Doris Cushman is always looking for ways to keep her lessons fresh and palatable.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

WILTON – Doris Cushman has taught people in Franklin County to eat healthy for 25 years.

Even before then, she was a leader in Weight Watchers of Maine, guiding people in their eating habits. She spent 25 years doing that.

The latter, Cushman said, inspired her to take health courses, mostly nutrition, through the University of Maine System in her early 50s. She became a full-time nutrition aide with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in 1978.

She also served on Gov. Angus King’s Board of Licensure of Dietetic Practice for six years.

Cushman’s voice rose Friday and her eyes sparkled as she talked about her passion. Her hands were moving as she made her points, sometimes tapping her fingers on the dining room table at her Weld Road home.

Cushman was recognized last year by the Maine Legislature and the university for her dedication and commitment to the extension work.

She visits schools and families with young children and holds senior citizens classes.

“I just love working with kids, they’re just so responsive,” Cushman said.

She presents the nutritional information in a fun way, she said, inviting children to sit on the carpet to hear what she has to say or show them.

“If it’s fun for kids, it’s going to be fun for me,” she said.

Her food models are “beautiful,” she said, and she fills up a Plexiglas food pyramid with the models.

Cushman demonstrated how the kids touch the models to check their realness.

“‘Is this real Mrs. Cushman?,’ they ask me,” she said with a laugh. “The orange juice is half-full now.”

She puts together nutritious snacks for each child, doing most of the work at home.

Each one also gets a coloring book and nutrition information to take home.

“Hopefully, hopefully, they’ll take it back to their parents,” she said.

She visits grades kindergarten through six in Franklin County schools and is already thinking about what she’ll bring to Jay fourth-graders this year.

She’ll count out every “darn carrot,” and she’ll ask a farmer ahead of time for fruit and demand the first piece look as beautiful as the last one, she said.

Cushman brings along a Glo Germ kit to teach food safety.

She has the children put on special liquid and wash their hands, singing “Happy Birthday” as they do.

Hopefully by then, she said, they’ve washed their hands for the recommended 20 seconds. When the children return to her, she uses an ultraviolet light to inspect their hands. If they have any specks left on them, back they go to wash again.

She’s just as enthusiastic about teaching senior citizens to improve their nutrition habits. She does her research to get materials she needs.

“I’m bugging somebody all the time for free stuff,” she said. “I have a computer and I know how to use it.”

And she has a budget through the extension service and spends every cent, she said.

Mostly she gets her information through The American Diabetes Association and a food specialist in Orono.

She teaches her seniors to read labels and about the benefits of exercise.

“Just knowing who to call helps,” she said.

“I have seen changes in nutrition,” she said. “It’s taken a long time to see some change in school nutrition programs. I’m so happy to see most schools have salad bars and most include fruits and vegetables.”

She’s also pleased to see several schools eliminate the availability of sugared drinks and candy bars and replace them with healthy offerings of milk, water and fruits.

“Those are good changes to see, but it’s been a long time,” she said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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