From all of us at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation, we would like you to know how much we appreciate all Academy members for your support over the years. Our top priority is the health and safety of you and your loved ones during these challenging times.
As the impact of COVID-19 unfolds, our Foundation continues to provide free resources for food and nutrition practitioners that empower you as leaders in your communities to address food security, food waste and hunger issues through our Future of Food program. These resources, which are made possible through the generosity of our donors, are available to help:
- Connect families with a local food bank
- Educate families on how to shop and prepare meals to reduce food waste through the Future of Food Tossed Treasure program
- Lead an assessment to identify the best solutions to improve food security in your community, given the resources available with the Food Security Solutions toolkit
- Interact with the Healthy Food Bank Hub to submit a healthy recipe, write a blog, increase your online presence, and network with colleagues.
- Share learning opportunities and healthy eating activities for kids in your community that utilize down time at home by visiting the Kids Eat Right webpage.
For Students and Educators:
- As the world’s largest provider of dietetic scholarships, our Foundation provides financial assistance for students to continue their education during the 2020/21 school year. Scholarships are available at all levels of study and range from $500 to $10,000. Our scholarship application is now open with a deadline to apply on 11:59 p.m. on April 20, 2020.
- The Food Insecurity/Food Banking Supervised Practice Concentration is available to all educators. The activities were developed as part of the Academy Foundation’s Future of Food initiative, with a development team of dietetic educators and RDNs from the Feeding America Network. Any of the activities can be used as stand-alone experiences, and the full concentration includes 12 activities to be completed within 120 practice hours.
- Sustainable, Resilient, and Healthy Food and Water Systems: A Curriculum for Dietetic Students and Interns is a free online curriculum that NDEP members can utilize to deliver distance learning. The curriculum is designed to provide dietetic interns and students with strong foundational knowledge in the nutritional, social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainable food systems.
- The Foundation’s Future of Food initiative has just posted two new webinars; Exploring Malnutrition Through the Lens of System Thinking and Gaining Ground: Applying, Individual, Policy, System, & Environmental Change to Sustainable Food Systems Initiatives.
- Practice Experience, Diabetes, pediatRic Online is a pilot simulation that enhances and expands internship education by using a 3D hospital and conversation simulator. Users meet Pedro, a 13-year-old boy, and his family as they learn of his diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. In the pilot-simulated practice experience, users complete the four steps of the Nutrition Care Process for inpatient and follow-up outpatient visits, contribute in an inter-professional team meeting, and learn about billing and coding. While completing simulation, users also gain real experience with professional practice resources: the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Evidence Analysis Library, Health Informatics Infrastructure and the openEMR certified electronic health record. With the aid of a preceptor to evaluate the results, P.E.D.R.O. is intended to contribute towards the supervised practice and competency requirements for registered dietitian nutritionists.
Your Foundation works year-round to support Academy members through scholarships, awards, grants, fellowships, disaster relief efforts and public education programs. Our Foundation is the only public charity dedicated exclusively to our profession, supporting nutrition and dietetics for the benefit of the public and helping to create a world where all people thrive through the transformative power of food and nutrition.
We chose our profession because we all want to make a difference and we know we will come out of this stronger than ever, together.
Warmly,
Kathy Wilson-Gold, MS, RDN, LD, FAND
Chair, 2019-2020
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation
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