Dorothy Howard has dedicated 10 years of her life to teaching expecting mothers how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and what will be best for the baby.

Howard works for the Alabama Corporate Extension Program and partners with Sav-A-Life to teach nutrition classes there. Her students learn how to eat healthy, keep a healthy weight and stay active.

The program she teaches is the Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program. As a nutrition teacher, she breaks down why each healthy choice is important for the mother and the baby. I can look back on a lot of clients that I have encountered that came in and didn’t like different things, but after the class was over, they realized the changes would help them and the baby, so they didn’t mind making the changes.”

“It’s a challenge when you are trying to work with people,” Howard said. “Making changes is hard.”

Howard said that being able to partner with Sav-a-Life has helped the program to “blossom.” She said that there are so many things that she teaches her clients today that she wished she could have learned when she was pregnant.

“It’s rewarding when you can meet so many different people and they receive you and take the information and apply it to their daily life,” she said.

Howard said that many of her clients come in, not wanting to try certain things; however, she makes every effort to personalize her teachings and work with her clients in any way that she can.

“We make a great bond,” Howard said about her relationships with her clients. She even stays in contact with them after the clients have completed the classes.

“It feels so good to see the moms and dads wanting get a better understanding of how important it is that the mother is pregnant,” Howard said. “Being in a relationship and partnership with the two of them, I think it is encouraging to each other.”

At the end of the classes, Howard said she can see the changes in her clients, after just six classes.

“I love meeting different people,” Howard said. “I love interacting and serving whoever I can to give them a better understanding of why it’s important to eat healthy during their pregnancy and even after their pregnancy.”