Cultivating Fitness and Wellness in Under-Resourced Communities

07/18/22 • 36 min

In this episode, Tinu speaks with Gabrielle Cole - the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Fit and Food Connection – an organization focused on offering people living in food and fitness deserts access to free nutritious food and physical activities while encouraging and supporting healthy living. Gabrielle will elaborate on why underserved communities have less access to fitness and fitness education, the impact of community engagement, and tips for how to promote a healthy, active lifestyle in families.

“There are a variety of programs in our underserved communities. However, they’re at capacity or there's a disconnect between the community being served and the program leaders, the local officials or the executive directors or the investors... In our communities that suffer the most, there is a disconnect with the community engagement, what the community needs.” - Gabi Cole

Timestamps

01:47 Gabi’s three aspects of herself that relate to her work as a disability and diversity advocate
03:19 Accessibility to fitness in low-income areas
07:02 The impact of quality and affordability on fitness access
11:49 The impact of stress on health and how to reduce stress
17:43 Improving body image
20:20 Maintaining fitness with a chronic illness
25:50 How to help your community and advocate
29:52 Gabi’s hope for the future of healthcare

Takeaway Learnings

Some of the issues around lack of physical exercise in low-income communities are a social issue that stems from affordability and quality programming. For effective physical activity to be implemented there needs to be space for all its participants, enough staff, and facilities that are usable.
Physical exercise is just one of the many components to living a healthy lifestyle. Being well rested, promoting positive mental health, and eating nutritious meals also are necessary to maintain your health.
Our bodies and the conditions our bodies face change daily. Maintaining physical fitness is a lifetime process that will change and shift over time.

Actionable Tips

If you are trying to incorporate fitness into your lifestyle, start with small and attainable goals that work for your lifestyle and schedule. For example, I carry weights with me back and forth to the restroom.
If you are considering bringing fitness programs to underserved communities consider the cultural needs of the residents before implementing fitness programs. Getting the perspectives of what future participants want is key to engagement.
If you are a parent promoting a healthy lifestyle for your kids through physically moving together and showing them the value of fitness will allow your children to learn from an early age.
If doing physical exercise alone feels difficult for you, try getting in walking, running, or training group together. Holding one another accountable can promote more effective change.

About Gabi Cole

Gabi was born and raised in North St. Louis City, Missouri. She moved to Chicago after high school to study Political Science and Sociology at DePaul University. She later returned and obtained a Master of Science in Non-Profit Management from Fontbonne University. She is currently a Nonprofit Executive, consultant and Adjunct Professor.

Her passion for human services and overall wellness drove her to research and develop a local wellness nonprofit program established in 2012 for underserved families in the St. Louis area. Because of this, she has exceptional leadership experience with racial equity and anti-racism work, creating and leading successful programs, direct practice with vulnerable families, public relations, organizational planning. Her honesty as a community health leader, great educator, and professional work has humbled her viewpoint in working with at-risk communities.

She believes that social and community organizations should be mission-driven and stay true to their values. Gabi is a member of the American Public Health Association and has been recognized for several outstanding leadership and fundraising awards. Gabi is married with two children and resides in North Saint Louis City.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Timestamps

01:47 Gabi’s three aspects of herself that relate to her work as a disability and diversity advocate
03:19 Accessibility to fitness in low-income areas
07:02 The impact of quality and affordability on fitness access
11:49 The impact of stress on health and how to reduce stress
17:43 Improving body image
20:20 Maintaining fitness with a chronic illness
25:50 How to help your community and advocate
29:52 Gabi’s hope for the future of healthcare

Takeaway Learnings

Some of the issues around lack of physical exercise in low-income communities are a social issue that stems from affordability and quality programming. For effective physical activity to be implemented there needs to be space for all its participants, enough staff, and facilities that are usable.
Physical exercise is just one of the many components to living a healthy lifestyle. Being well rested, promoting positive mental health, and eating nutritious meals also are necessary to maintain your health.
Our bodies and the conditions our bodies face change daily. Maintaining physical fitness is a lifetime process that will change and shift over time.

