December 2017 Newsletter

MSU Riley Center

Our 2018 annual conference will be held at the MSU Riley Center in Meridian, MS on March 23-24. The conference will offer a variety of education sessions that will help support the goals you strive to meet every day. The conference, with a theme of Inform Involve Inspire, will have offerings for the attendees with interests in clinical nutrition, food service, wellness, preventive health, as well as community nutrition and public health. There will be general sessions and breakout tracks too. We will also have physical activity opportunities, a way to give back to our fellow Mississippian and door prizes for you. It is the planning committee’s aim to offer creative, interactive sessions that will help engage everyone and inspire you to implement lessons learned in your nutrition and dietetics practice. In addition to the education sessions we will have a variety of exhibits, professional poster presentations and networking opportunities. Registration will be available thought our MS-AND website in the new year.

Set up for one of the breakout sessions

Please help us make the 2018 conference be the best that it can be. Committees are being developed for all of the conference events. Please contact me, or click here to read about the conference committees: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-ii3zy_wL5nN1JDeksxdGRVTk0 (once you download the document, you can click on the blue items, which are hyperlinks to the descriptions of each committee). We really hope that you will help us make the 2018 conference stellar by signing up for one of the planning committees here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-ii3zy_wL5nRTg0R2dDdVBDSHM/view?usp=sharing.

If you know of businesses that is interested in sponsorship or exhibiting for our 2018 conference, please let me know or have them contact me (my contact information is below). I will put that organization in touch with our sponsorship and exhibits committees.

I really think you are going to find so much that will add to your professional practice at the 2018 MS Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics annual conference. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns (941) 993-2075 (cell phone) or [email protected] (email).

Sincerely,
Lydia West, MPH, RDN, LD
MS-AND President-Elect, 2017-2018

The MS-AND Delegate, Karen Lewis, attended the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics House of Delegates (HOD) fall meeting in Chicago, IL. Two topics were discussed using Appreciative Inquiry (AI):

1. Championing Nutrition and Dietetics Practitioners in Roles of Leadership in Public Health, and
2. Draft Code of Ethics: Education and Communication Strategies

The Championing Nutrition and Dietetics Practitioners in Roles of Leadership in Public Health Mega Issue Question was “How can nutrition and dietetics practitioners secure influential public health positions in institutions, organizations, and government bodies?”

Ten theme areas in public health nutrition emerged from this meeting: Advocacy and Policy Experience, Boots on the Ground, Building Professional and Personal Relationships, Collaboration, Communication Skills, Complementary Skill Development, Mentoring, Outcomes and Data Management, Technology, Volunteer Experiences.

Open Space Sessions were held on that Friday afternoon. All meeting participants brainstormed ideas for advancing leadership roles in public health and the process was advanced to the design phase of AI. The House Leadership Team is reviewing the HOD workbooks from the dialogue and will be discussing the next steps for the deploy phase of AI.

To address the Draft Code of Ethics: Education and Communication Strategies Dialogue Question: “How can we communicate and educate relevant stakeholders on the finalized and approved Code of Ethics? To answer this question, the attendees (1) worked to identify effective communication and education strategies for the final revised and approved Code of Ethics, and (2) assisted in identifying case examples/scenarios related to the proposed principles in the draft Code of Ethics. The House Leadership Team will share the ideas generated during the HOD meeting with the Code of Ethics Task Force and Ethics Committee.

The spring meeting will be conducted virtually April 21-22, 2018. The next in-person meeting will be at the 2018 FNCE meeting in Washington, D.C.

The Mississippi Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has two exciting opportunities during the 2018 Mississippi Legislative Session.  We NEED YOU to join us on these two days! If you cannot join us, please contact your state senator or representative and let them know you are one of Mississippi’s food and nutrition professionals. You can also let her or him know you can help with any questions he or she may have about food, nutrition, and dietetics. If you need help finding your state legislator, please click here: https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/ . Remember they are in office to represent you –educate your legislator with your knowledge. 

Here is information about when MS-AND will be in the Capitol Rotunda: 

The Mississippi State Medical Association Alliance invited MS-AND to participate in their Capitol Screen Day on Thursday, January 18, 2018 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. This is something the MS-AND has participated in for the past couple of years. It is event well attended by legislators and Capitol staff. MS-AND won’t be conducting any screening, but we will be able to provide nutrition based information regarding disease management.  

Wednesday, March 14, 2018 is Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Day (The 2018 theme for National Nutrition Month is Go Further with Food http://www.eatright.org/resources/national-nutrition-month ). Our affiliate will have a booth in the Capitol Rotunda and we are working on many other exciting opportunities. 

We will not be advocating or lobbying for any bills on either of these day, we will only provide evidenced based nutrition information for the participants. 

MS-AND members attended two capitol days during the 2017 legislative session. 

The Central District met for their November Meeting at the G. Chastaine Flynt Memorial Library in Flowood, MS. Along with a business meeting, Quala Madkin with the Southwest Region of Mississippi State University Extension Service (MSU-ES), Office of Nutrition Education talked with members about the RDN’s role in Mississippi’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-ed) programs.

Click the following links to learn more about:
MSU-ES: http://extension.msstate.edu/
MSU-ES SNAP-Ed programshttp://extension.msstate.edu/food-and-health/nutrition/snap-ed
Mississippi’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP): http://extension.msstate.edu/food-and-health/nutrition/efnep

The September Meeting of the Central District Mississippi Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (CD-AND) took place at the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA). Staff from MORA talked about organ recovery and donation in Mississippi. CD-AND members also learn about MORA’s available resources. Toy Bell and Deborah Poole presented information to help members have a more in-depth understanding of pre-transplant and post-transplant dietary requirements.

The Northeast District met for their November Meeting at Central Station Grill in Starkville, MS.  The  business meeting included information about activities going on in the Northeast region, information about the 2018 MS-AND annual meeting and an awards presentation for Ginny Hill ,the 2017 MS-AND Emerging Leader of the Year. After the business meeting, Samantha Willcutt, with the Northwest Region of Mississippi State University’s Extension Service (MSU-ES), Office of Nutrition Education talked with members about the RDN’s role in Mississippi’s SNAP-Ed (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education) programs (http://extension.msstate.edu/food-and-health/nutrition/snap-ed) .
 
Following Ms. Willcutt’s presentation, Ahmed Saddam, MSU Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion doctoral student talked about reasons that Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) is more accurate that Body Mass Index (BMI) on assessing overweight and obese weight status as well as methods RDNs could use in their practice to incorporate BIA assessment

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