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Chinese prenatal classes cancelled
3 i" H1 J( V% `Community upset over CLSC decision/ f1 }: v8 K( H# ~& a7 k
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IRWIN BLOCK , R: q4 V9 V, h" B9 h
The Gazette
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Sunday, March 09, 2003
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; W& e, m6 a, f7 AChinese community leaders are upset that a midtown CLSC has decided to drop the only Chinese-language prenatal classes in the Montreal region.+ S/ y1 Z c8 ?8 F: o1 `# h
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The classes have drawn families from Brossard and Laval to the CLSC St. Louis/du Parc on St. Joseph Blvd.6 C3 s3 c/ f. W
% q$ c( q5 H/ U8 nA 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.
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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.
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"We never got any financing for these prenatal and perinatal courses," Pépin said.6 W, ^$ H" g2 y6 y& ~( v* Z _. I
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The 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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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.& s" }$ H1 J1 @4 G2 K; Q: M
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"It was all related to faulty feeding," Chan-Yip said.
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In 1992 the responsibility and the nurse co-ordinator was transferred to St. Louis/du Parc.
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. h& L/ `' r- [- 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.% Z' R5 @% a( @/ ~( T; l
9 l5 T& d' w3 W/ D! z' t"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.* m0 O @0 o# c! B4 y$ E
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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."* ?, Q7 A; p7 @# p
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He called the CLSC move "penny wise and pound foolish."
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2 |, s$ G% B% O2 ]* L6 C$ X* J"If you don't take care of them at embryo stage and right after they are born, that affects them for their entire life."4 M. H7 L, J9 z- X
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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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