For more than 30 years, Sua Vang has dedicated her time to improving the health of the Hmong community in Fresno County.
"I moved from San Diego in 1986,” said Vang, who, with a nursing degree, took on the challenge of engaging the Hmong community through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program. “At that time, EFNEP was looking for two nutrition educators."
Every day, Sua Vang, an EFNEP community health specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension in Fresno County, wakes up ready to do her best for her community.
Fresno County is home to 35,000 Hmong, the second-largest population of Hmong in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center.
"My biggest challenge was that I didn't know much about nutrition. I had graduated as a vocational nurse, so I had to go through a lot of nutrition training," Vang explained.
The EFNEP specialist also recalled that she had to learn how to keep a 24-hour food log and go door-to-door to recruit participants. It was not an easy road, but Vang has become a trusted and significant community educator within EFNEP because of her vast experience successfully reaching out to the Asian community. She communicates in four languages – Hmong, Lao, Thai and English – with the Southeast Asian community.
Vang has overcome many challenges, but one remains constant.
"A lot of the community members don't do a lot of physical activity; they're indoors, they don't exercise much, so diabetes has a high prevalence among the Hmong community," Vang said. “Some people still use butter and a lot of rice; there's no variety in their diet."
Vang has no regrets about talking nutrition to her family and anyone else who wants to listen. It is essential to her that not only her family but also everyone in her community who participates in the EFNEP classes learn to create healthy eating habits.