week 6

Tuesday 05/04/10

GUEST SPEAKER: Heidi Anderson MPH, RD, LD

AGENCY: Wellworks

POSITION: Education and Special Event Coordinator

TYPES OF PROGRAMS: Stress management, Health risk appraisal, Fitness center, Nutritional awareness, Blood pressure campaign.

FUNDING SOURCE: College of Health Sciences and Human Resources of Ohio University.

MISSION: To be the highest quality wellness program for our customers and to combine academic and experiential learning for our students.

PROGRAM PLANNING, MONITORING & EVALUATION: Their programs are planned with health matters in mind. Planning is based on providing programs that initiate awareness through a variety of programs that takes into consideration age and seasonal changes. Monitoring is done through experienced staff by measuring the ongoing activities . Evaluations are done through feedback surveys, health appraisal and statistics.

ROLE OF NUTRITION PROFESSIONAL: This program is centered on health matters and as such, nutrition professionals have a big role to play in such a program. They can provide nutritional counseling to individuals whose ailment can be managed through proper eating habits. They can work in connection with the fitness center staff to educate those who patronize the facility.

The programs offered by Wellworks are impressive. It creates an opportunity for all who are health conscious to realize their dreams. Listening to Heidi, it is clear that if one is focused, it is easy to achieve set targets
I was excited to hear the guest speaker talk about the importance of being flexible when setting our career goals. In this competitive world, being flexible creates an opportunity since it prepares one to be ready for whatever the world throws out.

Heidi pointed out that evaluation is one of the most neglected exercises of a program and I could not agree more with her. Evaluations are often left out in institution’s plans because they cannot just stand to hear criticism.


Thursday 05/07/10

Thursday’s tree planting exercise brought great memories, especially when I began digging the hole. It reminds me of my childhood and teen ages when my siblings, cousins and I will hunt for rats by digging holes on my grandfather’s cocoa farm. It was not all that rosy as we end up digging out snakes sometimes.

I believe the project been under taken is a marvelous one and I could not agree more with Dr. Holben when he said that was a “nutrition in action” in progress. Certainly exercises of this sort around Athens will go a long way to combat food insecurity and its related consequences in its own small way. We all know how malnutrition arises because of food insecurity and these fruit plants will contribute some nutrients to Athens population.

What fascinates me is how the community is willing to help see the trees grow and how in the future I believe everyone will have access to the fruits of the trees without anyone taking full ownership of the trees and its fruits. Back in my homeland, this would be a recipe for disaster as you will find a government official taking full ownership once the fruits are ready.

I have taken an excellent cue from this exercise and will put it to use when I get back home. If all goes well my initiative will start in primary schools because many primary schools have vast lands.

I hope this initiative will be implemented all over the Athens community to help minimize nutrient deficiency.