Locavore Brunch

Today was the last day of class as well as our locavore lunch.  There was a great spread, all types of local (and some not so local) foods.  I definitely ate too much food, I was stuffed by the end, but it was all so good.  I also discovered how much I like kale, which I had in an awesome kale salad and kale chips.  Overall, this quarter in community nutrition was a great experience!

Dairy Farm Tour

Today we went to the dairy farm in Pomeroy. It was the Holter Holstein Farm, we also had a representative from the American Dairy Association take us on the tour.  The farmer and the American Dairy Association representative discussed that the farmers pay fifteen cents for every one hundred pounds of milk produced at their farm is paid to the American Dairy Association.  The farm is family owned and operated by family and local workers, many of which are local students.  The farm was surprisingly clean to what I would have expected from a farm with that many cows on it.  Even more surprising was that the smell was not bad at all.  I was surprised at how modern the facility was, I didn't realize they had it all mechanized and the cows wore radio tags to get the appropriate amounts of food.

Speaker: Karen Baker, RD, LD - Nutrition Affair Director for the Dairy Council

Agency: The Dairy Council

Program Type: The Dairy Council communicates scientific research on dairy related issues and advocate for dairy nutrition.

Funding: Funding comes completely from dairy farms. For every 100 pounds of dairy produced, the Dairy Council receives $0.15.

Mission: NDC disseminates nutrition programs, materials and research to support government recommendations for improved nutrition for Americans, including consumption of at least three servings of nutrient-rich low-fat or fat-free milk and milk products a day. 

Monitor/Evaluation: The federal government oversees the productivity and effectiveness of the Dairy Council.

Role of Nutrition Professionals: Nutrion professionals may work with local farmers to act as a liaison to the NDC.  Nutrion professionals also may oversee dairy distribution and consumption rates in schools to ensure all standards are being met.

5/22/2012

Today we just met with our group and completed a handout brochure on spinach.

Speaker: Paul Clever

Agency: Good Earth Farm

Type of program & Purpose: Good Earth Farm provides a place for education for people from the community about agriculture and livestock.  They also grow produce at the local garden and donate it to local food shelters.

Funding:They are mostly self funded but also receive donations from local sources.


Monitoring/Evaluation:They have no specific monitoring of production or efficiency rates, but they are inspected semi-annually to ensure safety of donated food.

Role of Nutrition Professional: A nutritional professional may have many roles in this typeof work, but mostly it would have to deal with monitoring of the producers and ensuring good quality food is being served.

Speaker: Melissa Alfano - Director of Athens/Perry County WIC

Agency: WIC

Type of program & Purpose: A supplemental food program for pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, as well as infants and children.  Other criteria for the program also includes financial limits.

Funding: 100% federally funded.

Monitoring/Evaluation: Done on a federal level, as well as a survey done by the state dietitian every 2 years.

Role of Nutrition Professional:  Nutrition professionals provide nutrition education, breastfeeding classes and education, supplemental food distribution, coupon distribution and nutrition status assessments.

I think working as a nutrition profession in WIC would be very interesting and a good experience to have even if one was not going to deal exclusively with women, infants and children.

Name: Annie Laurie Cadmus - Director of Sustainability

Agency: Compost Facility/EcoHouse

Type of program & Purpose: To make Ohio university a more sustainable environment and to act as an example to those around.  The compost facility collects food and landscaping waste from campus and converts it through aerobic means into compost which may be used for fertilizer.  EcoHouse as a sustainable  project for students which allows them to live in the house off campus and live a sustainable lifestyle.

Funding: Sponsored by grants or through OU funds if needed.

Monitoring/Evaluation: The compost facility may be inspected by university officials to ensure safety and efficiency.  All evaluation done on either facility is internal.

Role of Nutrition Professional:  Nutrition professionals may be asked at a facility to develop or implement or maintain a composing system. 

Speaker: Brittany Pangburn & Joyce Shriner

Agency: 4-H & OSU Extension Program

Program Type: American youth with focus in rural populations assistance in furthering education

Funding:OSU employers, County commissioners, membership fees, fundraisers & tax levees

Mission: Engaging people to strengthen their lives and communities through research-based educational programming.

Monitor/Evaluation: Evaluations of educational classes conducted by those participating in the courses

Role of Nutrition Professionals: Aid in nutrition education of youth and other participants in the OSU extension program.

   4-H seems like a very interesting program, I have personally never heard of it.  I think it could be a fun opportunity in which to participate.  I didn't really catch the role of the nutrition professionals in the OSU Extension part of the program, but it seems like a great and productive program, despite it's financial restrictions.

Speaker: Heidi Anderson, MPH, RD, LD

Agency: Wellworks

Program Type: Wellness for University staff, and community members

Funding: University wellness funds and funds from members' fees

Mission: "To be the highest quality wellness program for our customers and to combine academic and experiential learning for our students."

Monitor/Evaluation: Feedback from clients and members of the program as well as surveys by clients

Role of Nutrition Professionals: Working with individuals in the community to assist in making educated decisions about wellness in their lives.

     Working at a program like Wellworks seems like it would be an interesting experience.  I definitely would be interested in working in an outpatient setting like the nutrition counseling program at Wellworks. 

