Lehigh Valley and Pittsburgh Dietetic Associations Help Louisiana Dietitians
Janet K. Little, MPH, RD, LDN, PADA President-elect
Click here to see photos
Presidents of PA’s district dietetic association are communicating with dietetics professionals from Louisiana about professional and household items they may need after receiving “starting over care packages” from their ADA delegate.
FALL 2005
RDs in Louisiana had heard of the "starting over care package" project in Mississippi and requested packages from Louisiana Dietetic Association’s board of directors. PADA members were right on it! Carol Kneier, president of the Northeast Dietetic Association had already shipped a 40-pound box of professional supplies to Jo Jo Dantone-DeBarbieris, Louisiana’s ADA Delegate. Meanwhile, Jo Jo was in the process of contacting RDs in need, developing a list of their names, contact information and items each RD needed as many no longer lived and worked at their pre-hurricane locations. Over Thanksgiving, Jo Jo collated these items into “starting over care packages” and shipped the packages to twenty-five RDs from Louisiana that replied to her offer to help. In addition, Jo Jo forwarded the addresses of eight other LA RDs interested in a certain textbook to Julie Stefanski. Julie has since been shipping the textbook directly to each RD.
After completing this Herculean effort, Jo Jo felt people could contact these RDs directly. Presidents of Pennsylvania’s district dietetic associations and I received Jo Jo’s list and emailed everyone listed. In the fall, we did hear from two LA RDs, Rose Danigole, Clinical Nutrition Manager at Charity Hospital in New Orleans and Karen Andry, who relocated to Marietta, GA. We were able to share their needs to many PADA members.
Karen Friedly, the diabetes specialist at Lehigh Valley Hospital, had collected funds from colleagues. She purchased a copy each of Krause's Food, Nutrition & Diet Therapy and Bowes & Church's Food Values of Portions Commonly Used and shipped them to Rose.
Julie Stefanski, PADA Federal Legislation Chair, mailed BMI wheels to Rose. Philadelphia Dietetic Association president Eileen Chopnick contacted Lisa Hark, RD, the co-author with Gail Morrison, MD of Medical Nutrition and Disease. Lisa asked her publisher to ship a copy of her book to Rose.
Elizabeth Kile of Philadelphia ASPEN purchased a curriculum for Rose Danigole. Please see below for 27 photos taken and captions written by Rose. Whole divisions of the hospital, including clinical dietetics, provide services in tents erected in the Convention Center. Rose has kept in touch. “We had Mardi Gras here yesterday and it was so nice. It was calm and peaceful. We really needed it. I had a friend from out of town and I took her to see these areas. There are over 200,000 devastated and uninhabitable homes in New Orleans; some were in very beautiful and upscale neighborhoods. Our population has dropped from 600,000 to about 200,000. It is an unimaginable sight.”
Pat Sullivan, Make Time for Health program director, shipped an extra copy of Bowes & Church to Karen Andry. Karen Friedly shipped a clipboard, a calculator and many office supplies to Karen.
Winter 2006
Presidents of PA’s district dietetic association continued to communicate with registered dietitians from Louisiana about professional and household items they may need. Melissa Feather, President of LVDA, ordered supplies on line and shipped them to two dietetics professionals, Shannon Robertson, RD and Leigh Bates, DTR. Shannon once worked at Charity Hospital and now works at East Jefferson Hospital in New Orleans. She received the latest edition of Food/Medication Interactions by Zaneta Pronsky and an ASPEN curriculum. Leigh Bates worked at a VA Hospital in Louisiana. She simply had to leave the devastation behind and move with her family to North Carolina. She now works in an acute-care facility in Winston-Salem, NC. Leigh received a pair of work shoes from ShoesForCrews and three work shirts. I contacted the North Carolina Dietetic Association about Leigh’s wish to attend its annual meeting in the spring; Leigh received a complementary registration for all three days.
Here is a thank you from Leigh to Carol Kneier, NEDA President
(she will soon write to Melissa Feather and the LVDA.)
Dear Carol,
Katrina was an unprecedented event in all of our lives because as human beings when tragedy strikes we are all effected. The loss is of such magnitude that it still seems surreal. Life must go on. Words can hardly describe how much it means to know there are people who care enough to give of themselves. People like you who stepped up to help and gave us direction and helped us to focus on starting over.
Katrina taught me to appreciate all the components that help you make it in this world. The things we value and need, our home, our family & friends, our car and our job should be appreciated. Just imagine life without one of them. Now imagine life without all of them. I am blessed. I have a place to call home, my kids are adjusting, I have a piece of car (meaning, it isn’t much but it gets me there), and a job to afford me those privileges.Most of all I have a renewed faith in God and I am a witness to how he works through people. Carol you are his instrument. Thank you and all PADA for touching my life.
Leigh Bates
SPRING 2006
The Pittsburgh Dietetic Association (PDA) is helping KaToya Neville Carter, a renal RD who moved to an apartment in Kenner, LA. PDA joins dietitians from many states in the country to replace professional materials: Pennsylvania (Cheryl Gamber of Weis Markets); North Carolina (Sylvia Escott-Stump donated her book); Kansas (Robyn Stuewe of NCES and Deborah D. Canter, professor at KSU); Connecticut (Sharon Mierzwa, President of CTDA); and LA (Dr. Collette G. Leistner of her alma mater, Nicholls State University, in the heart of Cajun country). KaToya’s family replaced KaToya’s microwave oven.
