Mission Completed.Mini Summer!!

    Vale,        
            Finally have our project for Wesley Meals on Wheels completed!! Menu is approved so the elderly can eat =).  I have realized through this project how difficult group projects can be; but in addition, how important it is to be able to work in groups in order to get a larger goal accomplished.  The tension was high and everyone was frustrated, but it was important to stay calm and stay professional and not lose your cool on anyone ;).
     
             Anyways, today was my last day of the summer session so I am on a mini vacay again!!! Boy O boy do I need it.  I will definitely have plenty to do though, I will be doing a project for my three professors at UC, Dr. Sarah Couch PhD, RD, Elise Cowie MEd, RD, LD, and Rebecca Smith RD, LD in which I will be reseaching and compiling information about job projection and salary for other employment options for students in our program at the University of Cincinnati.  In addition to this task, I have also dedicated a few days to babysitting nephew, Jakob, so we can have some godmother/aunt and godson/nephew bonding time!! :-)

Pretty excited for that!

Well its gorgeous out, so I am going to get off here and go out for a nice long walk!!

Salvete

Mission: Complete MOW (Meals on Wheels) NOW

Vale All,
Finished up out Meals on Wheels Menu Project today (sort of)!  We have to get it approved tomorrow = \ .  Nervous to sit in on that because if the board does not approve our menu we will be working hard for the next week to get it ready! Hopefully it does get approved because we did spend a lot of time an effort on this project.

    Today,  I also attended my first Teleseminar at the Greater Cincinnati Health Council on Omega 3 Fatty Acids which was a very interesting experience.  We sat at a round table and listened over a radio with other dietitians to a seminar that was being given in another state.  We then discussed what we heard and our personal experiences with Omega 3 supplements and patients. Very interesting to hear how much of an effect omega 3's can have in oncology patients in reducing tumor size (important to remember if I ever am counseling oncology patients in the future). 

   Just a week and half more to get through and then I have at least a mini break, which will be much needed!

Salvete!

Life as I am Knowing it

Vale,
            Ah Sunday, what a day. Sundays are the best day; the day of rest and relaxation.  However, Monday's unfortunately follow Sundays and Mondays in my book are dreadful.
           Wesley's menu planning is going well.  I feel as if we are very much on schedule with our menu planning.  What we are doing just seems very repetitive and it is frustrating when you are constantly working to modify a diet to fit government regulations but end up giving someone similar foods for every meal because no other food works@#!%. Then, you have to wonder since we are only providing these seniors with one meal are they following this diet we are prescribing them for the other meals they eat throughout the day?... I hope so. :-/ This is the frustrating part of being a dietitian.. you can only do so much to change a person's diet... they have to want to change their eating habits or their health status won't change.  However, after hearing from the head of the program and how passionate he was about the Meals on Wheels program it made me realize how much he valued out time and effort we were putting into this project and made me feel like a valued asset to his company.  His outlook of how much he wanted to expand and build the Meals on Wheels program was very inspiring and motivating to want to do the best I could for the clients of the staff of Meals on Wheels.  I am very excited to complete this project and move onto to my clinical rotations at St. E's!!
            This weekend was a much needed, relaxing one that I wish would never end, but I am ready to get back to the grind and get this menu completed for Wesley.  Better get cracking!
Enjoy this beautiful day!
Salvete =)

Why 4:30am, Why?

Vale,
     Well that is a time of day I definitely would prefer not to see more often.  I think that the whole world should be sleeping at 4:30am in happy unison, although I will say I did get to see a gorgeous view of sleepy Cincinnati with the moon still out that I do not think I will ever see again.
     Today, we started out menu cycle planning at Wesley Community Services which provides a meals on wheels service in the Cincinnati area.  We will be planning a 28 day menu cycle for fall and winter within a group of seven.  I feel that we got a lot accomplished today with a lot of sticky notes (I think we are going to put post-it notes stock through the roof so everyone should invest now)! Our group is meshing extremely well and we have the starches and entrees out of the way, but still SO much to do before next Thursday!
       At Wesley today, we also got a chance to meet with their head production manager, Stacy, who showed us around the facility and we were able to see the production line which was very interesting.  The facility was very nice and large; plenty of space for production of food for the Meals on Wheels and after talking with the workers, I see how meaningful and important Meals on Wheels is to not only the recipients of the meals, but also those who produce and deliver the foods.  The program seems very well staffed and ran and hopefully Wesley can expand to reach more disable and elderly adults in order to assist those who cannot provide themselves with adequate nutrition at home.
      I also found out over the weekend where my placement is for my first acute care, clinical rotation starting in September: St. Elizabeth's in Northern Kentucky! I am extremely excited about this not because of the proximity of the location, but also because of the focus of bariactrics and the reputation of St. E's. I feel like this will be a great place to start out and that I will be able to meet other successful, educated dietitians who I can learn from.
      Soo much to do today, tonight, this week, so I need to get going! I also need to see Rebecca tonight because she is leaving me to go to New York this week =(. I will miss you soo much girl! This summer has been so much fun; I hope you have a blast!
Salvete
Anna

