Melinda Stella

St. Catherine’s nursing student Melinda Stella will be entering the nursing field when she graduates in December. Although Melinda will be new to nursing, protecting her family’s health is something she’s been practicing for years.

Melinda is a St. Paul mom with six children ranging in age from 13 to 3. She first began protecting her family’s health by changing the way they eat, “We started eating organically, shopping at the local farmer’s market and doing a lot of home baking to avoid all the preservatives and other chemicals added to food.”

Like a growing number of families, the Stella household has a family member diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). “When my daughter was diagnosed, that’s when I started looking at food, diet and other natural remedies.” This approach has worked well with her daughter and she hasn’t been on medications for a year. In fact, her entire family seems to be healthier and not getting sick as easily.

The medical community is discovering new connections between the environment and health. For example, while 76 percent of ADHD is due to heredity, it is now understood the interaction between genes and environmental factors also plays a role in whether someone develops ADHD. This may be part of the explanation for why ADHD has increased 27 percent in the last nine years.

The effects of environment on health is something St. Catherine’s nursing program touches on in their community health course. “We had just finished this topic when I attended the Healthy Home presentation–what I learned at the presentation really connected things together.”

Melinda not only made further changes at home like switching from plastic to glass containers, but will also use this information in nursing, “It’s important to be an advocate for what you know. Expecting mothers in particular need this information.” Melinda sees a role for nurse practitioners as a source of information for patients about how they can reduce their toxic exposure, “Preventative medicine is the best approach.”

Like others, Melinda understands there is role for government and businesses in protecting public health from toxins, “Government needs to be an advocate for its people and companies need to disclose information on what people are ingesting.” She also believes there are lessons to be learned from other countries, “The European Union is doing a much better job of protecting peoples’ health. I would like a similar approach here.”