Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Jan 14/00) - Lisa Norris says she always been interested in working with women and children. If so, she's found the perfect job.

A mother of five and a recent Aurora College graduate, Norris has worked as the Inuvik Healthy Babies co-ordinator at the Ingamo Hall Friendship Centre since August.

The Healthy Babies program is designed to provide information about prenatal and postnatal concerns.

"I'm not here to tell people this how you have to do it," Norris stressed. "Our approach is really casual, and we're here to show support, provide referrals and to let people come and go as they please."

Fully funded by Health Canada's Prenatal Nutrition Program, Inuvik Healthy Babies has been operating daily at Ingamo for the past four years. Norris said both pregnant women and parents with children up to one year old attend her classes, which focus on nutrition.

"It's about making healthy life choices," she said.

Flexibility is a key to what Ingamo offers, said Norris, who added that there are also special drop-in sessions for families with children up to five-years-old as well as specially scheduled weekend cooking classes, where individuals eat what they prepare and bring home new recipes. Norris said participants also have the chance to help shape the program to meet their needs and to work closely with Ingamo staff, which includes child-care workers Elsa Boudreau and Azza Elgamri. Norris said the approach has made a difference.

"I've seen lots of women in the community learn something new, make healthy choices, ask questions and change their eating habits," she said. "Something like this would have been a big benefit to me when I was a young mother."

Norris said she occasionally offers open house sessions, so that interested individuals can see what the program offers. She said an open house scheduled for tomorrow is aimed at child- care workers. She said if there is room for improvement in Healthy Babies, it's to get more people involved.

"We're here if they just want to come in and browse or look at a video or have a coffee," she said.

Norris added that upcoming attractions include a Nobody's Perfect parenting workshop as well as a series of presentations by the Dene Cultural Institute out of Hay River. She said the hardest part of the job is simply keeping track of all the resources available to the program, a task made easier through the assistance of local experts like regional nutritionist Laurna Arsenault.

"All of our programs are designed to meet the needs of the community," she said, "and there's all kinds of stuff we can do."