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Volume 28 No. 1
Fall 2009
A quarterly publication of the Management in Food and Nutrition Systems Dietetic Practice Group
How to Insulate Against
“Job Instability”
In thIs Issue
1
How to Insulate Against
“Job Instability”
Marty Rothschild, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, Aladdin Temp-Rite
Usually when I’m asked to write an article for a magazine or journal, the
topics include equipment, healthcare trends, and foodservice decisions —
something speciﬁc to our business.
2
But for an article on management, I will
need to draw from my experience having
“earned my keep” as a manager for now
almost 40 years. Since I am a working
manager and not a professor I am more
inclined to write or recommend more
from a practical view than a theoretical
one. After all, experience may be the best
way of moving from theory to practice;
implementing what works while abandoning what doesn’t. These disciplines
explained below have worked for me
and I think they will be equally eﬀective
for anyone as we face a very diﬃcult
job market. As the latest national
unemployment ﬁgures now approach
10%, staying employed or ﬁnding
employment is a timely topic as you
may be experiencing a little job angst.
MFNS Oﬃcers 2009-10
Surely there are circumstances beyond
your control that may contribute to
your ﬁnding yourself unemployed;
there are no 100% secure positions
anymore. Capable people have lost their
jobs. As a matter of fact, the employment
experience of the future will probably
call for more ﬂexibility and change than
anyone can predict or even imagine.
Human Resource specialists and career
counselors predict that recent college
graduates may change careers as much
as 7 – 9 times before retiring. That’s
careers — not jobs! So in this present
ﬁnancial tumult and uncertain future
what would make you a more employable
applicant or a more valuable employee?
How can you insulate yourself against
the nagging fears of unemployment
and do your best to assure a constant
paycheck?
The simple answer is by making yourself
more employable — you also become a
more valuable employee. Maybe it’s too
basic to consider but, believe me, there
are those that don’t get that simple
message. They become victims rather
than victors — over and over again.
You will be worth more to your employer
if you take the initiative, are energetic,
current in your skills, and constantly
curious. So even in the event that an
uncontrollable circumstance occurs –
even if the company hits misfortune,
or there is a change in ownership,
management or direction — you will
be better equipped to land successfully
elsewhere.
How do you do it? As you might suspect
it’s not a magic formula. As with many
successful career strategies it’s more a
case of art than science or more discipline
than mysticism. So here we go…my
4 disciplines –
Discipline #1, know Your craft. Are you
an engineer, a dietitian, a foodservice
director, a salesman, marketer, doctor,
continued on page 4
Raising Recognition of
Food Service Initiatives
3
Oﬀ the Book Shelf
4
How to Insulate Against
“Job Instability” (continued)
5
Recognition of our ADA
Award Recipients
6
Clinical Nutrition Management:
It’s More Than Clinical
7
Reduce and Reuse:
An Initiative of Beneﬁtting
Cost and Quality Standards
8
Chair’s Column
9
Editor’s Column
10,11
2010 ADA Member Beneﬁts
12
DPG Newsletter Database
Raising Recognition of
Food Service Initiatives
Patti Dollarhide, RD
Money is tight. Everyone is re-thinking
their menus and buying habits as we are
forced to examine if we can still satisfy
our ﬁlet mignon tastes on a hotdog
budget. Hospital food service is always
on the radar to reduce costs, even if they
only make up a small portion of the
overall spend. Radiology spends more
replacing one x-ray tube than we
do on a month’s worth of groceries.
There have been some great suggestions
for how to drive cost out of your operation
in previous newsletters – good old food
service 101 principles. As the pressure
from administration continues to focus on
reducing human capital, it becomes even
more important to match the right product selection with the right application.
Food service directors are continuously
asked to reduce staﬃng without much
thought to potential revenue opportunities or revenue losses. Directors and
their staﬀs become weary of retail ideas
that cause them work, and often opt to
discount them when putting together
their plan on how to reduce. If you look
at other segments within the non-commercial food service industry, it becomes
apparent that there is often money to
be made from the time-starved working
class that we have access to everyday.
Restaurants are notorious for “limited
time oﬀers” or LTOs. LTOs are looked at
as a pain by the purchasing agents, the
kitchen staﬀ and others. The inventory
requires additional managing, the
distributor has to bring in the product
for a short time, the staﬀ needs to be
properly trained, there are signs to make,
cashiers to train, etc. etc. Their reason
that they utilize these plans is because
it drives increased sales.
Do we have the opportunity to drive
sales in the hospital cafes? Reasons to
celebrate are plentiful between nurse’s
day, doctor’s week, Valentine’s Day….
people need gifts, and last minute
parties are the norm. There are a million
reasons why we can’t do it—it drives
up our cost per average occupied bed
(eob), it creates additional work, and
aren’t dietitians really supposed to
be taking care of patients?
