers, and a puppet show for their children aged from 6 till 12, followed by many healthy food stands. The goal of this project was to spread awareness and correct some misconceptions related to the mother and child’s nutrition and health. The presentation and puppet show focused on increasing fruits and vegetables intake, reducing soft drink consumption, decreasing sedentary lifestyle, ideas to replace fast food by healthy food as well as the importance of milk and water intake.
Another workshop was delivered to Grade 11 students at Bishmizzine high school by nutrition students: Anna Maria Bou Nassar, Vanessa Ndayra, Maya El Ali and Naimeh Awad. They gave a lecture on “guidelines for a healthy lifestyle”. The lecture was followed by a workshop on calorie counting, which provided a simple way to help students calculate the maximum number of calories they should be eating per day, and estimate the calorie content in food. Our nutrition students also conducted anthropometric measurements for the school students and gave them guidelines for weight management.
A community activity in collaboration with Hadchit Municipality was also conducted Saturday May 4th. Students Saydeh Semaan and Marie-Belle Saliba, delivered a presentation on the optimal diet for Heart diseases to residents of Hadchit and surroundings. Free blood tests for triglycerides, cholesterol and glycemia were conducted for all attendees, followed by brunch after the presentation.
Finally, an interactive presentation was delivered to grade 10 and 11 students in the International School (IS) – Koura by our nutrition students Anna-Maria Bou Nassar and Naimeh Awad on Healthy Eating habits for teenagers on February 25th. Healthy Snacks were also delivered to all students.
All activities had very positive feedback from attendees and gave the opportunity to our nutrition students to enhance their presentation and nutrition counseling skills.