标题: Chinese prenatal classes cancelled (from Gazette) [打印本页] 作者: yanlykwan 时间: 2003-3-9 17:16 标题: Chinese prenatal classes cancelled (from Gazette) Chinese prenatal classes cancelled; k. N& [, r# K$ Q' ~: {3 G
Community upset over CLSC decision4 p6 _1 q) P# N
: Q! S8 K) b8 X7 YIRWIN BLOCK 7 l9 H8 v3 K, L& yThe Gazette . \- N6 v1 @1 d4 r( F9 B ' b) V9 `+ p% o" V% [+ M {+ H4 T: t8 _
Sunday, March 09, 2003 2 {% S- ?% D* I. M4 @1 { , [5 D& i4 L. ^9 x( K; m. M) LChinese community leaders are upset that a midtown CLSC has decided to drop the only Chinese-language prenatal classes in the Montreal region. 5 S% ~6 d2 c% ^0 {/ D # g8 r5 N- D2 X* X2 r1 _The classes have drawn families from Brossard and Laval to the CLSC St. Louis/du Parc on St. Joseph Blvd.! _% a, |9 O6 n0 ^) v$ k* ^5 Q$ R
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A CLSC official said yesterday that the classes are being cancelled because only a handful of about 100 clients live in the Plateau Mont Royal and Mile End area the clinic serves.- w1 v, y/ j7 v/ q6 {
* ~7 J" [ F4 E, w& a: a% ]Murielle Pépin, director of professional services, said that when the Chinese classes were first offered in 1992, the CLSC was designated as having a multiethnic focus, but last month its board decided to focus on the needs of clients in its territory. 4 K; f+ [/ A, V . p, d$ @4 J M8 w( Q" k' Y" ?"We never got any financing for these prenatal and perinatal courses," Pépin said. ( Y: M; T7 Y& `9 _ 0 I7 P) v6 M* U9 O# b5 QThe service was originally offered in Cantonese by a nurse at the Montreal Chinese Hospital in 1989. Instruction in Mandarin was added later when there was an influx of Mandarin speakers from Southeast Asia.$ B$ \% r, ] y5 E9 T4 C4 B1 b
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The idea was sparked by a study by Dr. Alice Chan-Yip in the late 1980s which detected low breast-feeding rates, calcium deficiencies in expectant mothers and iron-deficiency anemia in infants attributable to traditional dietary habits, such as lack of dairy products., l7 Z, l0 v* D4 |, Y5 ^9 U( P
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"It was all related to faulty feeding," Chan-Yip said.. x. d$ k+ T: U% l
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In 1992 the responsibility and the nurse co-ordinator was transferred to St. Louis/du Parc.8 i2 {9 b9 Q, M4 o7 B. K+ E/ [
4 B2 R9 d D1 CRaznin Hébert, a nurse at the CLSC Samuel de Champlain in Brossard, which has a growing Chinese community, said as far as she knows no Chinese prenatal courses are planned, there or elsewhere in the system.0 G% F8 P, Z. f2 n) X
# Y+ ?7 Y! r& ^( w"We have been left in the lurch," said Anthony Shao, executive director of the Chinese hospital, which would be happy to take over the course.& f/ C4 B( U( B) v