Show your hospital what you and your
team can do – wow them with a special
event and charge for it! Sell cooked
prime rib to take home so an employee
can work and be a great hostess too.
Maybe additional sales from a special
event could be earmarked to a favorite
hospital charity. Maybe the additional
money can be used to save a few FTEs
that are important in your quest to
improve service. However you decide
to direct the revenue, make sure your
department gets the recognition it
deserves. Successful food service
directors learn early that your job is
as much about tooting your horn as
it is about doing the job.
A very special thank you to the sponsors of our practice group!
You helped make ADA Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo 2009
a wonderful experience for all of our members in attendance.
Jenna-Bell Wilson – The Cranberry Institute
Dave Carter – National Bison Association
Patrick Moran – Vitality Foodservice, Inc.
Paul schick – Burlodge USA Inc.
Patti Dollarhide – Cargill, Inc.
Amy Cohn – Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition
MFns Oﬃcers 2009-10
Chair – 2009-2010 (V)
Gary Kawula, MPA, RD
E – [email protected]
Chair-Elect 2009-2010 (V)
Sue McGinley, MBA, RD
E – [email protected]
Immediate Past Chair 2009-2010 (V)
Nancy Bowen, MBA, RD, LD
E – [email protected]
Secretary 2009-2010 (V)
Linda Horace RD, LD
E – [email protected]
Treasurer 2009-2011 (V)
Mary Angela Miller, MS, RD, LD, FADA
E – [email protected]
Nominating Chair 2009-2010 (V)
Patti Dollarhide, RD, LD
E – [email protected]
Nominating Chair-Elect 2009-2011
Pam Ferguson, RD
E – [email protected]
Publications Editor –
Appointed Yearly
Rita Berthelsen, PhD, RD, LMNT
E – [email protected]
MFNS BOARD – 2009- 2010
SOPP Project Director and Publication Editorial Review Coordinator –
Ruby P. Puckett MA, FCSI,
E – [email protected]
Director at Large 2009-2011 (V)
Tamie Frable-Newman MS, RD, LD, LDN
E – [email protected]
Director at Large 2008-2010 (V)
Patti Oliver, MS, RD, MBA
E – [email protected]
Director at Large 2009-2010 (V)
Brenda Sheridan MS, RD, LD
E – [email protected]
Awards Committee: 2009-2010
Inez Speranza, RD
ADA Professional Issues Delegate
Kathleen Niedert, MBA, RD, LD, FADA
E – [email protected]
ADA DPG Relations Manager
Lisa Sands, MS
E – [email protected]
V - voting member
2
Market-Link
Fall 2009
Oﬀ the Book Shelf
Ruby P. Puckett, MA, FCSI
President, Foodservice Management Consultants Program Director, University of Florida
Dietary Manager Training Program through Flexible Learning
In the article written by Marty Rothschild
he stated “—a simple answer is to make
yourself more employable —as a result
you become a more valuable employee”.
After reading his article I chose a book
that will provide tips and techniques
that will help you become more employable, a more valuable employee
and to be noticed in a “good” way. The
book will also assist you to examine your
image, improve your communications,
leadership skills, and adjust to change
plus many other guidelines to help you
ﬁt into the corporate culture and move
into a more responsible position.
The book is entitled 101 Ways to Stand
Out at Work, written by Arthur D. Rosenberg, a consultant in the New York-New
Jersey area. He specializes in business
analysis, project management, documentation, corporate communication
and training. The book is published by
Adams Media, an F+W Media Company,
Avon MA, copyright ©2009; ISBN 10:
1-59869-981-4; paperback, 242 pages,
20 chapters with an appendix and
index. Each tip begins with a quote made
by a well known successful person and
each tip contains methods in how to
by using examples.
I have chosen to highlight some of the
tips that appear to always cause the
most problems for managers.
TIP 9. Eﬀective communication can
eliminate the majority of management
problems. There are two points to
improve communication skills and
they include: 1. Assess your major
weaknesses, seek feed back 2. Develop
a plan of action for improvement.
TIP 19. Leading is about us, not me and
uses this famous quote by Warren Bennis and Peter Drucker “Management is
doing things right; leadership is doing
the right things.”
TIP 25. The more you know, the more
power you can bring to bear. In using
power you must use solid- information,
state facts and have data to back it up.
Michael Korda stated— “[power] is all
around us; we have only to seize it. It does
not lie beyond the every day activities
of our lives, but in them.” To acquire
power you must actively seek it.
TIP 31. Half your skills become obsolete
every four to six years, and the clock is
ticking. This tip is the foundation of the
American Dietetic Association—learning
is lifelong. Existing skills will continue to
be needed such as technical, functional
and organizational, but other skills that
we may not envision at this time will
need to be learned.
