Our blog writers are embarking on a quest to interview nutrition educators working for Cornell Cooperative Extension across New York State.
Each educator has a unique perspective on their work, and how their work has influenced their own life choices. Healthy eating and living is a shared goal of the blog, our writers, these educators, and the nutrition programs they represent. It is our hope that these interviews will inspire, motivate, and celebrate the benefits of healthy choices.
The educator spotlight interviews will appear roughly once a month. Enjoy reading!
“As an educator and a teacher, I’m a hands-on person.”
Patricia Lamphier is a nutrition program educator from Cornell Cooperative Extension. She has been working for the EFNEP program in Steuben county for almost 20 years. Patricia was born and raised on a dairy farm. She went to college for a human services degree, and that’s why she is always interested in the human connections throughout her career. Before she started to work for EFNEP, she had worked at WIC for 13 years. In the early 90s, WIC started to enter the computer age, which made her feel a loss of the one on one connection she had with the participants. She joined the EFNEP, where she could resume her one on one connections with families.
Hands-on Teaching Style
Patricia emphasized her “hands-on” style of teaching. She demonstrated several techniques she frequently used in her education sessions. She had an experience with a mom who used Sunny Delight, a fruit beverage, to substitute fresh juice to feed her baby. The mom had no knowledge of reading nutrition labels, and didn’t understand the difference between a fruit beverage and a 100% juice. Picture 1 shows that the tool she used to demonstrate the ingredients inside Sunny Delight, a fruit beverage. She explained that the fruit beverage only contained 3% juice, and the rest of the ingredients are just empty calories. The mom was able to walk away with the knowledge on how to interpret nutrition labels and choose healthier beverages. Besides that, Patricia also taught kids on the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, and drinking enough water by using her “digestive system” toolkits (Picture 2).
Picture 1: nutrition label reading tool
Picture 2: digestive system toolkits
Zoom Teaching vs. In-person Teaching
Patricia indicated that she faced a lot of challenges when providing education sessions via Zoom. Patricia was not a fan of online PowerPoint-style teaching because she thought reading over the slides would lose “human connections”. Even working through Zoom, she still tried to integrate her style of “hands-on” experience in the education sessions. She was glad when she could go back to the agency to resume some of the one-on-one experience in Steuben county.
A picture of Patricia when she was working with a Cornell Dietetic Intern during the pandemic
EFNEP Curriculum
Patricia believed that even small participants’ behavioral changes could show that the outcomes of the EFNEP curriculum were successful. Typically, participants will receive 8 weeks of lessons. Before they begin their classes, they are required to complete a consent form and complete 24-hour recall questions. Educators will review the reports and tweak the 8 week lessons to prioritize the most important topics. Patricia encountered a man who had high blood pressure. She saw him drinking energy drinks and not much water. She decided to spend 8 weeks helping the man make small changes – to drink a little more water and incorporate more fruits and vegetables in his diet. She was thrilled by the impact of those small steps because the man was able to slightly lower his blood pressure after 8 weeks of education.
Master Food Preserver
As a master food preserver, Patricia used her food safety knowledge to help many low-income families. She had an unforgettable experience of working with a single mom who never cleaned her fridge. The woman had 16 dozen eggs in her fridge because she had no knowledge an egg could be kept for about a month. She also kept taking peanut butter from the food pantry without using it. She never threw away expired infant formula. The woman had some changes after Patricia taught her 8 lessons on food safety.
Outside of Work Hobbies
Besides being an experienced educator, Patricia had some outside work hobbies. She enjoyed making maple syrup with her husband. She helped her daughter raise her grandchildren in summer. Her main passion was to help families in the 4H program whenever they needed help or donation.
One piece of advice that Patricia believed was important to students and people who work in this field is to “respect families, stay humble and be kind.”
“Tell me, then I forget; teach me and I remember; involve me, I learn.”