Speaker: Janine Faber, MEd, RD, LD

Agency: Meijer - Healthy Living

Program Type: Community education and business marketing

Funding: Program is funded through various sponsors, commonly different products and name brand items sold in the store

Mission: "...to increase sales and promote customer loyalty by creating and communicating health solutions and product knowledge to shoppers."

Monitor/Evaluation: Feedback from customers in the store, and success of product sales

Role of Nutrition Professionals: Nutrition professionals like Janine provide education to the customers in the store directly as well as through educational tools in the store.  They also determine which products in the store are more  acceptable for a healthy lifestyle.

     While I do think it would be interesting to get some experience in the marketing dietetics field; I really don't see myself working there as a career.  I am interested in the community field, but I feel that even though Janine said the businesses pushing certain products don't dictate any of their decisions in the field, I feel as though it would be unavoidable.  I would rather work in a field where solely wellness is the focus and not marketing.

I suppose the main content of today's discussion was about accreditation and the laws governing RDs and nutrition professionals in the United States.  I now know it is vital to know the laws and rules of the different states when moving from state to state if plan to identify as a nutrition professional.  I also learned today that Ohio has the strictest rules of all the states when it comes to identifying as a nutrition professional.

Francie Astrom

Speaker: Francie Astrom MS, RD, LD, CDE

Agency: Wellworks

Program Type: Wellness for University staff, and community members

Funding: University wellness funds and funds from members' fees

Mission: "To be the highest quality wellness program for our customers and to combine academic and experiential learning for our students."

Monitor/Evaluation: Feedback from clients and members of the program.

Role of Nutrition Professionals: Nutrition counseling for individuals who require it, also run and coordinate nutrition related programs and events.

     Working at a program like Wellworks seems like it would be an interesting experience.  I definitely would be interested in working in an outpatient setting like the nutrition counseling program at Wellworks. 

It was interesting to learn about all of the organizations.  I have never known that much about ansy of them before.  I feel that the information I learned and the handouts that everyone made may be a grat resource for me in the future.

Speaker: Nick Claussen

Speaker: Nick Claussen

Agency: Athens County Department of Job and Family Services

Program Type: Food and job related assistance benefits

Funding: State government

Mission: "As the employees of the Athens County Department of Job & Family Services,
we have been charged with the most serious and important responsibility in government, that of helping our fellow citizens who experience the despair of poverty, hunger, homelessness, and ill health. We believe that our programs represent the conscience of society and that our strength lies in seeking a decent life for all."
  (From agency website http://jfs.athenscountygovernment.com/about-us.htm)

Monitor/Evaluation: State and federal government track benefits for each county given out

Role of Nutrition Professionals: Currently no nutrition related professionals in the program, no nutritional guidelines are required for SNAP either.


      I don't believe I would ever really be interested in working for a SNAP type of program.  It seems as though there is not much of a role for a nutrition professional in the field.  Possibly in the future if the program is altered and nutrition guidelines are required for those using the program I may see myself working in that field.

In class on Thursday  we discussed more policy matters related to health and nutrition. We also met with our groups to discuss our needs assessment and split up the work we had for researching the nutritional needs of pregnant women. 

Policy

I went to the garden on Sunday and decided to finish preparing it for planting and I also made raised rows to help with irrigation as I saw some of the other plots had.  Hopefully we'll get to start planting soon so we can grow some veggies in time to use them. 

Policy making in the world of health and nutrition affects our field greatly.  Policy affects manymany aspects of community nutrition including: food assistance programs, national nutrition and health objectives,regulations to safeguard the food supply and ensure proper handling, dietary guidance systems, monitoring and surveillance programs and food labeling legislation.  Policy creation is completed by authorities who decide which steps to take in order to address a problem or problems.  Laws passed by congress set the framework for what policy must be.  There is also no single entity or office in the government which regulates and controls all areas of nutrition.

Garden Planning

In class on Thursday our group most discussed some of our ideas for our community garden.  We have pregnant women for our population of interest.  We figure we should focus on iron, calcium, vitamin D and folate for our key nutrients.  After some researched we decided that we would grow spinach, sweet potatoes, beets and (maybe) peanuts.

The Athens community garden was a new experience for me.  I've lived 2 minutes from it for 2 years and never knew it existed.  I think it's great that this resource is available for the community.  Our group decided we would focus on the population of pregnant women for our plot.  So far all we have done is a bit of weeding of our quadrant, there is a lot of work to go still.

Food security should be a major focal point for community nutrition.  In order to operate successfully as a dietitian in the community it is essential to understand what effects food security has on health and wellness.  Knowing the food security status of the community and people you are working with is very important to be able to accurately assess and assist in their specific situation.  I'm sure that in my career I will have to take into account food security of those who I am working with in order to help and educate them.

Community Nutrition Aspirations
I'm really looking forward to this quarter in community nutrition.  Community nutrition is the field of dietetics in which I am most interested.  I hope to get an even better idea of what all the community aspect of dietetics may include besides that which I have already experienced.  I think community nutrition is all about sharing your skills and education in the field of nutrition with those around you who would benefit from the experience.  I haven't really put much thought into the future assignments yet, but I will start on that in the near future.