TIP 40. A healthy mind needs a healthy
place to live. The best way to deal with
health problems is to avoid them. Change
your life style, eat right, exercise, stop
smoking, seek the assistance of a
physician when something seems
wrong and reduce the stress in your life.
TIP 51. Intelligence is learning from your
own mistakes: wisdom is learning from
the mistakes of others. Mistakes help us
to learn only if we proﬁt from them. List
mistakes you see others make, try to
ﬁgure out why and determine if you are
making the same mistakes. Develop a
plan to eliminate them—such as false
assumptions, rationalizing, and habit.
TIP 58. Ready or not the future is coming.
Heraclites stated “nothing endures but
change.” It is important to determine
what can and cannot be changed. Stop
going in circles, realize and work on those
things that can be changed. Recognize
the need for change and accept it.
TIP 69. Don’t wait too long to take advantage of an opportunity. Robert Frost said
“I took the road less travel by; And that
has made all of the diﬀerence”. Timing
is everything. Managing ones’time is
frequently the hardest job a manager
has in doing less important jobs ﬁrst,
accepting excessive visitors, interruptions
and using company e-mails/web site
that may not relate to work.
TIP 78. Turning down an assignment can
turn oﬀ the boss. Tip 29 states Initiative is
the single most important factor in being
regarded as an asset. Tip 78 means taking
the initiative, be an enthusiastic team
player, be an asset and be able to break
out of your comfort zone. Be a volunteer.
TIP 87. Focus on the objective ﬁrst, and
how to achieve it second. Start the plan
with the objective, what do you want
to accomplish in the most eﬀective
and eﬃcient manner. Collect data
and maintain information and
records to achieve the objective.
TIP 94. Networking pays oﬀ your investment with interest. The author list
21-ways to make networking pay oﬀ
for you and the person with whom
you wish to network The tips I found
to be most important were:
Be tactful, discreet, patient, clear, positive, sensitive, prepared, relevant, organized, responsive, committed, and
never misrepresent.
This is an easy read book that contains
a roadmap on how to“move ahead”.
Regardless of your level of responsibility
this book will provide you some practical
information on how to improve. The
quotes are excellent and applicable to
the tip and to your job and life in general.
Another Book
Layoﬀs, the poor economy and the
demands of clients have added additional pressure to the foodservice director and the staﬀ. Administration wants
continued on page 4
Fall 2009
Market-Link
3
continued from page 1
How to Insulate Against “Job Instability”
lawyer, Indian chief? Whatever — stay
current. I would suggest that you subscribe
to a magazine or journal that provides
updates in your craft. Attend professional
organization meetings with peers, exchange
ideas. Don’t stop learning after your yellow
highlighter dries up and your text books
are sold!
There are lots of information on how
to better organize, maintain priorities,
and improve eﬃciencies. Whether its
“process” or “content” there are things
to learn to improve what you do.
A question to ask yourself maybe,
“after 5 years do I have 5 years experience
or a year of experience repeated 5 times
over?” Do you oﬀer more knowledge
in your craft than a fresh recruit ? It’s
a competitive world out there and
you must continue to grow.
Discipline #2, know Your industry.
What a time to be in the healthcare ﬁeld!
Your industry is center stage. You cannot
pick up a newspaper or magazine without reading about healthcare. Of course,
there are other outlets for you as a
professional in this industry that will
provide you with even more“insider”
information about industry trends and
forecasts of where the industry is going.
Knowledge of the industry will give you
a leg up on staying current and under-
standing the interface of discipline #2
and discipline #3.
Discipline #3, know Your segment.
In your case it’s nutrition or food service.
Stay abreast of what is happening here.
Networking, visiting others, observing
experienced pros; all can contribute to
your staying ﬂexible and creative. Also, by
understanding the way the industry and
your speciﬁc segment ﬁt together will
enable you to speak more authoritatively
when supporting an opinion with clear
rationale. Don’t stagnate or grow stale.
Discipline #4, know Your company.
Learn your products, your hospital, your
mission, your procedures, your policies,
your brands. Learn what makes your
employer unique, as well as its strengths
and weaknesses. Be a positive inﬂuence
for your employer where it’s good…
reinforce… where there are ways to
improve—work towards improvement.
The fact that you have continued to
make positive contributions in your
position will give you more creditability
for future recommendations and suggestions. You can be a part of needed
internal change. If the situation can’t be
improved by your eﬀorts, and can’t be
supported—then it may be time for you
to take your skill elsewhere. There is
no place for passive aggressive behavior
in any organization. If you cannot
continue to support your company
and your decision is to leave, you will
at least be better equipped to make a
move. You have made the proper
investment in “You Incorporated!”