Actionable Tips

If you are trying to incorporate fitness into your lifestyle, start with small and attainable goals that work for your lifestyle and schedule. For example, I carry weights with me back and forth to the restroom.
If you are considering bringing fitness programs to underserved communities consider the cultural needs of the residents before implementing fitness programs. Getting the perspectives of what future participants want is key to engagement.
If you are a parent promoting a healthy lifestyle for your kids through physically moving together and showing them the value of fitness will allow your children to learn from an early age.
If doing physical exercise alone feels difficult for you, try getting in walking, running, or training group together. Holding one another accountable can promote more effective change.

About Gabi Cole

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Health in the Margins: The Trailer

The Health in the Margins podcast is a podcast that hosts conversations between experts and community members to investigate disparities and uncover solutions related to diversity and disability in healthcare.

On this show, Tinu will be speaking with a variety of guests, including community leaders, government policymakers, and many more incredible people making strides to better the healthcare experiences of all people.

About Tinu-Abayomi-Paul

Tinu Abayomi-Paul is a writer, an activist, a disability advocate, and the founder of the organization Everywhere Accessible.

Through her organization, she curates a free 40-page list of patient-facing hashtags for the disabled and chronically ill Twitter community. In February 2022, her ideas for a better Black Disability experience will be featured in The Black Agenda, edited by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman.

She is also a member of Global Healthy Living Foundation's COVID-19 Patient Leadership Council Board, National Pain's Community Council, as well as Women Who Tech's US Start-Up Advisory Board

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

How to Improve Healthcare Access through Proper Language Translation

In this episode, Tinu speaks with professional translator, Rafa Lombardino. Together, they discuss the importance of having quality translations of medical documents, what quality translation is, and how language accessibility is a part of the accessibility needs of the American healthcare system.

“You can't just copy and paste and look up words in the dictionary because there's culture, there's a whole context... And when you're talking about health documents, something that it's really a matter of life or death, you do have to take a responsibility and have accountability for the message that you're giving to a target audience that doesn't speak the original language.” - Rafa Lombardino

Timestamps

03:02 Rafa’s three identities and how they relate to her work as a disability and diversity advocate
04:51 The difference between translation and interpretation
05:48 The challenges of translating English to other languages
09:23 The difficulty of translating medical documents for transgender and nonbinary patients
10:46 Why Google translate is not always the best option
14:32 How punctuation is a factor in translation
14:50 The importance of incorporating culture in translation
16:27 Ways the medical field can improve translation
19:23 Examples of how improper translation can cause problems
21:04 Why it is important to have translation options for patients
22:33 Why the method of translation is important (written versus verbal)
23:59 Common problems with medical documents and translation
26:04 What are the components of high-quality medical translation
30:22 Rafa’s pet peeves about medical translation
35:23 Why bilingual people are not always good translators
38:03 Rafa’s hope for the future of healthcare

Takeaway Learnings

1) Translation and interpretation are different skill sets. Rafa, as a translator, focuses on written and audio/visual materials. Interpreters focus on verbal communication.

2) Translation is more than translating one word into another. It's about finding the best solution to fit the message as well as taking responsibility and accountability for your target audience.

3) The cultural and social aspects of documents are often not considered when translating and this is a huge problem. For example, the standard American formatting practice on forms are not necessarily applicable to people of other countries and cultures.

Actionable Tips

1) If you are a medical provider, take note of who your target audience is when getting documents translated into other languages. Oftentimes even a general language is too broad. What is the country you are targeting, or the gender? The more specific, the better translation.

2) If you are considering translating consent forms for your medical practice, account for the time it takes to prepare quality translation. Remember, this process requires a large amount of care and consideration for the language and the culture being addressed and is not typically a quick process.

3) If you are a patient who would like to see an increase in translation of medical documents, ask your provider if they work with a language or inclusion department. If patients express the desire, hospitals and other medical spaces may be willing to provide additional resources.

About Rafa Lombardino

Rafa Lombardino was born in Brazil and has been living in California since 2002. She became a professional translator in 1997, is certified by the American Translators Association (ATA) in both English-to-Portuguese and Portuguese-to-English translations and has a Professional Certificate in ES>EN translations from UC San Diego Extended Studies, where she started teaching translation classes in 2010, including “Tools and Technology in Translation,” which was also released in book format. She is the President & CEO of Word Awareness, hosts the Translation Confessional podcast, and specializes in Technology, Marketing, Human Resources, Environment, Health & Safety (EHS), Education, Health & Wellness, Audiovisual, and Literature.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.