What’s Cookin’?

Things are really cooking at the Miami Public Library.  Our Health Literacy Project, a cooperative partnership between the Miami Public Library, INTEGRIS Baptist Regional Health Center, Northeastern Tribal Health Systems, Ottawa County Health Department, and Ottawa County DHS, includes cooking classes for kids!  Families were invited through school based social workers and tribal health workers to attend these classes that are taught by Pamela Patty, the Community Health Improvement Specialist at INTEGRIS Health, Southwest Medical Center in OKC and Channa Morton, Diabetes Educator at NTHS.  While the children are learning to prepare all the elements of a four-course meal, the parents are attending classes of their own that include cooking healthy crockpot meals with five ingredients or less, using ad-matching to save on groceries, establishing healthy eating habits, using choices and consequences to encourage children to make good choices, and healthy family activities.  Families who attend at least 5 of the 6 classes will receive a crockpot, provided through a grant from Walmart, and a cookbook.  Classes take place at kitchen facilities in the First Christian Church and at Northeastern Tribal Health Systems.  The Health Literacy Project is funded through the Oklahoma Dept. of Libraries with funds from Library Services and Technology Act, A Federal source of library funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.