17. Galiano Island – Communicating Nutrition to Seniors

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Title

How to Share what we Know? Making the Nutritional Research Accessible to Seniors

Organization Name

The Galiano Club (Community Food Program)

Keywords

Nutrition, seniors, knowledge translation, accessible language, plain language

Related Course Concepts

Food justice, Food security, Asset based community development, Social class/income inequality

Organization Information

Organization Name

The Galiano Club (Community Food Program)

Mission and Vision of Organization

The purpose of the Society on Galiano Island shall be:

(a) to encourage social, recreational and educational activity.

(b) to maintain a public hall which may be available for use by any person or persons who wish to use it in accordance with the above purposes.

(c) to hold and administer lands as described in the Bluffs Park and the Mount Galiano Trust Agreements, as directed therein.

(d) to hold and administer Heritage Forest Lands (zone FH) in accordance with heritage forest covenants on such lands.

(e) to promote agricultural interests on Galiano Island including gardening, farming, other food related initiatives and production of agricultural products.

Mission

Building community by growing, preparing, preserving and sharing food while nourishing and strengthening island food security through learning and sharing.

Vision

The Galiano Community Food Program envisages Galiano Island as a thriving, livable, food-secure community. It is a place where every resident is included, welcome and empowered to build a deeper connection with their food system. In so doing, the Program improves Galiano’s ecological sustainability and community resilience in the face of climate change and uncertainty. The program seeks to set an example that reaches beyond our local community and spreads across the country.

Guiding Principles and Values

1. Collaboration is a key component of our community-building.

  • We believe each individual has a role to play and something to contribute.
  • Connecting and cooperating with other community organizations and a broad cross-section of community members is how we can ensure that our programs are broadly accessible.
  • This is also important for attracting the volunteers and participants that are an integral part of our programs.
  • We want to be part of shaping a community that is inclusive and equitable, and as such our programs are open to everyone.
  • We make space for everyone’s cultural traditions and backgrounds, even when that might bring conflict.

2. A food-secure community depends on a healthy environment and healthy community members. We work to ensure our practices are sustainable and eco-conscious, and mindful of the fact that we are all connected.

3. Even when we are successful in working towards our mission, there is always more that can be done, people we aren’t reaching, new opportunities for improving our food security. As such, we believe in having an attitude of continuous improvement.

4. Our ability to build community depends upon the trust our community members place in us. As such, we work with integrity.

5. Our community is not just a collection of individuals. We have a responsibility to be actively responsive to the needs of our community as a whole, taking action when it is needed.

6. In the context of community-building, we want to promote food security in a positive way, so people are motivated to change their behaviour. As such, we work to inspire people. Our programs are fun and our messages are optimistic. Our messages are not prescriptive; instead, we help people question their own practices around food in order to learn more.

Contact Information

  • Primary Contact Person(s): Alison Colwell
  • Email: galianofoodprograms@gmail.com
  • Phone: 250-539-2363
  • Address: 114 Manzanita Rd Galiano Is.
  • Website: http://www.galianoclub.org/

Preferred Method of Contact

  • Best method(s) to contact: Email
  • Best day(s) to contact:Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays
  • Best time(s) to contact: Mornings, Afternoons

Project Description

For the last few years we've been working with the Galiano Island Health Clinic to improve nutrition and help diabetics and pre-diabetics choose suitable frozen meals. LFS350 students over the past couple of years have analyzed our popular meals, or helped design diabetes friendly meals, and then provided the nutritional analysis for those meals. Now we have a binder full of great information that sits on the table and is rarely accessed. We need the information summarized and collected into a form that is both familiar and more easily accessible for seniors. Eventually that information would be presented on our website, and formed into a colourful "menu."

What challenge or issue does the project aim to address?

The huge amount of nutritional information we have is overwhelming. We need to find a way to package it in a format that is accessible for its senior audience to help them make better food choices.

Student Assets and Skills (preferred or required)

  • Openness to new ideas – to learning how a small community works
  • Analytical skills
  • Interest in nutrition

Student Assets and Skills (to be developed through the project)

  • Analytical skills
  • Interest in nutrition
  • Knowledge translation
  • Developing accessible learning resources

Is a criminal record check required?

No

Project Location

We envisage that the bulk of the work will take place at UBC using research and sources available at the University.

Preferred Days of Week and Hours

This would be student lead but we would want to have regular check-ins via Skype, email or another platform.

Project/Partner Orientation Materials

Students should review these materials prior to the first partner meeting:

  • Please review our organization's website
  • Please request relevant past LFS350 reports from your TA

Additional Project/Partner Orientation Materials

The following will be provided at the first community partner meeting:

  • N/A

Related Community Service Opportunities for Students

As in the past, we would welcome the student team to come to Galiano Island to see how a small community works and to engage in some “community hours” related to their project and the Food Program. Normally we will hold a kitchen to cook some of the Seniors frozen meals. This has generally involved a Saturday morning to Sunday evening on the island.

Expected Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

I hope students will learn about...

  • Sorting through the nutritional information for each meal to highlight the most important aspects.
  • Discover how seniors learn new information and tailor the nutritional information to most effectively meet the senior's needs.
  • Implementing a questionnaire for seniors, and analyzing their responses.
  • Reviewing all recipes to ensure that nutritional analysis has been done on all the meals.

I think students will come to appreciate...

  • The way a community has come together through the medium of food.

Through this project, students will develop...

  • Their analytical skills
  • Their ability to analyze complicated data, and draw out the most salient aspects in a way others can easily understand.

Organizational Outcomes

Intended Project (Short Term) Outcome

  • As a result of the students' project, more Galiano seniors will be able to access and understand nutritional information and relevant implications for their health

Medium Term Outcomes

If the student project is part of a larger project at your organization, how will the students' work contribute to the goals of this larger project?

  • The solid research-based information provided by the students will aid in the completion of the meals analysis on our organization's website (and maybe the menu.)
  • See our website for a possible example.

How does the student project contribute to your organization's mission and long-term vision?

  • The project condenses nutritional analysis into a format that seniors will actually use to make healthier meal choices. This contributes to one of The Galiano Club's objectives: “To promote agricultural interests on Galiano Island including gardening, farming, other food related initiatives and production of agricultural products.”
source: https://wiki.ubc.ca/Course:LFS350/Projects/F2019/GalianoSeniors