Whitney Young Health’s WIC Program and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants have joined together to provide a bilingual group series on health and wellness for refugee and immigrant mothers in the Albany area. This is the third time the organizations have collaborated in providing this program, with this time focusing on mothers who speak Arabic.
For six weeks, 10 women, originating from the Sudan, Syria and Chad, attended sessions at the Albany Health Center to learn about eating healthy through pregnancy, the benefits of breast-feeding for both mother and child and breast cancer screenings. They were also encouraged to get a primary care doctor and OB/GYN, to get annual physicals and mammograms. One of the sessions included a field trip to a local grocery store and how to shop for food with WIC’s EBT cards. Each class included transportation and Arabic interpretation.
Below is the weekly program schedule the women attended:
- Week 1: Travel Training
- Week 2: Introduction to Health/Services
- Week 3: Healthy Living (Nutrition and Parenting)
- Week 4: Grocery Store Field Trip with WIC EBT Cards
- Week 5: Self-Care
- Week 6: Breastfeeding