What RDs Do: Sabrina Bovee, RD

SABRINA BOVEE
CARE HOME MANAGER 
& SENIOR ADVOCATE

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I know Sabrina from my undergrad years, although we haven't stayed in touch; earlier this year she appeared in the post Where are they now - a special feature on my dietetics classmates. I've been aware of her passion for aging with dignity and elegance and am always happy to share non-traditional roles. I'm sure you'll see her dedication shine through her responses. 

Why did you become a RD?

I grew up with European immigrant parents who highly valued nutritious foods. Although I had sometimes wished my parents would send me with the wonder bread and cheese whiz and fruit roll-ups that my class-mates had, instead I was sent with rye bread and European deli meat sandwiches with fresh fruit. I can now appreciate how it instilled a love for good tasting healthy food.

What area of dietetics do you work in?

I am currently working as a manager of a 15 resident (and 1 respite bed) long-term care (LTC) home. So, I am in a non-traditional dietitian role. However, I am able to lead our 8 department team in excellent dining enhancement initiatives and potentially help flag resident nutrition concerns sooner than the monthly or every other month visit by the consulting clinical dietitian. I accepted this role with the desire to work towards improved life for seniors, and from a nutrition perspective, I want to prevent malnutrition and improve the food culture for our residents and communities. I found that with the regular nutrition assessments there were, at times, barriers to follow-through, or that when residents presented with what seemed like a lack of appetite solely based on a bad dining experience I could not change that with my recommendations. I thought that if the root cause was a poor life environment (unfriendly staff, lack-luster dining room etc.) no care-plan that I would create would really get down to the root cause of the problem. I was also not the one in charge of the “b” word- budget.

I began this new role a year ago, and since that time, one exciting initiative that we have started is a hydroponic indoor garden. Saskatchewan has a short gardening season so we have been fortunate to receive a donation of a 5 foot tall indoor garden unit that we will utilize to grow greens, herbs, strawberries and any other produce or plants that our residents feel like growing. We are able to allow our residents to give back (personal growth) via the nurturing and caring of these plants, as well as we are fostering partnerships with the school students who will be able to bring their science students over to learn about pollination (remember- there are no bees to do this for us in the care-home). Additionally, we will have a better variety of options for our menu, potentially the ability to sell produce to our staff and community and to raise money for the resident council. Lastly, we will be potentially reducing our food costs so that we can help to balance our over-all budgets and create a long-term sustainable health care system.

How would you explain what you do? What are your ‘typical’ daily/weekly tasks?

I am a part-time manager and I manage 8 departments: laundry, housekeeping, food and nutrition staff (cooks), nurses, care-aids, recreation and maintenance. With approximately 50 staff in my portfolio, human resources- recruiting and retaining staff along with labor relation concerns and ministry mandated projects including safe transfers, hand hygiene, etc. take up the bulk of my time (and more!)

However, I have carved out time to work on building an engaged team and a vision for our community health center. I believe that only when staff feel valued, cared-for will they be able to work towards greater improvements for the residents. We have had organizational and learning events and I have taken a baseline survey, a few months into my position, to measure improvements in morale, support from myself team work. We are seeing significant improvements and measurements such as an 8/10 for happiness by most respondents, show our readiness to move into other important areas of change. Beyond the staff, and the most important area is creating a person-centered care-home. Since I began, we have been dedicated to regular resident council meetings. Residents and their families meet to discuss and plan on all areas related the care-home. Menu and food choices are often at the fore-front. Recently, we have changed the “cooks choice” on the menu to “resident choice” and we have gathered a variety of menu ideas to further our personalized menu to meet our dynamic resident needs.

What has been your career path?

I started my career in community dietetics- with a focus on diabetes management and weight management. Then I moved into long-term care and worked providing education to care-home staff, as well as individualized nutrition care-plans for residents.

On the side via The Grazing Goose, I have given some mindful eating workshops on my farm (we raise pasture-raised poultry, heritage pigs, and grass-fed beef; a whole other area of my life that I could speak to). Our future plan for the farm is on-farm stays so while only locals can purchase our products anyone traveling down the number one highway in the next couple years will be able to have the opportunity to vacation on our farm!

In the past 3 years I’ve also have the privilege of giving some public presentations to dietitians in Ontario (Gerontology network) and in British Columbia for dining enhancement work their multidisciplinary team is doing.

What advanced education or special training do you have?

