Zuni health program begins new initiative

Spinning instructor Bernadine Charlie gives a demo class instructions from her stationary bicycle during the Zuni DIPS and Diabetes Prevention Fair in the Zuni Intermediate School Gym Wednesday. Charlie teaches spinning classes in portable building 306 at the Intermediate School six days a week. [Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent]

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Staff Writer

ZUNI — Debbie Calevaza waited in a long line outside of the Zuni Intermediate School Wednesday night.

It was nearly 4:30 p.m. comedy duo James and Ernie were set to give a performance inside the school's gym at 5:30 p.m.

Although James and Ernie drew the growing crowd, the Zuni Healthy Lifestyles Program, which coordinated the event, was using the occasion to launch its latest initiative, Dive Into Prevention Strategies, or DIPS.

Offering a free peek at local celebrities was an incentive to check out the rest of the program.

"People like to come out and (see them)," Calevaza said. "It attracts them to what (DIPS) is trying to get across."

And the message is simple: eat healthier, exercise more.

Calevaza is a regular participant in the Zuni Healthy Lifestyles Program, often going on the walks and runs the program sponsors every month.

DIPS is an extension of this.

Funded with a $2 million grant, DIPS is geared towards non-diabetic adults, aged 18 years and older, who are at high risk for diabetes.

The staff hoped to recruit participants in the one-year program with Wednesday's event.

Chetna Mehrotra, DIPS program coordinator, wrote the grant.

"A lot of people don't get the message until a celebrity says it," Mehrotra said.

Participants who sign up for the free program will have one year of intensive exercise and nutrition classes. The program will then follow the participants for three years to see how their lifestyles have changed.

Wednesday's three-hour event gave people a taste of what to expect.

Demonstration booths were set up to lure people into trying more fruits and vegetables, exercise, and even take random blood sugar tests. Those waiting for James and Ernie were awarded prizes beach bags, T-shirts, cooking utensils if they completed some of these activities.

Jim Ford, food service coordinator for the Zuni School District, was on hand to demonstrate healthy cooking.

"People associate eating healthy with being on a diet," Ford said, as he dished out chicken, rice, and apples on a plate. "They don't have to be on a diet, but they have to realize what they are eating."

Healthy eating, he demonstrated, is easy and can have taste.

Participants in the program can expect to learn how to cook healthy. There are also incentives.

Mehrotra said that kitchen equipment, such as food steamers, will be given to those who participate in the nutrition classes.

For those participants who exercise, incentives such as swimming suits, running shoes, and even bicycles await them.

"They have to enroll for one year," she said.

For more information, contact DIPS at (505) 782-2929/3091/3093.