|
On March 12, NvAND will be hosting our annual Legislative Day. Why is it important? First, there is a bill pending that affects our licensure bill. In the Committee on Commerce and Labor hearing, there were a number of questions that were asked by the Legislators that showed an interest in the bill, but not necessarily support. It is still sitting in Committee before it goes to the full Assembly. We need to be sure that all members of the Assembly and Senate realize the importance of passing this bill. Second, we are the nutrition professionals. We do our jobs using strong scientific evidence. Many times, bills might come before the legislator that affect some aspect of nutrition. By meeting the legislators and making sure they have an understanding of who we are and what we do and that we use evidence-based information, they know they can call on us for advice. That one-on-one relationship with legislators is important. Can you spare 15-20 minutes on March 12 to meet, virtually, with a legislator? I have 34 appointments scheduled but not enough of our members to meet with those legislators. If you can spare 15-20 minutes, please sign up to attend. We will have a training/kickoff on March 5 so you will know about the bill and what to say. Thank you to those already registered and I hope to see more of you sign up. Kara Freeman, DrPH, RD, FAND State Public Policy Representative 
0 Comments
 Allison Schnitzer has been a member since 2010. She served on the board from 2017-2019 as the State Policy Representative as part of the Public Policy Team. During that time, she worked on SB95 which successfully allowed for order writing privileges for RDs in hospitals. Alison was nominated for her work as a driving force to get SB95 to pass, is a person who puts herself out there to make a difference, works diligently to produce healthy options in the community, and always provides assistance to any challenge to collaborate on a solution. Allison is described as compassionate, sarcastic, and supportive. Allison is excited to see the Nevada RD community growing and thinks it is great for the community and state. She completed her undergraduate and dietetic internship at UNLV. Dietetics is a second career path for Allison. Before becoming an RD she obtained her English degree and worked in book publishing for 8 years in New York City. Allison has worked at the Southern department Health District in the Chronic Disease and Health Promotion Office for the past 5 years as a public health dietitian. Her office receives grants that strive to promote a food environment in which it is easy to make healthy food choices and make access to food more equitable. Allison reports that depending on where a person lives, their income, and ethnic profile, and access to healthy foods can vary widely. Her work aims to increase access to healthy food for all. Allison makes a difference as an RD because she works closely with the community and tackles big issues happening in the community. Right now, she is working with food pantries which allows her to see what is going on in the community, what they need, and what they struggle with. Allison finds it rewarding to react to whatever is going on in the world at any given moment as a community RD. Allison has her own equivalent of a clinical IDT team, she explains she works with a city planner, RTC, business owners, school administrators, food pantries, etc. She loves going into these spaces to aid in making positive changes. Due to the pandemic Allison has worked from home most of the past year. Allison explains the pandemic has impacted her job greatly because she works closely with community partners and grants and the priority and focus of many business and community partners has understandable shifted over the past year. Trying to be flexible and refocusing her work as much as possible while still accomplishing the objectives and meeting the partners changing needs has been a challenge since the pandemic started requiring constant shifting and adjusting. She also explains that some grants are planned a year in advance and not knowing what next year is going to look like makes it difficult to estimate the needs. Allison finds it rewarding to work with children and children’s health. She has gone to elementary schools and worked closely with schools to make positive changes to promote healthier nutrition and physical activity which will impact a large number of students. She enjoys working on various work groups and task forces as a team to set and accomplish goals. Allison likes being a community dietitian because it allows you to do a variety of things and makes a large impact, not to mention you can really go in any direction with community nutrition. It allows you to work in almost any realm, in any environment, with almost any partner. Allison actively promotes community nutrition as a career path. In her free time, Allison loves to cook and talk to others about cooking and food. She reports especially during COVID she has spent even more time cooking, looking at recipes, and meal planning. She also enjoys Pilates/yoga, spending time with her family, and watching movies. Question of the Month: What is your signature dish? Cashew Cheese. She puts it on everything from quesadillas to homemade potato chips. “Don’t start because you won’t stop!” |
NvANDSupporting Nevada Nutrition Professionals Archives
May 2022
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
Quick Links |
|
Become a sponsorFind out more HERE.
|
© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
|