Chapter 13: A Culinary-Nutrition Education Program in the New Mays Ambulatory Clinic
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Description
Ms. Villejo discusses the nutrition education program developed as the new Mays Ambulatory Clinic was being built and a suite of patient amenities were created. She worked with architects to include a demonstration kitchen. She describes the cooking classes offered by local chefs and how they were turned into nutrition education with a cancer focus. She discusses other programs with a culinary focus and explains why food is an important issue for cancer patients.
Identifier
VillejoL_03_20150605_C13
Publication Date
6-5-2015
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES, Oral History Interview, June 05, 2015
Topics Covered
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution; The Administrator; The Educator; Overview; Definitions, Explanations, Translations; Building/Transforming the Institution; Multi-disciplinary Approaches; MD Anderson History; Patients; Patients, Treatment, Survivors
Transcript
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
OK, so we’re recording, and it is June 5th, 2015. And the time is about ten minutes after 10:00. And I’m in the Reading Room of the Historical Resources Center at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. And this is my third session with Louise Villejo from the Patient Education Office. So thank you, Louise, for coming in again today.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Thank you.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
And I’m doing this very quickly because we were actually in progress in a very interesting conversation. I said, “Oh no, we really need to turn on the recorder.” Chapter 13
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So you were starting to tell me about an initiative with integrative medicine. So please continue.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
So I think one of the things that I mentioned at the retirement reception is MD Anderson is a place of big ideas. And I think they’re all considered, and they might not be appropriate for one point but then they are for another. And one of the things that we did, in all the buildings that have come up over the last thirty years or even the last few years, when we were developing the Mays Clinic, it was really great because we were asked to organize and develop the patient amenities area. So in the Main Building as we were developing programs and ideas, we were all in different spaces, wherever we could find a space. And I talked a little bit about the Learning Center space before. But now we have the opportunity to really pull all of our patient amenities together. And so that was very exciting. So we worked with the architects and we had what was at the time the Place of Wellness, now Integrative Medicine Center, with their classes and programs there. We had the Learning Center. We had the Anderson Network, which is now myCancerConnection. The Chapel, which is nondenominational, but a place for just providing that space for spiritual prayers and thoughts. And patient education classrooms. And I had mentioned before that in the early days we found a classroom wherever we could and it was under the—there was a really odd space we had under the auditorium area. It was on the main hallway but it was a very odd little space. So when we were envisioning that one of the things that we thought would be very exciting was a demonstration kitchen. And so we planned the space to be a demonstration kitchen and classroom and then our regular classroom that could be opened up. So it was really very exciting. I went to Central Market and little places that had demonstration kitchens around town to see how it was set up and what the best thing would do, and how we could have somebody cooking and have a mirror above so that the audience could see. And then also availability of the videotape so that we could capture that. And I have a copy of the first proposal we submitted to VEPS, the Volunteer Endowment Program. And we got funding to bring in local chefs. And so I partnered with Place of Wellness and Clinical Nutrition and we brought in—and this program is still ongoing now. But we brought in local chefs. And then a dietitian would stand there. And then they would make something and talk about how to make it. Some fun things, but simple. And they would talk about how to make it. And then the clinical dietitian would talk about the nutrients and how this would be good to help patients, because that’s one of the top things up until I think this year, was one of the top questions in the Learning Center, was about nutrition before, during, and after treatment. And so we have a lot of information about that. And one of the things that we had from the beginning in the Learning Center was a set of cookbooks, because that was such a big interest.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Where did those come from, the cookbooks?
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
The cookbooks? Oh, we have from everywhere. I’m not sure.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
So they weren’t MD Anderson-developed.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
No, no, no. But actually MD Anderson, that was another initiative of MD Anderson. And I believe it’s on the Children’s Cancer Center page. It’s a very nice cookbook. And there were several runs at that cookbook, but they did a really nice job. I know Volunteer Services was very involved in the beginning.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
I’m sorry. So the Mays Clinic. And I’m not remembering exactly. That was in the early 2000s?
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
Yes.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
OK. I’m afraid I don’t have the date in my head. Because I’m just—nutrition and the cancer benefits of certain sorts of foods, the cancer-fighting benefits of certain foods, has really—the information about it and interest in it has just exploded in the past few years. So that was fifteen years ago that you were starting to work on that, over fifteen years ago.
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
And actually we did some programs before then because as I mentioned our first Learning Center was in the Anderson Mayfair, now Rotary House. And we would have programs for patients and family members there working with Patient Guest Relations. And one of the things that we did was we brought the—I think she was the microwave cooking editor of the Chronicle. This was in the ’90s. And it was perfect because of course they had microwaves in their room. So there were little things that they could cook that were healthy, and not having to eat out all the time. And so that was one of the programs that we started over there and was the little seed that we thought about when we opened this area.
Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:
Why do you think that patients are so interested in the food issue and nutrition issue?
Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:
I think because it’s something that they can control and it can become an issue because they’re not hungry, they need to keep their nutrients up, keep their weight up. Back in the beginning of course when you took chemo you lost weight. Now sometimes you gain weight. And so the dietitians and Cancer Prevention now have programs for breast cancer patients to help them maintain their weight, because of course that’s an issue. You’re already going through enough without gaining weight that you don’t want to gain. So I think that that is something that we can do and that we have to eat. And so what are some things that we can eat? Because you have taste changes with chemotherapy. And you’re not hungry. And so you need to really get dense calories and that kind of thing. And so people want to know what can I do. And smoothies and things like that can pack the calories in and go down a little bit better than other foods. And then you don’t want—sometimes people don’t want to eat like their favorite foods and then not like them anymore. So they try different little things. But that’s always been a huge request. And of course in the Learning Center they provide them with basic information, and then one of the things that we do in the Learning Center is provide referrals. So if they need a dietitian or if they need a social worker, then we can tell them what services that those programs offer.
Recommended Citation
Villejo, Louise and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 13: A Culinary-Nutrition Education Program in the New Mays Ambulatory Clinic" (2015). Interview Chapters. 1528.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1528
Conditions Governing Access
Open
