Thursday 4/26

Today we discussed the Ohio Board of Dietetics, which is in charge of dietetics licenses. The board is funded through license fees. The mission is to protect the public and to regulate the dietetics practice by enforcing laws and requiring licenses. The Board requires the successful completion of an exam before a license can be issued. Dietitians are also required to complete continuing education to make sure their knowledge is current.

Tuesday 4/24

On Tuesday Francie Astrom visited to talk about WellWorks. WellWorks is a fitness center that is focused on wellness. They often run programs related to health promotion. WellWorks is funded through university wellness funds, member fees, and fees for other services they provide. Their purpose/mission is to provide a wide variety of programming to promote wellness, optimal health, and to improve health status. In order to come up with health programs, WellWorks identifies the needs of the OU community--they also listen to requests.

WellWorks offers many services including: nutrition programming, BP/cholesterol screenings, fitness center, massage, personal trainers, wellness coaching, etc. The role of an RD in WellWorks is for nutritional programming. An RD must also be available to provide up to date information, to be a resource to staff, and to review current literature. An RD needs to be involved in one of the programs that WellWorks offers called the Food for Life program which promotes a plant-based lifestyle.

WellWorks offers memberships to: faculty/staff and dependents, community members (at a higher cost), corporate members (Athens businesses), and graduate/medical students.

Thursday 4/19

Today we discussed all of the different agencies related to food/nutrition. It was nice that there are so many available to the public. The agencies were pretty diverse as far as the kind of work they did. They ranged from actually providing food/assistance to advocating for food security to government policy makers. I liked that some of the agencies were specific to a certain population such as children or the elderly. I hope that the agencies continue to have positive outcomes.

Tuesday 4/17

Our speaker on Tuesday represented SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). SNAP is a government program sponsored by the USDA. The purpose of the program is to assist those who are food insecure by providing enough funding for food 3 weeks out of the month. Program planning, monitoring, and evaluation is monitored by the government in the form of reports. Right now there is no nutrition professional in the program.

It was interesting to hear about the program from someone who works for them. I found it interesting that the program did not have nutrition professionals working for them. I think that it could be very beneficial to have nutrition professionals in the program--they could help people using the assistance make the best choices with what they have.

Day 6

Today we finished the Health and Nutrition Policy lecture--specifically we discussed policy making, laws, regulations, and funds. We watched a video about the implementation of a farmers' market in order to improve the health outcomes and access to fruits and vegetables in a South Carolina town. It was nice to see how the needs assessment of the community started something to try and fix their problem.

After class, my group went to the garden to start weeding and to plan out how we might arrange some of the produce.

Day 5

On Tuesday we finished the Food Security lecture and did an activity where we wrote our perceptions of of food security on the board. It was interesting to see all of the different perspectives. We also started the Health and Nutrition policy lecture. I learned about the Policy Cycle and all of the steps that it includes. Our group also discussed some of the produce we wanted to plant in the garden and when we would start weeding. We still have not completely decided on what exactly to plant because we need to do more research.

Day 4

On Thursday I learned more about food security and how it is measured. All of the questions in the 18-item survey were interesting to read because they help to further point out the complexity of food insecurity.

Our group was given the puberty-age girls population. We discussed possible produce items that we wanted to grow in our garden plot. So far we have just been brainstorming the necessary nutrients needed for our age group. We have also discussed possibly growing some types of herbs that are used as remedies for menses.

Day 3

Today we went to the community garden to see our plot. I learned that we need to weed the garden before we start planting anything. We also met in our groups. My group discussed using puberty-age females as our population to plant for. However, I am curious if our population needs to be more specific to a disease/disorder.

The garden might be a lot of work; but it seems like it will be a fun way to get out of the normal classroom setting while learning.