My week at the Food Bank

This week my rotation was at the Statesboro Food Bank. I volunteered here many years before but it’s been a while.

One of our tasks was to come up with some handouts to be put into the bags that families receive. I decided to do a handout on different ways they could use boxed cake mixes. While they weren’t healthy, one thing they stated was when people are hungry it’s just good to feed them. The bag has plenty of meat and beans, but when extra donations come in, like cake mixes, they will put them in the bags. This would allow for some fun ideas instead of boring cakes. Coming up with those recipes and handouts took a while.

                     

^A couple of different handouts that I made

We also to see “Dottie’s Kitchen”. Dottie is a lady that works at the food bank and she is the one who sorts out what has to go into the bags based on what the regulations are. She explained how they were put together and how the USDA foods worked.

One day we got to help out in Rebecca’s Cafe, which is where hot food is served twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday lunches). Each day a different organization comes to make the food. I was there with Nnemoa, another intern, and we tended to the drink station.

One night we got to go to a nutrition education class. An undergraduate nutrition class has to present food demos and those who use the Food Bank get an incentive to go because if they go they receive a free bag of groceries. Each week a different group goes so there were 4 presentations. They have to show the demo of how to make the food then explain the benefits!

It was a pretty slow week at the Food Bank, probably because the weather was very cold and rainy, and people here don’t like to go out when the weather is bad.

My week at GSU Wellness Center

This week I worked at the GSU Wellness Center with another intern, Katie.

Katie and I about to do meditation in the library.

Our main assignment was to come up with a list of healthy snacks and healthy substitutions to be used and given to the staff that are part of the ReNew You group. We also decided to make a flyer for these to be handed out to the staff instead of just a boring list.

These were the lists we created.

We also sat in on a ReNew You meeting that’s for the full time employees of the RAC.That session was talking about de-stressing. Then later we had to attend a session at the PAC called Solo Cup Culture that talked about drinking and bad decisions in college.

We also had to come up with recipes that could be used for the Farmers Market.

In addition we had to go to a meditation class in the library to help us relax and contribute to overall wellness.

Overall it was a laid back week.

SE District WIC

So this week I had my rotation at the Southeast District WIC, and it was a much better experience than I imagined. It involved going to Appling County, Ware County, Evans County, and Tattnall County. I was really frustrated at first having to book a hotel in Ware County since it was so far away, but it was a great experience there. We had different “preceptors” for each county. I went with another intern, Beth, to all of the counties. I started off thinking WIC was just another government handout program that people take advantage of. While there still are those types of people, I really gained an appreciation for what WIC does, especially with the breastfeeding.

The first day at Appling County was interesting. The preceptor there went over WIC with me and how the program works. I also got to sit in on some nutrition counseling. However, the people that came into this clinic were the kind that could make you mad, in that they were the system moochers. A few of them tested positive for various heavy street drugs at birth, so who knows that that did to their child. Then there were a few that really needed it. My preceptor there was very good at motivational interviewing so I was able to see how to effectively do it (though I am still not good at it). After hearing numerous sessions, he also let me take over a session where low hemoglobin was the main risk factor. I was nervous at first but it wasn’t too bad because he was right there to take over when I didn’t know what else to say.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Ware County, which was far, so I got a hotel with Beth so we didn’t have to drive back and forth. However, Ware County was great and I feel like I learned so much. The RD on staff ended up being sick so we shadowed the nurses. We primarily worked with Gina and Rhonda who were the nurses. We also worked with Laurie, who was a peer counselor and breastfeeding coordinator. I love how breastfeeding friendly WIC is. Laurie taught us lots about breastfeeding and pumps, and we also got to sit in on a breastfeeding class. We also got to sit in on a pump fitting for a mom who just had a baby. If available, WIC loans out pumps to mothers on Medicaid (because insurance doesn’t cover it on Medicaid, but is now required to on other insurances). When pumps are loaned out they do a fitting to make sure it fits properly around the breast. She taught us about all the different kinds of pumps, from hand pumps to double electrical pumps. We also just talked to her about different WIC experiences she’s had. The breastfeeding class we sat in on was also really great and informational, and I found out that anyone is able to go to those classes, not just women on WIC. There is a series of 4 classes, and in this district they are set up via video conferencing. The class we sat in on was basically about what to expect with breastfeeding and how to get the baby to latch. Then, Laurie also went through the post-partum class with us afterwards in her office and shared lots of stories so that was also really interesting. In addition to all the breastfeeding education, we got to see lots and lots of nutritional counseling. We definitely got to see all types of people, some of which who really needed WIC for help and others who were on their 8^th child and in drug rehab. A decent amount of the nutrition counseling is done about how to bring up low hemoglobin (in kids sometimes it’s because they drink too much milk which can inhibit some of the iron absorption) and one of the main suggestions is to consume iron foods and iron fortified foods with a little amount of juice because the vitamin C helps with absorption. Other main things involve overweight children and underweight children. I learned so much here. I also learned that women don’t have to show proof of pregnancy for WIC and anyone (citizen or non citizen) is eligible for WIC (depending on income and risk factors)