Your constant and steady investment
in these 4 disciplines have made you
more employable.
Obviously this management advice
concerned the employment side of
your life and didn’t touch life away from
work…family, social, health, or spiritual
dimensions – all part of a balanced
personality. All work and no play, or
no life—can mean burn-out.
You will ﬁnd that balance is an important
support mechanism as you work or look
for work. As a “forever learner”, you will
weather the storm because of the balance
and the self discipline you have exercised.
No matter what the task, you must invest
in constant renewal. By being better in
your chosen ﬁeld (craft) and staying
current in that ﬁeld (industry and segment)
it will pay oﬀ for both you and your
employer. This kind of personal investment
will separate you from the rest; this
personal exercise of initiative and
discipline will pay oﬀ even in the
roller coaster ride of life.
Oﬀ the Book Shelf continued from page 3
4
more accountability from all staﬀ and
correct/useable information to make
decisions in a timely manner. A well
written business plan can be used
to provide this information.
Market-Link on how to develop business
plans. In the book Food Service Manual
for Health Care Institutions I provided
an outline for the writing of the
business plan.
Business plan development continues
to be a problem for students and managers. In the late 80’s Jim Rose, RD, MS,
published six-series of article on “How
to write business plans” in the newsletter
Hospital Food & Nutrition Focus. Jim was
among the ﬁrst dietitians to publish
articles on the importance of developing
business with guidelines in how to write
one. Several years ago Char Norton RD,
MS published an article in the
Since this continues to be a problem
I reviewed the business literature and
found a book that provides step-by-step
information on business plans. The book,
Business Plan in a Day, 2nd edition, is
by Rhoda Abrams, who has published
more than a dozen books and is a
syndicated columnist for USA Today.
Market-Link
Fall 2009
The book is paperback, it details the
nine steps needed in developing a
business plan plus methods on how to
present the plan and how to ruin the plan.
The book contains a business glossary,
business resources, an index and 179
pages. The book is ©2009, published
by The Planning Shop, Palo Alto, CA;
the ISBN is 13: 978-1-933895-07-9.
This is a must book for all managers. When
the boss asks for a business plan for a
project you want to implement, if you
follow the examples, forms and advise
in this book the outcome should be
accepted. I highly recommend this
book as part of your business/
leadership book case.
Recognition of our ADA Award Recipients
Bill Barkley and Gary Kawula
Bill Smith, Joyce Scott-Smith, Bill Barkley and Rachel Barkley
Please join the Executive Committee in
Congratulating our two National ADA award winners!!!
MEDALLION AWARD WINNER
Joyce Scott-Smith, MS, RD
Director, Food & Nutrition and Dietetic Internship
UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Shadyside Campus
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
[email protected]
EXCELLENCE IN MANAGEMENT
PRACTICE AWARD WINNER
William C. Barkley, MBA, LD, RD, FADA
General Manager and Food Service Director
The Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics
Kansas City, Missouri
[email protected]
Don’t forget to vote!
We have a very qualiﬁed slate of candidates to lead DPG 41.
Directions for voting will be available soon.
the slate of candidates for 2010-2011 is:
CHAIR-ELECT: Rita Berthelsen, PhD, RD, LMNT
SECRETARY: Gayle Dixon, MS, RD, LDN • Lynnette Jones, MBA, MS, RD
NOMINATING COMMITTEE CHAIR-ELECT:
Sally Fresse, RD • Amanda Goldman, MS, RD, LD
Fall 2009
Market-Link
5
Clinical Nutrition Management: It’s MoreThan Clinical
Jennifer Tomesko, DCN, RD, CNSC
Clinical Nutrition Managers (CNM) function
in a dual role which encompasses both
the clinical and the patient services realm.
A competent manager directs and manages all clinical aspects, which are integral
components of the food and nutrition
services department. However, they
must productively manage many business
aspects in order to control costs and
produce positive outcomes in today’s
changing healthcare environment.
A preset rubric helps staﬀ evaluate products
against need, cost and service. In today’s
changing world, the market is competitive
since there are a few main pharmaceutical
companies providing similar nutritional
products so usually the lowest price wins.
Often contract prices are based on volume,
and can even be negotiated as a sole-source
agreement, however in that case usually
90% of the products must come from that
company.
