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.