The women from Ware County WIC with Beth and I.

Ware County had their department painted really cute and kid friendly!

This is the pregnancy calendar where they try to get a rough estimate of the due date if the woman has not been to a doctor.

Thursday I was at Evans County and Friday at Tatnall County. Both of the ladies we worked with there were great as well. The clinics weren’t as busy so we weren’t exposed to as much, but they both taught us a lot as well. However, we still got to see numerous nutrition counseling sessions as well as seeing a WIC certification, which is where they get put on the program.

Overall I learned a lot at WIC. I thought I would hate this rotation, and even though I don’t think I could work in public health, I ended up enjoying this rotation a lot!

Final Week at Appling County Schools

This week started off with an interesting visit to a hydroponic lettuce farm and a chicken house. Two other preceptors took their interns there so that was cool that I got to see some interns that I hadn’t seen in a while!

With some of the other GSU dietetic interns.

Anyway, I had never been to a hydroponic farm, so I was really excited to see one. They grew numerous types of lettuce and it was all so clean! She explained how all the plants are watered and how temperature and sunlight impacts the crops. I found it interesting how the tank was on one end, and the pipes were at a slight angle so it used gravity to bring the water through the whole greenhouse and back to the tank and plants were watered with fertilizer water.

She explained how the fans work to regulate the temperature, and how if it cant get warm enough, the heat comes on, but the way it works here (in totally dumb down terms since I don’t know the proper terms) is basically the big fan will come on, which is attached to a big plastic bag with holes in it. The air then inflates the bag all the way down to the other side of the greenhouse with holes at regular intervals that let the air out. I guess this helps a more even distribution of air so it’s not hotter on one side than the other.

That clear plastic in the middle is where the temperature regulation takes place.

Another thing that was cool was the way the root system grew! The plants are grown in thin plastic containers with about 10-15 plants per container (I didn’t count exactly). All the roots end up intertwining and it looks super interesting, from a distance it almost looks like animal hide.

The root system!

I bought a few heads of lettuce, which taste awesome.

After the hydroponic lettuce farm we also got to go to the chicken house. I had no idea until I got there that they meant a huge house with about 82,000 chickens! Now, this did kind of depress me. I’ve never seen something on that scale, and seeing 4 chickens per wire cage and cage after cage lined up, it just didn’t seem ethical to me, but I realize that’s how many things are done these days with mass production of animal products. She said that they produced about 72,000 eggs per day.

Part of the chicken house

Where the eggs roll in from the main part of the chicken house to where they are packaged.

Some of the eggs

Apparently the way it works is if the chicken house is provided, the big company provides all of the chickens and the feed. What makes the difference between the regular eggs and certain branded eggs is only the feed. So the chicken stays the same, but they alternate feed to determine the brand. Kind of crazy I thought. I would post pictures of the inside of the chicken house itself, but we were told not to post any online.

I found the whole day to be a very enlightening experience.

My other big thing this week was doing a milk promotion at the high school. The Southeast Dairy Association donated two milk coolers to the high school, so as a thank you, a milk promotion was put on for a day.

The whole setup.

With my preceptor and the school nutrition director of Appling County, Ellen Carter.

The SE Dairy Association came in and brought tons of promotional materials to get kids interested. Also, any kid that picked up milk got a scratch off ticket to try and win a prize of either headphones or a t-shirt. Kids that won got to come pick up the prize and get a photo with a local dairy farmer that came by. A few kids got into the whole thing, but many kids just kind of had a blank stare. Prior to the new director coming in, there had been some bad experiences with school lunches so she thinks a lot of kids there just don’t want to hear it. Hopefully in a few years kids will be more open. But it was a good time anyway. Hopefully through more nutritional promotions the kids will slowly get more into new things!

My preceptor and I with a local dairy farmer and his wife!