Today’s clinical nutrition manager should
not only be competent in clinical nutrition
care but also in cost containment and
ﬁnance. It’s important to be budget savvy
since clinical staﬀ salaries, merit increases,
overtime, productivity, pharmaceuticals,
food cost, educational expenses, and
patient education materials can greatly
impact the department’s budget. In most
organizations salary increases occur yearly
but salary expenditures may also ﬂuctuate
with staﬀ changes. For example, if an employee has resigned a position, it is desirable
that the position must be covered without
accruing overtime expenses. Productivity
needs to be monitored so that each dietitian,
dietetic technician or diet assistant is working at maximum capacity. By maintaining
adequate staﬃng levels, departmental
costs can be controlled. If possible, when
the census drops, staﬃng down should
occur. This may not be possible with full
time staﬀ, but with part-time and per diem
staﬀ it may be an option. It is helpful to
oﬀer staﬀ the opportunity to have an extra
day or half day oﬀ. Some will want the time
and may take it without pay.This is also
dependent upon union contracts.
Mentoring and motivating employees is
crucial to improving retention and assisting
with career advancement. Each dietitian
or technician should have at least one
personal clinical goal to achieve yearly,
and the clinical goals should align with
the departmental and hospital goals.
However, this may require additional
continuing education or educational
expenses which can be costly at times.
It’s beneﬁcial from a monetary standpoint
to obtain continuing education credits
that are free of charge often provided by
pharmaceutical companies, food companies, and even the National Kidney Foundation. The motivation should in turn
result in fewer turnovers of employees
which has a positive monetary aﬀect.
Turnover of employees can result in up
to 150% of the employee’s yearly compensation when lost time and productivity,
recruitment, and time invested in training
are taken into account.
The CNM also needs to keep up with the
market trends in regards to medical food
supplements or pharmaceuticals. The formulary should be nutritious and appropriate to meet the needs of the patient
demographics and acuity levels, but also
remain cost eﬀective. The CNM should
evaluate the evidence prior to meeting
with the pharmaceutical representatives
pertaining to the possible products for the
enteral formulary, so an educated decision
can be made on which product to choose.
6
Market-Link
Fall 2009
Monitoring food cost, yet providing our
patients with nutritious foods within the
nutrient analysis is another budget related
concern of the CNM. When dietitians
educate patients, often the foods recommended are not the foods provided to
patients while in an institutionalized s
etting. So it’s important for the CNM to
work with the executive chef and general
manager to determine the most appealing
yet compliant items within their physician
prescribed diet. The CNM needs to be
well versed in food service operations,
patient food delivery systems, and trends
in customer/patient satisfaction to help
suggest appropriate modiﬁcations for
the patient.
Relationships are also key to being successful within healthcare institutions.
These relationships may include, but are
not limited to hospital administration,
ancillary managers and staﬀ at all levels.
Building and sustaining a trusting relationship with hospital administration may help
when negotiating future budgeting issues,
staﬃng issues, or the development of new
programs. Eﬀective communication helps
build relationships with employees, which
in turn improves retention and reduces
turnover as well. This facilitation of positive
relationships also can improve relationships between ancillary staﬀ and the
patient as well.
The food and nutrition services department
has always been a revenue generating
department due to cafeteria, catering, or
vending sales. In the past, the clinical area
was non-revenue generating, but the
trend has been an increase in third party
reimbursement for clinical nutrition services provided. If the demographics of the
community and staﬃng allow, the CNM
should have an outpatient program in
place that can generate revenue for
nutritional counseling and assessment.
If staﬃng is tight, a plan can be developed
for outpatient services which will oﬀ-set
the cost of the dietitian salary. From an
inpatient perspective, the CNM can work
with physicians and case management for
documentation of malnutrition coding to
help receive reimbursement. It is crucial
to document that nutrition services are an
essential part of routine care and publicize
reimbursement by insurance providers
and other third party payers.
The best CNMs are cutting edge. They are
expert clinicians, mentor and manage a
clinical staﬀ, and help promote positive
outcomes in the patient services area as
well. As managers, they must remain well
versed and understand many diﬀerent
aspects of the food and nutrition services
as a business. Being an expert in one
area may not make a CNM a good manager, but being competent in many
diﬀerent areas will.
Reduce and Reuse: An Initiative of Beneﬁtting
Cost and Quality Standards
Part II
Joanne Shearer, RD, MS, CDE, LN, Food Service Director, Averra Heart Hospital of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and
Jenette Merrill, RD, LN, Production Dietitian, Averra Heart Hospital of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
In the summer 2009 issue of Market-Link,
we outlined our plan to reduce foam cup
usage by 50% at the Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota. This article describes
the program and how through an intensive employee education campaign, we
were successful in meeting our goal. In
just one year we saved 38,500 foam cups
from ending up in the landﬁll and saved
several hundred dollars in supply costs.
One of the reasons we targeted foam
cup usage was the excessive waste by
customers in the A La Heart Cafe. Some
employees would think nothing of ﬁlling
two-20 oz foam cups with water and ice
every morning to take back to their
workstations. This resulted in disposal of
77,000, 20 oz foam cups that wentdirectly
into our municipal landﬁll every year.
