Taking Good Care

For as long as she can remember, Lesley Rennis has always known she would pursue a career in the health field.

I originally planned to become a doctor, but decided early on that I wanted to do more than treat people and send them off, she says. I wanted to teach them how to take care of their own health. So Rennis abandoned her medical school plans and entered the health education field. She recently joined the BMCC faculty as an associate professor of health education.

Beyond vitamins
Rennis teaches Health Education 100, a survey course that covers every health topic you can imagine, she says. One of the ways I try to make the course relevant for my students is by talking to them about issues that they may not realize are health-related—not just vitamins and nutrients, but drug education, sexuality, weight management, exercise, and relationships.

These issues are explored from both a societal and individual perspective. For example, we look at how the U.S. compares with other countries in its approach to public health, but I also challenge my students to examine their own behavior and consider ways they can better manage their own health, Rennis says. By the same token, a new course on human sexuality she is planning for next semester will approach its subject not just in terms of reproductive health and contraception, but also historically—how human sexuality has impacted the various aspects of our culture.

Stress management figures importantly in the curriculum—and in a separate course Rennis teaches stress management. Notwithstanding the preconceptions of some students who sign up for the course, she notes, there is no magic formula for managing stress. What I emphasize is that stress is always with us and never goes away, but that we can learn how to manage stress so that we dont get sick. We can turn bad stress into good stress.

Starting early
Prior to joining the BMCC faculty, Rennis, who has more than 13 years experience in public health research and evaluation, served as vice president of health and social services at the Abyssinian Development Corporation, a nonprofit community development organization in Harlem. She has also taught at Columbia University School of Public Health, Teachers College and the College of St. Vincent.

One of the great things about being at BMCC is the opportunity to reach students at an early age, when the can start developing healthy habits and making behavioral changes that will enable them to make better choices throughout their lives, she says. Health affects every aspect of life, she adds—a notion that is all too easily overlooked in student highly programmed lives.

Your ability to study, excel at your job, maintain social relationships and raise a family all depend on taking care of your body and making good health choices, Rennis says. Perhaps no less relevant, learning about health is a lot of fun when you really connect with it.

Category:

Education

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• BMCC

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