This just in! Elizabeth Kile reported that Philadelphia ASPEN is donating a renal reference book to KaToya. Cindy Javor, President-elect of the PDA, immediately shipped hand-held blenders to KaToya and an RD new to us living in a FEMA trailer in Metairie, LA, Melanie L. Taylor. When I called Melanie, she had just spoken with the SBA, trying to finance better housing. ADA members are welcome to join the professional groups currently looking over her list of household items as Melanie’s home was completely flooded and destroyed, becoming a magnet for mold. “My contact lenses were gummy from the mold. What was it doing to my lungs?” Contacts lens wearers, Melanie welcomes soaking solution for soft lenses, the No Rub formula. One item not be easily replaced is her set of Professional Portfolio records. Hopefully, CDR will work with Melanie to recreate them.
MORE TO COME/CONTACT YOUR DISTRICT PRESIDENT
Thank you to every one of these dietetics professionals and groups. How’s that for a “member benefit,” receiving help from fellow professionals after losing everything? Your district president is aware of the specific items needed by dietetics professional from the Gulf States as they find their way back from the devastation. I encourage you to contact your district dietetic association president. If you do not belong to a district, contact the president, anyway, through the “Find Your District” feature of the state website. |
The photos below are mostly of the outside and inside facility of the EMED Unit. Taken and sent by Rosetta Danigole, RD,
Clinical Nutrition Manager, Charity Hospital.
Lori Riviere, RD, CNSD holds materials received from Northeast PA Dietetic Association.
Rose Danigole holds materials received from PADA,
Including BMI wheels from Julie Stefanski.
One of our nurses doing sterilization of dental equipment.
This is the set up of a patient bed in the ER.
This is our designated wound care area.
Medical supplies between the medical emergency room and fast track ER.
Our MD's doing patient care conference.
A look at the M.E.R. (Medical emergency room).
Patient waiting area.
Our nutrition table set up for Go Red Day.
What is left of the dietitians office materials and supplies and our lack of office furniture. Our office furniture was flooded.
This is the dietitians work area.
This is the Pharmacy trailer.
Dental tent where the dentist do extractions and Emergency dental work.
Fast Track MER, and Pharmacy.
This is the patient admit area with oneof our admit clerks (Gayle Holden) admitting patients.
Triage tent where patients sign in and get evaluated.
Entrance into the ER. Notice the hand made sign that we had to make.
Our location on convention Center Boulevard.
The Red Cross symbolizes the medical facility and let's people know we are here.
I was happy to receive this box of materials by my doorstep. Included were a variety of items that we could use to set up our office. Much thanks. It was alot of fun receiving it.
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RDs at East Jefferson Medical Center
Say Thanks for everything!!!
Shannon Robertson, LDN,RD pre-Katrina Charity Hospital dietitian, now East Jefferson Medical Center
Ashley Rogers, LDN,RD pre-Katrina University Hospital, now East Jefferson Medical Center
Saroja Pidikiti, LDN, RD pre-Katrina Memorial Medical Center now East Jefferson Medical Center
Yes, we are all @ EJGH now. Shannon said yes she received the Food/Med interaction and a Thank You note is on the way. We are actually holding "Bridging the Gap" we all received a copy in our care packages. "Bridging the Gap" contains simple diets for the Complex Nutritional Demands (diet instruction sheets and menus, etc.) Thank you all VERY much!!!!
With Love,
Ashley
Cara Osgood Now Lives and Works in Phoenix, AZ
Cara once worked at Charity Hospital in New Orleans, LA. “Lori Riviere is a CNSD (we took the test together) who used to work in the neurosurgical ICU (bless her heart). Her email is lrivie@lsuhsc.edu. I see you sent other photos so I am going to check the out when I get up for real. I am only awake now b/c Sophia has a cold and needed comforting.
We are doing well in Phoenix. We were a little homesick at Mardi Gras, but we had a party with King Cakes and Gumbo and red beans and rice. We will be fine. I like Phoenix and fouynd a great job and wonderful people to work with. I was at the psych hospital for 2 months. I left the Healthcare in Forensic Facilities book from the care package with them.
Sophia is 7 months, over 15#, and eating cereal, veggies, and fruit now. What happened to my 4 # tiny little peanut???
Thanks again for taking such good care of us "refugees."
I'll be in touch.
Those two white binders were called "Bridging the Gap, Simple Diets for Complex Issues...." (I think that was the title). JoJo Dantone (spelling) and part of my care package authored them. They contained English and Spanish diets/handouts.
I am holding a textbook and some diabetes pamphlets (carb counting among others) that were also part of the care package. There was also education sheets for vitamins and minerals and information on ProStat.
As a side note, ASPEN did send me a replacement Core Curriculum, which is a very $$ book. I thought it was very kind of them as well.
Hope this helps.
Cara |
