|
Senior News May, 2004 Vol. 25. No. 5
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
|
|
|
Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
 Nutrition -- I remember when
Plus in this issue catch more news, opinions, features, book reviews, and event calendars.
Pick up a copy today! Better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue! Brought to you by 
|
Nutrition -- I remember when by Joy Ehlert I first met the Senior Citizens Council (the original foundation which started the Senior Resource Center) on a torrentially rainy day in 1974. The meeting was being held at what was hoped would become the first dining center, the Arcata Community Center on D Street. I was quite new to Humboldt County. I was taking classes at HSU, and someone had called to say they needed a consulting dietitian on a project and would I have time to help out - no money, mind you, this was a volunteer job. That person was Patty Berg, now our state legislator. I was wearing a yellow hooded slicker, boots and a back pack when I arrived. To this day I cannot forget the board's reaction. This person with hair to her waist, in a yellow slicker looking like a kid could not be the dietitian they were waiting for. In fact they said as much. "Are you sure you are old enough to have graduated from high school? You can't be the dietitian!" From that rather humorous start we made quick progress and I made some endearing acquaintances. I remember excursions to Fortuna, again in the pouring rain, in Patty Berg's little black VW bug looking for dining sites there. We served meals for a while in the building now housing NCRT where the tables were so close together that once you sat down you could not get up, and we had a dickens of a time pouring coffee. We seemed to get pinched a lot. I also remember teaching nutrition ed classes standing on the stage with the seniors lounging in the red plush theater seats. I remember that the Arcata dining site used to do its own cooking. The dry storage was underneath the stage and the freezers were behind it. To get to them we had to take a cart down a steeply slanted walk to the rear of the building. Try dragging a cart loaded with frozen food and number 10 cans of tomato sauce up that hill. Today we have a central kitchen that does the cooking for all our sites, and we also use newer technology. I remember one summer doing the nutrient analysis of a 30-day menu cycle by hand using charts and a calculator. It took days. Now we do it with the computer. I became a regular staff member when Lorean LaPointe found me out in the parking lot unloading my car. I was getting ready to teach a class to seniors on low-fat gourmet cooking. Lorean recruited me to do assessments for home-delivered meals. Joy Ehlert, RD, is director of the HSRC Nutrition Program. |
Senior News