October 2016 Newsletter

Volunteer Needed

MSAND needs to fill a few open positions. If you are interested, please email us which position and a copy of your resume. Also feel free to ask any questions. Click below for more information on the Second Century Liaison.

Second Century Liaison to the Academy
Public Policy Coordinator

Update from the South Central District

We had our membership appreciation night last night with a good turnout! Our next event will be November 17th at 6 pm at Forrest General Hospital where we will have our first CEU opportunity!

Update from the Gulf Coast District
GCAND held their Fall meeting on October 11 and enjoyed dynamic presentations on the topics of transitioning patients from hospital to home, an integrated health program, and a healthy cooking demonstration. The group is now focusing on a fun holiday social for its members.

Update from the Northeast District
It is now officially FALL, so it is time for our first district meeting of the year!
For those of you who are new to the area, we have two meetings per year, one in the fall and the other in the spring.  Each meeting offers 4 CEU opportunities.  We found this easier and better for the district members since everyone is so spread out as opposed to trying to meet every month!

Mark your calendars for our Fall meeting!  It will be:
Friday November 11, 2016 from 9a-1pm at HealthWorks! in Tupelo, MS!

We hope you will all make plans to attend the meeting!  We are excited about this new spin on our traditional meeting place and time, so please spread the word and invite a friend!  I know there are some recent graduates and new RDs to the area so please invite as many people as you can!  We are really striving to increase our membership and participation this year so help us out and bring some friends to the meeting!

We will send out an Agenda for the meeting and membership form soon!  You do not have to be a current member to come… the membership is annual and starts over now so everyone is welcome!

For any questions regarding the meeting or northeast district, please contact us at[email protected].

Consumer Protection Reminder

I am Constance Shelby, the Consumer Protection Coordinator for MSAND. As we work to provide excellent serivce to patients, just a reminder to let us know about instances of both harm and success you hear about other practitioners to help promote the entire profession.

If you would like to report any stories of harm or success, please email them to[email protected]

MSAND Members at MPHA Conference

The Mississippi Public Health Association (MPHA) held their annual conference at the Hilton Jackson on October 13 and 14, 2016. The theme this year was “Promoting Partnerships-New Directions in Public Health”. MS-AND member Brent Fountain presented at a workshop entitled “SEE FOOD: How Advertising Affects Food Choice”. There were several other general session and concurrent workshop topics that were of interest to MS-AND members.

MS-AND members also attended the MPHA Special Interest Group, Young Professionals, for a fascinating presentation, “Developing Your Public Health Career” on that Thursday evening.

The Nutrition Section of MPHA featured MS-AND Council on Professional Issues Chair, Stephanie Yow. Mrs. Yow highlighted the updates to the nutrition facts label, differences between the original and the new label, and discussed compliance dates.

For more information about the Mississippi Public Health Association, please visit www.mspha.org. For information about the updated nutrition facts label, please visithttp://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm385663.htm

K-12 Culinary Institute

Submitted by Lydia West
Academic success and improved student health is important for every school district in Mississippi. To help meet these goals, the Mississippi Department of Education, Office of Child Nutrition offered a unique workshop opportunity to school child nutrition directors and managers in September: a culinary institute using Mississippi specific recipes. Participants in these workshops were able to receive one-on-one technical assistance with knife skills, weighing and measuring ingredients, preparing food for just-in-time service, effective use of equipment, and quality food preparation. These concepts help child nutrition programs meet nutrition standards set by the USDA Food and Nutrition Services and the Mississippi Board of Education. Workshop participants were encouraged to use a concept called “Teach it Forward” to pass skills that they learned at the culinary institute on other staff in their school. Several MS-AND members will now be able to share these new skills with their staff members.

Chef Cyndie’s K-12 Culinary Team developed the curriculum and taught the workshops (www.chefcyndie.com). Members of this culinary team also helped with the production of the Mississippi Recipes for Success, a recipe index used by school districts across Mississippi (http://mrs.mdek12.org).

For more information on these culinary institutes, please contact the Mississippi Department of Education, office of Child Nutrition at (601) 576-5000.

MS Breastfeeding

Submitted by Lydia West
Mississippi ranks 50^th in our infant mortality rate data (http://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsit/_static/resources/6435.pdf). Evidenced based maternity care practices are becoming a part of hospitals and maternity care centers across Mississippi, which helps to reduce the number of infant deaths. Many of these practices also help to promote breastfeeding initiation and duration rates (which Mississippi also ranks very low). Implementing the ten steps of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (and attaining Baby-Friendly designation) is one way to implement these evidenced based practices.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi has expanded its Maternity Care Practice Model to require all delivering Network Hospitals across the state to gain Baby-Friendly designation as part of criteria for achieving Blue Distinction for maternity care (https://www.bcbsms.com/index.php?q=maternity-care-quality-initiatives.html). Many MS-AND members are a part of their hospital’s or community’s Baby-Friendly advisory board.

A W. K . Kellogg Foundation Grant supports a project entitled Communities and Hospitals Advancing Maternity Care Practices (CHAMPS), to improve maternity care practices through work with both hospitals and the communities that surround them (www.champsbreastfeed.org). There are 18 CHAMPS hospitals in Mississippi. A similar project called EMPower Breastfeeding: Enhancing Maternity Care Practices (http://empowerbreastfeeding.org/) is providing technical assistance to one hospital in Mississippi. The Mississippi State Department of Health is encouraging these evidenced based materity care practice initiatives through efforts in the Offices or Preventive Health, Health Services and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).