Dietetic Extern at Country Meadows 

In December of 2017, I devoted 50 hours of my winter break to learn more about geriatric nutrition. During this time, I attended counseling and patient care meetings alongside other allied healthcare professionals such as a physician, nurse, social worker, and occupational therapist. Hearing concerns expressed by the family and healthcare professionals of the patients made me aware of the variety of challenges dietitians in this setting work to solve. I gained an understanding of common concerns in long term care, which included malnutrition, pressure ulcers, dysphagia, and the importance of liberalized diets. As malnutrition is a great concern for this population, Ensure and Boost formulas were often used as a last resort to maintain weight. Seeing that the dietitian used the Mifflin St Jeor equation to calculate energy needs made me excited to apply what I learned in my Nutrition Assessment class. I practiced utilizing the Mifflin St Jeor equation to calculate energy needs. 

Nutrition Intern at ShopRite

Pork tenderloin tacos and jicama fries prepared at culinary workshop
​In summer of 2017, I logged 150 hours working alongside a retail dietitian. Later, I spent an additional 30 hours with her, as I enjoyed working with so many different personalities. My days consisted of a range of activities. One of these activities was creating protein themed lesson plans.  I used research papers and books from school to find protein related material. I then translated this information into terms that members of the community could understand. Some of the subjects covered were the calories in protein, sports nutrition, the recommended macronutrient distribution of protein, the recommended grams per day by body weight, and sources. The lessons were tailored and taught to an older age home, a fitness program, and a group of individuals from a hospital program. 
 
Lessons were occasionally taught in sequence with a cooking demonstration. A chef and myself demonstrated proper cooking techniques as the dietitian and I explained the nutritional aspect. When planning a recipe for a children' culinary workshops, I modified a turkey taco recipe. Modifying a recipe I had planned enhanced my understanding of healthy substitutions to suggest to others. For example, nonfat Greek yogurt was used instead of sour cream. My taco recipe can be accessed on the left.
 
In July of 2016, I created educational handouts and assisted the dietitians in making the district nutrition newsletter. The newsletter I contributed to was distributed across 22 different stores. Contributions I made to the letter was a fruit infused water and the “July Exercise Challenge.” After assisting with the newsletter, five different educational handouts were also created for the store. These handouts were created by myself as I used Canva. I increased my disseminating nutrition skills by creating these handouts. There is a link on the left of the July Nutrition Newsletter and one of the educational handouts I created.
 
In addition to these experiences, I attended district meetings, shadowed counseling sessions, assembed healthy shelves for the dietitian, planned for culinary workshops, provided supervised product education, researched information on produce picks, oral allergy syndrome, and had one-on-one interaction with customers. Overall, the dietitians at Inserra ShopRites gave me a wide range of opportunity that let me develop skills that will be of value while working in a future dietetic internship.
My fellow nutrition interns and I at Keystone Diabetic Kid's Camp

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Nutrition Intern at Keystone Diabetic Kid's Camp

 In June of 2017, I was a diabetes intern that aided in  intensive management of Type 1 Diabetes. During this experience, a registered dietitian gave each intern an entire cabin to be the nutrition expert for.  A primary duty as an intern was to help the children plan meals. Before meal planning, I calculated carbohydrate exchanges. Knowing how many carbohydrate exchanges was important for my healthcare team to administer units of insulin before each meal.  As celiac disease is associated with Type 1 diabetes, I managed the diet of multiple campers with gluten restrictions, in addition to other allergies such as nuts and dairy products. Before approving the children's meal plans, I read food labels and learned how to identify ingredients that included these allergens. 

 Interns like myself checked blood glucose and administered items according to the individual's needs. These checks lasted throughout the day to the middle of the night. Depending on their blood sugar, we would distribute either glucose tablets, juice, or peanut butter crackers if protein and fat were also needed. As the experience came towards an end, I created and taught a lesson on food groups to young boys independently. A picture of a prop used for the lesson is on the left.

Working as a diabetes intern was an eye opening experience as the interns received training to check their own blood sugar and insert their own insulin shots along with the children. Having to check my own blood sugar and pumps to give insulin shots gave me a better understanding and appreciation for what it is like to live with Type 1 diabetes. Learning about a disease and providing care for it in such a short amount of time will help me going forward. Learning about new diseases in a dietetic internship and helping those with them is something I look forward to.
Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, PA

Hospital Volunteer at Sacred Heart 

​​​From January to December 2017, I volunteered in a clinical setting. I committed 100 hours of my time while communicating with healthcare professionals. Tasks performed exposed me to hospital safety procedures and communication with patients.  I had one-on-one interaction with both healthy and ailing patients as I catered to fluid needs.  Volunteering in this setting gave me good communication and listening skills that will be helpful moving forward.