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Chinese prenatal classes cancelled
/ t* u7 a: @! [( q# y+ R7 [Community upset over CLSC decision& N' M2 e! `% V& }: Q2 d( V
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The Gazette 2 R8 I U3 n6 L4 x$ J" f% z+ o; Z. D
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Sunday, March 09, 2003
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6 ?5 v$ j2 u$ z! P2 fChinese community leaders are upset that a midtown CLSC has decided to drop the only Chinese-language prenatal classes in the Montreal region.8 X- t5 q9 c( G
' Y: G j; Q0 G# UThe classes have drawn families from Brossard and Laval to the CLSC St. Louis/du Parc on St. Joseph Blvd.
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4 F$ z0 T/ o. |3 C2 o2 oA 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.8 }3 A4 i1 i! X; ]# r" X' V
) z$ z9 O3 y" l, }6 P- D9 @: VMurielle 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.2 d! l2 u& ]/ `$ I2 ~# }
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"We never got any financing for these prenatal and perinatal courses," Pépin said.
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7 H0 z. u; i2 LThe 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.
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' I9 n+ X0 x, _2 }+ ~! q+ HThe 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.
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"It was all related to faulty feeding," Chan-Yip said.& o" E d6 d6 x: B
; s: ~7 Q6 ^0 R& `; t4 Z: \In 1992 the responsibility and the nurse co-ordinator was transferred to St. Louis/du Parc.
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Raznin 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.7 a6 [8 g" z+ P; e& l! `+ k
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"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.
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But that proposal, which Shao intends to make next month to the Montreal Regional Health Board, runs into what he terms "government perceived mission problems."
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He called the CLSC move "penny wise and pound foolish." , b2 H7 K) ^) ]6 R8 b0 f+ K ]; f
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"If you don't take care of them at embryo stage and right after they are born, that affects them for their entire life."9 l) g- Q9 X, v3 b8 Q' ?" r
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Health board spokesperson Lauréanne Collin said that the board will examine the Chinese hospital proposal next month. iblock@thegazette.canwest.com
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