May 8, 2012

Today we went to The Ohio State University Extension building to learn about 4-H and other programs they offer. First, Brittany presented what 4-H, which is a youth organization composed of children and young adults around the area. 4-H stands for head, heart, heath and hands. The purpose of 4-H is to shirt to science from all fields, national vs state, community clubs vs school enrichment, and saving America's youth. Brittany emphasized that children from urban, suburban and rural areas are all part of 4-H and has been the case since the 1980's. The funding source for 4-H comes from many different places. The majority comes from the county commissioner, a smaller portion from OSU and they fund there activities by membership fees. She did not really talk about it, but I believe they plan, monitor and evaluate their program by how many members are each county program. If they did not have enough participants they cant do certain things because they do not have the funds. The role of the nutrition professional could be in the nutrition sector of the 4-H club. Many of the students who chose to do the nutrition projects, they can help with their projects and give them information. Next, Joyce Shriner talked about the OSU  extension program in general. The mission of the extension program is engaging people to strengthen their lives and communities through research based education programming. The funding for the extension program comes from federal, state and county and sometimes levy's bring in some money for the program. The role for the nutrition professional could be in the family  nutrition program and also in the 4-H sector. This was a very interesting talk and I never even realized this as a possible opportunity in the future.

May 3, 2012

Today, Heidi Anderson was our guest speaker. Heidi is a RD for WellWorks and  has worked with OU for 6 years. She is the Education and Special Event Coordinator and  primarily works with marketing and public relations. Heidi explained the Chip program, which promotes a plant based diet. This program works with others and they want to help promote this lifestyle worldwide. Heidi is funded through membership fees and the services they provide through WellWorks. Heidi's role is to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle and guide people to make good, nutritious decisions. She was very interesting and I never really thought about a career in this path before.

May 1, 2012

Today our guest speaker was Janine Farber, RD. She is one of five dietitians that works for Meijer. The goal of the Meijer Healthy Living  program is to increase sales and promote customer loyalty by creating and communicating health solutions and product knowledge to shoppers. Janine does many community events, in store events, media appearances and creates publications. The funding for Janine comes from sponsorship's from different products including Planters, Tropicana, and Dole. The role of the dietitian is to help customers of Meijer make healthier decisions and become more knowledgeable on nutrition and what products they choose. Janine informed us about the Nu Val system, in which I never heard of before. This is a food scoring system that helps consumers see the nutritional value of a product at a glance. I would love to see this system in all stores to help those who do not know how to pick the healthiest choice within a product.

April 26, 2012

Unfortunately, Karen Dion from The Ohio Board of Dietetics could not be with us, so Dr. Holben reviewed the information about the board with us. The mission of the Board is to effectively protect the public by regulations the practice of dietetics through licensure, and by fairly and consistently enforcing the laws and rules governing nutritional practices. There are four RD members on the board and an educator member. The licensure fees are the funding for this organization.

April 24, 2012

Our guest speaker today was Francie Astrom a Registered Dietitian that works in WellWorks here in Grover Center. This is an OU Wellness Program that is supported by university wellness funds and membership fees. Also it is supported by services that they offer such as massage, nutrition counseling, and personal training. The purposes of the program include: providing a wide variety of programming, wellness focused vs medical model, to help others obtain optimal health, improve health status, and reduce risk of disease in the members. OU faculty/staff and dependence, OU retirees and dependence, community members, corporate members and full time medical and graduate students are able to join the program. The RD is integral to the success of the wellness program. The RD provides up to date nutrition information and review and interpret current literature. Also, they are a resource to staff as well as members and act as a change agent.

April 19, 2012

Today in class we discussed the different agencies that we were assigned to. It was nice to hear about all the different organzations out there and was very interesting. I was surprised of the wide variety and types of different organizations. The most shocking fact that I thought was the amount of money that our federal government spends on food programs. There were many organizations that I have never heard of before or heard of but did not know what they specically did or who they targeted. I read over all the handouts and I will believe these will be good references throughout my career.

April 17, 2012

In class we had a speaker, Nick Claussen from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. He talked about many different statistics of those who are food insecure. He explained that the program is designed to not to provide enough food for the family for the entire month. This program is a government program to help those who do not have a healthy intake of nutrition due to lack of resources. The state government sponsor's the program and monitors the use of the cards and catches any errors  in the screening process. The purpose of SNAP is to help individuals who do not get enough nutritionally sound foods into their diets. This is a crucial part to these people, because the impoverished are more likely to get sick, etc . so they need these types of foods. The role of the nutrition professional is mostly education to the recipients of the benefits. This will help them make the best decisions when going  to use their SNAP cards at the store or the farmers market. The farmers market should really be pushed by professionals because they are so fresh and nutritious and will give them the best benefits.