Vestavia Hills UMC invites speakers for Oct. 15

Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church is hosting two speakers on Oct. 15.

One speaker, Dr. Luis Pineda, will discuss the healing art of cooking. Pineda will address the nutritional challenges of cancer patients as well as how they can affect those close to the patient.

Pineda is a native of Guatemala and moved to Birmingham for a hematology/oncology fellowship. During that fellowship, he became interested in the nutritional challenges of cancer patients and worked to research how taste is affected during chemotherapy.

Pineda will speak at 6 p.m. The event is sponsored by the VHUMC Cancer Support Ministries.

Steve Sweat, clinical director of Community Grief Support Services, will also speak at VHUMC on Oct. 15. Sweat is a licensed professional counselor and will discuss how to heal after the death of a loved one.

Sweat has more than 20 years of experience and has worked in grief counseling and crisis intervention. His presentation will focus on the benefits of group participation, the difference between grief and mourning, way of facilitating mourning, information on coping and mourning styles, the impact of grief on a survivor and the factors that impact the intensity and duration of grief and mourning.

Sweat will speak at 6 p.m. The event is sponsored by VHUMC Grief Support Ministries.

Registration for both speaker events is available at vhumc.org.