Page:Wood - Foods of the Foreign-Born.djvu/114

98 such a menu is its psychological effect upon the immigrant, almost if not quite as much as its physiological. The work of making up such an International Menu is a matter of practical and not difficult detail. The dietitians, or other persons responsible in hospitals, sanitoria, convalescent homes, restaurants in industrial plants, etc., should (wherever the racial constitution of their people requires it) be made responsible for developing something of this sort.

The diet lists used by medical institutions such as hospitals and dispensaries should be adapted to the people, as well as to the diseases which are treated. The habitual foods of the nationality or race dealt with must be in the mind of the person who prepares the diet list, if it is to be of much real service. This means that the dietary problems of patients need to be handled by dietitians, visiting nurses, or social workers who have some knowledge of foreign as well as of the characteristic American diet. The average visiting nurse or medical-social service worker cannot become an expert in dietetics, and must depend upon the advisory dietitian or the visiting housekeeper. It may be expected that dispensary and visiting nursing associations should provide themselves directly, or through the cooperation of some other organization, with at least the advisory services of such a dietitian. Food Clinics, in which dietitians can be consulted by nurses or general workers, and to which patients can be sent when necessary, are needed in the large dispensaries and in connection with the Health Centers which are now being established so rapidly throughout the country.