VOL. 33, NO.1.
Friday, January 6, 1989
FALL RIVER, MASS.
Southeastern Massachusetts' Largest Weekly
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511 Per Year
Videotape gives "strangers" a practical welcome "Cornendo Bern Para Viver Melhor" WASHINGTON (NC)-National Nt igration Week, Jan. 9-14, offers a challenge to schools, parishes and communities to "express the words of Jesus, 'I was a stranger and you welcomed me'" said Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick, head of the U.S. bishops' migration committee. Such "strangers" are being welcomed in a most practical way by the Portuguese Community Health Care Program at St. Anne's Hospital, Fall River, where a 17-minute Portuguese-language videotape was recently premiered. Titled "Comendo Bem Para Viver Melhor" (Eating Well To Live Better), the video targets three major diseases affecting Portuguese area residents, many of whom are recent emigrants from the Azores not yet fluent in English.
make their first homes in the Uni- checking of one's blood pressure ted States. and habitual monitoring of one's The video intersperses shots of intake of fat. Fall River and of a recent road The road race scenes illustrate race with kitchen scenes demon- the "secret of athletes - exercise strating ways 'to cut down on con- and diet." su'mption of salt and fat. Arresting "It's a 17-minute video but it graphics show how, for instance, took hundreds of people-hours to lard clogs arteries as it would a prepare," said Father John J. Olidrinking straw, narrowing them veira, parochial vicar at St. Miand increasing the risk of stroke chael's parish, Fall River, and advisand heart attack. or to the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration on pastoral care of In a particularly vivid scene, salt Portuguese immigrants in Massaoverflows a dish in a repr,esentation of how much salt a person can ,chusetts and Rhode Island. As chairman of the Portuguese unwittingly consume in the course Community Health Care Comof a year and it is noted that most mittee, he contributed a goodly people get enough salt naturally number of those people-hours, without needing to add it to food. working with Robert Resendes, a Use of flavor-enhancers such as coordinator of the Massachusetts lemon and vinegar as salt substiGateway Cities Program, which tutes is suggested and it is pointed out that whereas it used to be funded the video. Production, howDubbed the "Columbia Street necessary to salt fish and meat in ever, was up to Father Oliveira's triad" by area physicians, the dis- order to preserve it, the freezing committee. Among video advisers was Dr. eases are diabetes, obesity and process has rendered the older . Americo B. Almeida, who noted hypertension, all affected adver- method unnecessary. "Salt retains liquid in the body that Portuguese have a genetic sely by traditional Portuguese dishes such as chou rico and salt cod. and makes the ht;art work over- predisposition to diabetes, making wise dietary choices even more Columbia Street is an area of Fall time," the video explains. Highly reco!J1mended is regular important for them than for the River where many new emigrants general population. But it is difficult for people to make drastic eating changes, the video producers agreed. Therefore the film concentrates on healthier ways to prepare traditional favorites. Olive oil, for instance, is suggested instead of lard for cooking, since it does not clog the arteries. Roasted foods, viewers are told, .JANUARY 9-14, 1989 should be refrigerated briefly and congealed fat should be removed Era peregrino e me acolhestes ... ' before reheating for serving. "Frying food is the least healthy y..:z.t.il ~~% ttJloJl ~;;<J"8"}~.:i!. way of preparing it," warns the video, but suggests that if one IDEGEN VOLTAM ~ BEFOGADTATOK must fry, vegetable oil or a sprayTA LA NGUOI XA LA MA CON DA DON NHAN TA type product should be used. "Recently arrived immigrants too MWEN TE ETRANJE OU BVEN RFSEVWA·M often get into junk food instead of fruits and vegetables," lamented AKO'Y (SANG DAYUHAN AT INYONG PINATULOY Father Oliveira, who emphasized, ICH BIN EIN GAST GEWESEN UND IHR HART MICH as does the video, that its healthy BEHERBERGT advice is for everyone, not only BYLEM PRZYBYSZEM A PRZYJEUSCIE MNIE those at special risk for the "Columbia Street triad." Area television stations and liNES AS BUVAU KELEIVIS. IR MANE PRIGLAUDETE braries have received copies of YO ERA FORASTERO Y ME ACOGISTEIS "Comendo Bem Para Viver MelERO STRANIERO E MI DESTE OSPITALITA hor" and it will be sold at cost to community groups and social service agencies. It is also recommended for viewing by parish groups. Further information on the videotape is available from Resendes at Gateway Cities Project, St. Anne's Hospital, 795 Middle St., Fall River THE COVER of the Migration Week Manual quotes 02721, tel. 674-5741, ext. 2270. Turn to Page Six Matthew 25:35 in many languages.
1989 National MigrationWeek Manual
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I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU WELCOMED ME
UNDER THE WHITE helmet is Msgr. Thomas J. Harrington, Taunton fire department chaplain, who is assisting a firefighter at the Bricktowne apartment fire. (Arikian photo)
Many join to aid Taunton fir·e victims The"holiday season in Taunton was marred by a series of devastating fires which displaced scores of families. Happily, no lives were lost, but several firefighters were injured, although none required extensive hospitalization. An early morning fire on Plain Street drove the Dennis Pires family to frigid streets in the first of the blazes. Mr. and Mrs. Pires and their five children received immediate aid from the disaster services program of the Taunton council of the St. Vincent Qe Paul Society, directed by Roland Ducharme who is also disaster chairman of the greater Taunton Red Cross. In response to a spontaneous outpouring of concern for the Pires family, greater Taunton agencies organized a community fund and through the cooperation of local media contributions were gathered by Vincentians and Thomas Souza of Mechanics Cooperative Bank. Clothing and Christmas gifts were donated and in the tempor-
ary surroundings of the trailer which insurance underwriters located adjacent to the badly damaged house, the Pires family enjoyed the best possible Christmas under their trying circumstances. School committee member Jayne Murphy, who had herself been burned out of her home in 1986, organized an appeal to schoolmates of the Pires children and $2000 was presented to the family. On Dec. 14, the worst of the Taunton fires devastated the Bricktowne apartment complex in the Weir section. Several nearby fire departments aided the Taunton firefighters in containing the predawn blaze as dozens of tenants fled in flimsy clothing. Again Ducharme, aided by a corps of Vincentians, undertook organization of immediate relief for the victims. Red Cross units from Fall River traveled to Taunton to assist the Taunton Red Turn to Page Six