While savings in supply costs was a
consideration, our primary concern with
foam cups was the environmental costs
and health concerns for both humans
and marine life. The main chemical ingredient in foam cups is polystyrene,
a type of plastic that is easily foamed
and used in disposable food packaging.
Foam cups are mistakenly referred to as
Styrofoam, a building material manufactured by Dow Chemical. Food service
foam packaging is made of expanded
polystyrene that is 90% air and 10%
polystyrene.
The reasons for reducing or eliminating
polystyrene are compelling. Styrene
has been shown to leach into food and
drinks especially those that are high in fat
or contain alcohol. Styrene has not been
assessed by EPA for its carcinogenic risk
although one agency has classiﬁed
styrene as a “potential” carcinogen(1).
No scientiﬁc body to date has classiﬁed
Styrene as a “known” carcinogen.
Low recycling rates for polystyrene foam
disposable food packaging contributes
greatly to the landﬁll where it does not
decompose. Polystyrene is usually not
recycled because of food contamination
and other factors. Polystyrene contributes
to litter and in many parts of the world
plastic makes up 90-95% of marine
debris creating a signiﬁcant health threat
to marine life. Polystyrene debris clogs
storm drains and adds to costs for cleanup.
Concerns about the production, use and
disposal of foam packaging has led to
polystyrene bans in many communities.
Before we initiated our“Reduce and Reuse”
campaign with foam cups, we researched
other alternatives to foam cups. For our
analysis, we utilized a publication accessed
online, “Choosing Environmentally Preferable Food Service Ware” published by
the organization, Healthcare Without
Harm (HCWH) The HCWH paper outlines
the most preferred to the least preferred
options for food service ware(2). While
reusable food service ware is the most
preferred, our facility has inadequate layout, space, and storage for ware washing.
Compostable bio-based products are the
next most preferred. However, we lack
access to a composting facility and the
cost of these products is prohibitive.
Also, not much is gained by sealing compostable disposables in plastic garbage
bags and tossing into the landﬁll where
it will take many years to decompose.
Although paper products are bio-based,
they are coated with a fossil fuel plastic
making them unsuitable for composting.
The least preferred on the list is the
polystyrene foam food ware disposables
which we use in large quantities in our
food service operation.
Based on this analysis, we decided to
reduce the quantity of foam cups rather
than switch to bio-based products. Our
goal was to reduce 20oz foam cup usage
by 50% by selling a reusable 20 oz mug
in the cafeteria. Employees purchase the
mug at cost plus tax in the cafe. Getting
a reduced price on fountain drinks is
the incentive for using the mug. Ice
and water are free with the mug but
charged when using a foam cup without
a food purchase. The double wall mug
and lid are made from polypropylene
(PP), a safer plastic than polystyrene(3).
■ Prior to rolling out the program, we
embarked on an extensive employee
education campaign:
■ Nutrition service director educated
department managers at directors
staﬀ meeting
■ Placement of educational poster
board presentations in all employee
break rooms
■ Published article in the hospital
employee newsletter
■ Ran a screen saver slide program
on hospital computers
This program was very successful in
meeting our goal of reducing foam cup
usage by 50% from 77,000 cups per year
to 38,500 cups per year. Our foam cup
usage dropped within the ﬁrst month
and remained low for the entire year.
The anticipated decline in participation
as the year progressed did not happen.
We attributed the success of the program
to the intensive education campaign
prior to implementation. For the 2010
ﬁscal year, we have several green
initiatives planned:
■ Reduce polystyrene take out
containers by 30%
■ Replace current napkins with
post-consumer product napkins
■ Reduce computer paper usage by 50%
■ Change to a certiﬁed sustainable
coﬀee program
Going green is one of the most important
movements inﬂuencing health care food
service operators today. Not only does
going green have positive impacts on
the environment, it draws eco-conscious
customers and saves money in the long
run. In a 2008 National Restaurant Association survey, 62% of consumers polled
continued on page 9
Fall 2009
Market-Link
7
Chair’s Column
Gary Kawula, RD, MPA, Chair of DPG 41
In the August issue of The Journal of the
American Dietetic Association, American
Dietetic Association President Jessie M.
Pavlinac’s Presidents Page carries the
headline “Let’s Make 2009 a Year to
Remember”. To accomplish President
Pavlinac’s request, the Management in
Food and Nutrition Services (MFNS)
Executive Committee has created several
initiatives to strengthen and improve the
services oﬀered to our membership and
to truly make 2009-10 a year to remember.
Through conference calls and a meeting
in Denver, the Executive Committee
chose to focus on three primary goals
or pillars. The goals are:
■ Member beneﬁts (volume,
participation/usage)
■ Memberships (current, % increase
over previous year)
■ Finances (budget, balance)
The following is a breakout of speciﬁc
action taken or to be taken for each pillar.