I don’t have any specialized management training. My main strategy for success and survival (some days such as a lay off or termination notice days are awful) has been to pick good mentors. I have one dedicated mentor that I connect with, even for 30 minutes every few months. I also surround myself with positive, individuals that support me and believe in the work that I am doing. Many of these individuals are not health care professionals. However, they have a vested interested (as do we all!) in changing the culture of aging.

In an ideal world, what does the industry look like 5 years from now?

In an ideal world, in 5 years from now, we will have solved all the underlying causes that lead to poor dining experiences for seniors. For example, staff will be happy, healthy, empathetic and engaged in their work so that they can truly be present and facilitate an amazingly satisfying dining experience for our well-deserved seniors. Basically, we will have created an environment where by which even a dietitian that walks into the home says “wow! I want to eat here!”.

What misinformation about RDs would you like to clear up?

I am currently battling and challenging the misinformation in terms of the capacity of what a dietitian can do in management. Traditionally it has been Registered Nurses managing long-term care, and although there are now managers with a background as paramedics and social workers, a dietitian managing other health care professionals, at least in our province is extremely rare a thus new territory.

Anything else you’d like to add that you feel would be valuable:

I developed a mealtime educational tool for educating staff. It is free and available on YouTube or google “mealtime management video”. It’s a foundational educational tool for all staff working with seniors. The content is relevant to LTC, community and event acute-care.

I hope that you will join me in improving the future of aging for all of us!

More about Sabrina:

Website: sabrinabovee.com
Facebook: SabrinaBoveeSeniors
Email: sabrina.bovee@gmail.com 

Website: The Grazing Goose
Instagram: @thegrazinggoose
Facebook: The Grazing Goose

Thanks Sabrina! Find out more about What RDs Do.

If you're a dietitian that would like to be featured, email me for the details!

What RDs Do: Paula Wesson, RDN, LDN

PAULA WESSON
GERIATRICS - CATHOLIC SISTERS &

THE JUNK FOOD NUTRITIONIST

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It fascinates me to learn why people were drawn to the dietetics field and of course the diverse and varied things we do and people we work with. We often go above and beyond nourishment and nutrition education to best serve our patients/residents/clients. Paula also bring up some of my favourite terms: moderation (although a controversial/subjective term) and prevention. 

Why did you become a RD?

I’ve always loved food, but I also really liked medicine and I loved playing “school” with my friends. I realized that being a dietitian was a combination of these things. I’m around food all the time, I’m around medicine all the time, and I teach!

What area of dietetics do you work in?

Geriatrics. I work mainly with Catholic Sisters. (They prefer not to be called “nuns.”)

How would you explain what you do?

I’m a jill-of-all-trades. I do anything I can for the Sisters, including many things that aren’t nutrition-related, such as pushing their wheelchairs and helping them find the numbers called in Bingo.

What are your ‘typical’ daily/weekly tasks?

One of my main clinical duties is to perform a full nutrition assessment on new residents to the skilled nursing floors (there are also floors for Sisters who are aging but don’t need skilled care). I then have to fill out Medicare paperwork for residents on a regular basis, regardless of their nutrition status. I also attend care conferences twice a week to discuss the residents’ health conditions and care. Sometimes I provide nutrition education. Sometimes I recommend supplements or snacks. Sometimes I even spoon-feed them or go to the grocery store to look for a particular item for them to eat.

What has been your career path?

After college, I held nutrition-related jobs prior to working as a dietitian. After earning my degree, I worked as a summer camp counselor teaching cooking classes. While this was enjoyable, it was obviously temporary. Then, I started my unpaid dietetic internship, during which I worked part-time as a biology lab assistant and later as a dietary aide in a convent nursing home.

Another convent nursing home, operated by the same foodservice company, needed a new dietitian. I had a job offer to be their dietitian before I’d even completed the internship. Literally, the day after I finished my internship, I moved and 3 days later I started working as their dietitian.

What advanced education or special training do you have?

Not much. I have taken 4 graduate-level courses. I am planning to take the Certified Nutrition Support Clinician (CNSC) exam by the end of the year, which is a certification in tube feedings and parenteral nutrition.

In an ideal world, what does the industry look like 5 years from now?

Nutrition services are still inaccessible for many people. Ideally, more insurance companies would cover our services and would cover them for more conditions than they currently do. I’d like to see one dietitian visit a year being a covered part of preventative care. Teaching people nutrition earlier in the disease process or before it even begins could help prevent complications.

What misinformation about RDs would you like to clear up?

