Description

A Walk in Other’s Shoes is returning to this year’s Week of Action Against Poverty. This challenge is being undertaken by individuals in the community who have interests within the health field. Participants have been asked to attempt to stay within a social assistance benefits’ budget. A single person on Ontario Works would receive $337 monthly for all of their personal needs and $384 for all of their shelter costs. Because participants cannot replicate the housing conditions realistically, shelter costs are not included within this challenge. For the five day challenge, participants will have $11 daily to cover all food and drink, entertainment, some personal supplies and transportation costs. Each day, every participant will be given a challenge card which will reveal an unexpected challenge to be completed before the end of the day.

A Walk in Other’s Shoes is not a competitive challenge. It is a challenge that raises awareness of the hurdles that people living on social assistance face daily. As we within our community develop our own understanding, we can begin to reduce the barriers that they encounter and ultimately increase opportunities for increased prosperity for all. The challenge takes place February 10th-14th, 2018.

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Challenge Day 3 - Feb 12th

Off to work after eating a very regular breakfast of 2 eggs, toast and peanut butter. Taking lentil soup for lunch and will eat it if I find time. I need to stop at a store for a few more items today.

Today's task:

“Your dietitian said your iron is low. Figure out how to increase it”

Low iron. What foods could I afford? Or do I need to buy a supplement. We, as healthcare providers, often ask our clients to make a change that could put a financial strain on their budget. The request is very vague and I will need to check for foods that are high in iron that I can afford to eat, taste good and provide sufficient iron.

So it looks like some of the food I have purchased has iron.. eggs, lentils. Although meat has a good source of iron, I may be limited in purchasing it due to cost; but I like sardines, salmon and tuna which could be in my basket and supply more iron. For the vegetarian, spinach and nuts (which I eat almost daily and have not purchased this week) could be alternatives.

Sometimes, clients don't want/like/desire to eat the food high in iron. So perhaps, I could get a bottle of iron from the pharmacy. The cost is approximately $6-10 for 100 tablets. It comes in various dosage forms with different amounts of elemental iron. We often want clients to take with orange juice (or other acidic food) which I do not plan to purchase as one of my food choices. Also, if iron deficiency requires me to take a supplement, a physician or NP could provide a prescription it at no cost to me.

I thought I would pick up some more food today after work. I ended up a one store for work related task and decided I was not going to get to the grocery store for fresh produce. Although I was able to get more carbohydrate (pasta) and protein ( canned tuna), I was not able to find affordable vegetables or fruit (canned or frozen). It is too cold outside to walk to another store and the groceries I already am carrying, arequite heavy. I will just have to eat the same fruit and vegetables for another day. One nice thing about frozen fruit is you can eat it more slowly from frozen and enjoy it as a nice snack before bed.

It is so cold outside tonight. How can anyone live overnight outside in this weather? Thanks for the shelters in Kenora but that is not the ideal. Lots of places are open during the day but not at night. I need to go home and pull out blankets, coats and other winter items that are not being used. I saw a post on Facebook that one organization needed towels so I will bring a few of those too.


Sleeping tonight in a warm bed and thankful for heat. Not hungry but starting to dislike the lack of choices to eat.

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