Member Beneﬁts:
Program Champion Char Norton, MS, RD, FADA, FCSI, FHCFA
Mentoring Program Patti Oliver, MS, RD, MBA
Leaders List serve Patti Oliver, MS, RD, MBA
new Members Packet Tamie Newman, MS, RD, LD, LDN
Book Club - Linda Laﬀerty, PhD, RD, FADA
Sue McGinley, MBA, RD
Blue Ribbon Committee Tammie Newman, MS, RD, LD, LDN
For Marketing Materials:
national Awards - Inez Speranza, RD
Member Recognition Brenda Sheridan, MS, RD, LD
Market- Link editor Rita Berthelsen, PhD, RD, LMNT
Webinars Char Norton, MS, RD, FADA, FCSI, FHCFA
Membership Champion Gary Kawula, MPA, RD / Sue McGinley,
MBA, RD
Member survey Sue McGinley, MBA, RD
Creation of a student Membership
Category – Gary Kawula, MPA, RD
(will be implemented in June 2010)
Finances Champion –
Mary Angela Miller, MS, RD, LD, FADA,
Gary Kawula, MPA, RD
Develop an external Funding Program
– Gary Kawula, MPA, RD
This list of programs will go a long way
in not only making 2009 a “Year to
Remember”, but making 2010 a year
to “WOW” our membership.
The MFNS Educational Meeting was well
attended and by all accounts a huge
success. The Breckenridge Brewery staﬀ
provided food and service beyond our
expectations. Everyone raved about the
Bison Kabobs. Our speakers were outstanding with timely and relevant information. Our sincere appreciation to Amy
Cohn of The Bell Institute at General
Mills, Sharon Sachenski of Vitality
Foodservice INC., and David E. Carter
of the National Bison Association.
Let me take a moment to praise two of our
members for outstanding accomplishments.
Patti Oliver successfully launched the
Leader List-serve in November and within
a few days we had over 160 list-serve
members. The success of this service can
be evidenced by a recent query, when a
MFNS member Christi Shultz asked a
question regarding Food storage. In less
than 15 hours, Christi had received eight
quality responses. Several other topics
have come up and a big THANK YOU to
all who support this member beneﬁt.
Inez Speranza has worked tirelessly to give
direction, create applications and successfully help our membership win the respect
and awards they have earned. The proclamations from Pennsylvania for Joyce
Scott-Smith, MS, RD, LDN the Medallion
Award recipient and from Missouri for
Bill Barkley, MBA, RD, LD, FADA for the
Management Award for Excellence are
priceless. Thank you, Inez, for all you do.
Have a wonderful Holiday.
Gary
HELP WANTED
WEB CONTENT MANAGER
HARD WORK, NO PAY ✮ THIS VOLUNTEER POSITION REPORTS TO THE CHAIR. PRIMARY FUNCTION IS TO COORDINATE
WITH THE WEBMASTER FOR OVERSIGHT OF THE CONTENT AND PLACEMENT OF CONTENT ON THE WEBSITE
THIS PERSON IS THE LIASON BETWEEN THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE WEBMASTER
KNOWLEDGE OF WEBSITE AND PRINTING SOFTWARE IS NEEDED
THIS IS A THREE YEAR COMMITMENT: COMPLETE JOB DESCRIPTION IS AT rdmanager.org
ANYONE INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT GARY KAWULA AT [email protected]
8
Market-Link
Fall 2009
Editor’s Column
Rita Berthelsen, PhD, RD, LMNT
What an excellent experience I had at
the American Dietetic Association (ADA)
Food & Nutrition Expo (FNCE) in October!
I have to share with you some of the
things that lead me to this statement.
#1. The implementation of electronic
registration and badge issuance was
very smooth and eﬃcient; I heard many,
many people compliment this.
#2. The organization of the entire meeting
needs to be recognized. Every session
I attended started exactly on time,
attendees were not wandering in
throughout the session and the sessions
ended exactly on time. This allowed my
preplanned schedule to actually work.
Applause is due to the ADA planning
committee and the volunteers from the
Colorado membership.
#3. The Executive Committee meetings
of DPG 41 on Friday and Saturday were
run with ease and a sense of mission.
Gary Kawula facilitated signiﬁcant work
achievement and allowed adequate
time for discussion. (Stay tuned, this
practice group has some great
initiatives in store for you).
#4. Information shared with the Executive Committee by Lisa Sands was helpful, timely and also allowed us time to
pose questions. Lisa is the ADA’s DPG
Relations Manager for MFNS; helps me
closely with every Market-Link issue
and I was excited to meet her in person.
