Services for Corporations - Lorena Drago, MS, RDN, CDN, CDE

Hispanic Foodways is 100% Hispanic owned with a team of professionals expert in the areas of medicine, health literacy, nutrition, and diabetes education.

Cross-cultural adaptation

Create and adapt education materials that “speak” to different Latino subgroups.

I develop menus preserving the tastes, traditions and food preferences of the diverse Latin American diet. View a sample of the type of menus that I have created.
I create calorie-controlled and carbohydrate-consistent menus for Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, and Puerto Ricans. Menus highlight traditional and traditional inspired dishes recreated to preserve regional food predilections infused with a healthier spin without compromising taste.

Program development

I develop and implement multicultural diabetes and nutrition education programs. Below are a couple examples of the types of programs I can develop. Each situation is unique. Let me develop the right program for you.

Example 1: Go Food Shopping With A Latina Nutrition Expert

Summary: The Supermarket Tour promoted effective diabetes self-management through smart shopping skills. The grocery shopping tour is an interactive activity aimed at increasing nutrition awareness and knowledge among Hispanics/Latinos with diabetes.

The goal of the program was to teach grocery shopping skills and diabetes management. Participants learned how to:

Select the best oils for heart health and manage cholesterol levels
Discover the real meaning of “sugar” on the nutrition label
Read and use the nutrition labels correctly
Distinguish the nutrition composition between dietetic and non-dietetic foods
Select foods to help you manage blood glucose levels
Identify three essential key elements to prepare a healthy meal

Example 2: Diabetes Education Program In Health Center Waiting Room Improves Health Literacy

Summary: A curriculum was developed to increase health literacy, improve diabetes care management skills, and evoke behavior change through enhanced self-efficacy in patients. Key elements of the program are described below:

Train volunteers to conduct individual teaching sessions with patients while they are waiting to see a physician in the diabetes clinic. The session provides an opportunity to reach patients and discuss issues that might not be covered during the physician encounter. Teaching sessions last for as long as the patient is waiting to see the physician; they typically range from 15 minutes to 1 hour in length.

Use of many learning styles: Many learning styles are incorporated into the curriculum, including visual and tactile/kinesthetic (e.g., using props and asking patients to demonstrate competence), auditory, and cognitive (e.g., verbal and teach-back methods).

Use of props to improve health literacy and patient self-management: Volunteers are equipped teaching props to individualize and tailor the learning experience. Volunteers are trained to teach patients how to:

Recognize, treat and prevent hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia
Read and use food label
Manage medications
Measure blood glucose and interpret results
Prepare for a doctor’s visit

Curriculum development

Create culturally appropriate diabetes and pre-diabetes education lessons and education materials.

Example: Pre-Diabetes Education Curriculum

Developed and designed nutrition and lifestyle behavior pre-diabetes curriculum. The curriculum was designed to:

Help participants improve their blood glucose control and manage their weight.
Focus on physical activity, heart healthy eating and strategies to achieve self-management goals.
Address cultural competency. Included culturally specific handouts and activities aimed to include Hispanic health beliefs, food and family traditions.

Training

Provide health care professionals with the knowledge, skills, and resources to work effectively with culturally diverse populations.

Train student to facilitate patient education in waiting rooms using health literacy principles
Train community health workers to assist in the provision of health education, nutrition, and diabetes self-management in waiting rooms

Philosophy

Hispanic Foodways considers that education should lead into action. Hispanic Foodways promotes health literacy, and cultural competency as core elements to effectively to enhance diabetes self-management skills.

My Strengths

Hispanic Foodways major competitive strengths are:

Experience developing multicultural diabetes education programs
Creation of bi-lingual (English/Spanish) curriculums and educational material
Health literacy focused
Cultural competent coaching
Trains staff to provide culturally competent health care