Mystery Shopper Week

Vale,

Traveled to Indiana today! What a lonngggg trip, and we saw farming equipment driving down the back roads that looked like a transformer.  I think they are building some suspicious items out there. But anyways, the food was not very impressive unfortunately.  All in all it was about three hours of driving, I am exhausted! My migraines this week are not helping anything- switching over migraine medicines is not a fun time; I feel like I sleep and eat more than anything else and still do not feel all that great.  Unfortunately, I did not get to stop by and see my daddy at work today for his birthday, but Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you! I have so many surveys to type up from these hospitals; I am slacking in that department.  Next week we will be doing cycle menu planning at Wesley Community Services so that will be a nice change! However, I am not looking forward to having those menus demolished by our professors and having to redo them a million times =(. 

Visiting 9 hospitals in 1 week is a bit overwhelming and I am now sick of hospital cafeteria food.

Salvete!

Mystery Shopper Intro !

Vale!

Sorry I have not posted in awhile I have been rather busy, in addition last week, was pretty much a repeat every dayyy. But alas, today we met out at Cincinnati Health Council and discussed our new project, the Mystery Shopper Project.  I have done this project in the past; it is where we go around and eat at a variety of cafeterias (some around here others not so much...) and rate them so the boards can make their customers happy and improve in areas they may have overlooked! Very good program, in my opinion =). So upon leaving, I figured lets grab the bull by the horns and hit up Good Sam, Christ, and Children's, since I was in the area. Needless to say I was stuffed! You would think I might save some money on groceries but somehow I feel as if that will not happening (sorry mom I am already feeling hungry again!). Many more to go to with in a span of five day; Miamisburg and Oxford tomorrow and two in Indiana Wednesday. Hello, high gas prices!  However, all for a good cause in the end, I hope all the hospitals use our information in a positive way to improve their hospitals for the betterment of their patients and staff.  Just found out about another class we have to take in October that is another $155 =(.  The bank account is going to get thinner by the months this better pay off in the end because I know my student loans won't be paying off themselves!  Health industry seems like the best place to be right now so I can't think of a better place I could be right now.

Have a great day!

Salvete

Day 2: Diabetic Carb Counting and Code of Ethics

Vale,
Day two, not so bad.. worked on some carb counting for diabetic patients. It is nice to have a intern director leading the program that is very straight forward about what we need to know and does not make us memorize/ spend countless hours doing extra work that is not practical for our field like so many other professors have done in the past. (Thank you Elise!) We also learned how important it is to have integrity especially when it comes to patients and doing the best thing for them and not just cutting corners to keep costs down in this crazy economy.  
The code of ethics has finally been updated and is actually interesting to read (need to always know how to protect your butt in the medical field!).  Still lots to read and catch up on and many more tutorials to do online which is difficult to do with a Pretty Little Liars Marathon on. I cannot wait to get this book stuff out of the way and get down to business, so excited to be hands on.  I am starting to feel more and more prepared with each passing day so hopefully by my first day in a hospital I won't fatally injure anyone... having a dream that I gave someone the wrong enteral nutrition formula and causing there feeding tube to explode and kill them was not exactly the best dream to start the week out to =/ .  Need to get off this blog/ facebook and done to some serious reading!


Salvete!

Day 1 of Orientation and I survived.

Salvete

I have never blogged before, but I figure this would be a good year to begin doing so in order to document my journey to become a registered dietitian.
            I am a Coordinated Program Dietetic Intern at the University of Cincinnati.  I will go to a variety of hospitals/ organizations that will provide the experience I will need to sit for my final exam in June of 2012 to become a registered dietitian (if all goes according to plan ::crossing my fingers::) 
            I will be going to several different preceptor sites which I will know at the end of the week.  I will also be doing an extended 7 week intensive program at Children's Hospital which I am extremely excited about.
My goal is to become a clinical dietitian within the pediatric bariatric surgery department. 
            Today we got a rather large packet on the Ohio Food Safety Code and watched a video of a restaurant in New Orleans that violated just about every code (I hope none of you who went there for the Sugar Bowl ate at Oceana's).  However, Gordon Ramsey did whip them into shape and turn there restaurant around with alot of cussing and some hard work.
           This blog may be boring to some, but I hope some will find my adventures interesting! Come back for more this first week is getting a few techinal things out of the way concerning fun stuff like HIPPA and blood borne pathogen training. But more fun and interesting things are to come!
Vale