People often think my job is to make strict meal plans. My facility has “liberal” diets. For example, we don’t force residents with diabetes to eat only 45 carbs per meal. Even when I was interning in inpatient and outpatient settings none of the dietitians provided patients or clients with a strict meal plan.

What are challenges you encounter as a RD?

It’s hard to change people’s habits. I think this is especially true in the older adult population because they want to enjoy what’s left of their life and are concerned they won’t enjoy it as much if they change their diet.

What do people think that you do for a living?

Ha. I had one coworker who used to tell me all the time that my job was to play Solitaire because he often saw me on the computer. Other people tell me they think I’m the stock person or the “runner” who brings food from the kitchen to the serving area.

What is your favourite meal?

I have always loved rice and beans. It’s very versatile, because it’s not really just rice and beans. For example, Puerto Rican-style rice and beans includes recaito, a cilantro-based mixture, but Nicaraguan “gallo pinto” rice and beans doesn’t.

Anything else you’d like to add that you feel would be valuable:

Why do you call yourself “The Junk Food Nutritionist”?

I came up with this name years before I officially became a Registered Dietitian. My family would tease me about the fact that I ate junk food even though I was studying nutrition and wanted to work in dietetics. I still do. I believe in everything in moderation.

More about Paula:

Website: www.JunkFoodNutrition.com
Twitter: @JunkFoodNutr

Thanks Paula! Find out more about What RDsDo.

If you're a dietitian that would like to be featured, email me for the details!

What RDs Do: Mark McGill, RD, CSG (soon)

MARK MCGILL 

LONG TERM CARE & HOME CARE

for something nutrishus

Mark was recommended as a great male to include in the series, and as you'll see below, there are many reasons for that! You'll find Mark active on twitter as he enjoys helping people sort through the quackery and sees the need for dietitians to be in on social media conversations. He is also going to add a new and unique credential to his name soon.

Why did you become a RD?

I developed a passion for nutrition after stumbling upon it, really. I was studying Environmental Science at the University of Waterloo and I took a health elective that nicely fit my schedule. There was a nutrition component and soon, I found myself studying more about nutrition than my major. That Fall, I was enrolled in Nutrition and Food at Ryerson University in Toronto.

What area of dietetics do you work in?

I currently work in long term care (geriatrics) and home care.

How would you explain what you do?

I help people be at their best through food and a healthy lifestyle.

What are your ‘typical’ daily/weekly tasks?

Meeting with residents and their families at the long term care homes and going into clients’ homes for my home care job. Developing and implementing care plans based on individual needs. Meeting with other health care professionals with the common goal of improving the health of those we care for.

What has been your career path?

After completing my internship at the Ottawa Hospital in 2008, I worked in long term care and home care. I’ve come full-circle with positions in hospitals, family health teams and private clinics along the way.

What advanced education or special training do you have?

I am going to be Board Certified in Gerontological Nutrition (CSG) by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (*I wrote it but failed and will take the exam again. It's a tough exam. It was a good experience and I get another shot at it, so I’m not broken up about it.)

In an ideal world, what does the industry look like 5 years from now?

Less influence, lobbying by the food industry e.g. at conferences.

What misinformation about RDs would you like to clear up?

Men can be RDs too! (I have had contracts where I am referred to as “she”; “her”)

What would you like people to know about RDs?

We are not judging what you have for lunch last Tuesday at work in the staff room.

What are challenges you encounter as a RD?

People often feel the need to explain themselves if they are eating something unhealthy in front of me. I try and reassure them that a healthy diet includes all foods, even unhealthy ones!

What do people think that you do for a living?

People often assume I am a chef because of my nutrition expertise. Nope.

What are you passionate about in dietetics?

The use of social media to brand ourselves as the trusted nutrition experts.

What makes RDs unique/different from other nutrition/wellness professionals?

We have standards that we adhere to/are regulated by a professional college.

What is your favourite meal?

Ham, scalloped potatoes and corn is one of my favourites. Bacon, eggs and toast is also wonderful on a Sunday morning. I could go on…I love a lot of different foods/meal combinations.

What tip(s) would you give to our readers?

Keep an open mind in terms of what area of dietetics you may end up working in. Gerontology was not an area I thought I would be in back in university and during my internship.

More about Mark:

Twitter: @markjmcgill
Instagram (just started with this): @markmcgillrd

Thanks Mark! Find out more about What RDsDo.

If you're a dietitian that would like to be featured, email me for the details!