#5. The DPG Showcase this year was
especially exciting for me because
dietitians came with speciﬁc questions
regarding value of membership, questions
for mentors and genuine interest in
the support our DPG could provide.
#6. The quality of the presentations
seemed very high to me; the poster
sessions were informative and presenters
seemed quite comfortable with explaining and discussing the data.
Living in Nebraska, this year’s FNCE
was convenient and certainly showed
respect to the membership residing
in the central part of the country.
Thank you ADA. Well done.
Reduce and Reuse: An Initiative of Beneﬁtting Cost and Quality Standards continued from page 7
stated that they would prefer to dine at
an environmentally friendly restaurant
if given a choice(4). Going green and taking
care of the environment enhances the
image of the hospital food service and
is simply just the right thing to do.
References
1. International Agency for Research
on Cancer (2002). Summaries and
evaluations-Styrene; Vol 82:437.
Retrieved from www.inchem.org/
documents/ iarc/vol82/82-07.html
2. Healthcare Without Harm. Choosing
environmentally Preferable Food
Service Ware. http://www.noharm.org/
lib/downloads/food/EPP_Food_Svc_W
are.pdf
3. Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy. Smart Plastics Guide-Healthier
Food Uses of Plastics. http://www.iatp.
org/iatp/factsheets.cfm?accountID=
421 &refID=102202
4. Restaurant Industry-Facts at a Glance,
National Restaurant Association.
www. restaurant.org/research/
ind_glance.cfm
Fall 2009
Market-Link
9
2010 ADA Member Benefits Update
By becoming one of the more than 70,000
members of the nation’s largest organization of food and nutrition practitioners,
you give yourself access to a wide variety
of beneﬁts, including information
resources, educational opportunities,
public policy initiatives, practice-based
research, networking connections, and
promotional tools. As a member of a
dietetic practice group (DPG), you’re well
aware of at least one major beneﬁt of
ADA membership, but there are dozens
of others— with new and improved offerings every year—that you might not
know about. Of course, ADA wants you
to take full advantage of all the opportunities that membership provides. Below
is a listing of some of the newer resources
ADA provides for its members, as well as
those of particular interest to DPG members, accompanied by brief descriptions
of their function. Please feel free to share
this list with your colleagues.
For a more extensive list of beneﬁts, visit
the members-only section of ADA’s Web
site at www.eatright.org or call the
Member Service Center at 800/877-1500,
ext 5000, Monday through Friday, 8:00
AM to 5:00 PM Central Standard Time.
NETWORKING & PROMOTION
RESOURCES
Member Interest Groups (MIGs): Member Interest Groups are groups of ADA
members who have a common interest.
Unlike dietetic practice groups or aﬃliates,
member interest groups focus on areas
other than the practice of dietetics or
geographic location. As divisions of the
national organization, MIGs reﬂect the
many characteristics of ADA’s membership and the public it serves. Current
MIGs include the National Organization
of Men in Nutrition (NOMIN), Chinese
Americans in Dietetics and Nutrition
(CADN), Latinos and Hispanics in Dietetics
and Nutrition (LAHIDAN), the National
Organization of Blacks in Dietetics and
Nutrition (NOBIDAN), Fifty-Plus in
Nutrition and Dietetics (FPIND), Filipino
Americans in Dietetics and Nutrition
(FADAN), and the newest addition,
Muslims in Dietetics and Nutrition
(MIDAN).
National Nutrition Month Materials:
National Nutrition Month (NNM), celebrated every March, is an annual nutrition
education and information campaign
created by ADA that’s designed to focus
attention on the importance of making
informed food choices and developing
sound eating and physical activity habits.
ADA provides food and nutrition professionals with access to a wide variety of
supporting materials to help convey this
important message, including fact sheets,
ﬂyers, classroom guides and games,
recipes, press releases, and event ideas.
Registered Dietitian Day: March 10, 2010
was the third annual Registered Dietitian
Day. This special occasion was created
by the American Dietetic Association
to increase the awareness of registered
dietitians as the indispensable providers
of food and nutrition services and to
recognize RDs for their commitment
to helping people enjoy healthy lives.
Registered Dietitian Day promotes ADA
and RDs to the public and the media as
the most valuable and credible source
of timely, scientiﬁcally-based food and
nutrition information.
Find a Registered Dietitian Online
Referral Service: ADA’s Find a Registered Dietitian online referral service is
free to Active category members representing their own private practice, group
practice or employer. Consumers and
businesses search this Web-based site
to connect with members who provide
nutrition consulting service expertise.
Me, Inc., Online Branding Toolkit:
ADA has developed this online branding
toolkit to provide you with the resources
needed to improve your brand, including
communication tips, downloadable
promotional ﬂyers, developing your
(Version for DPGs)
online presence and much more.
INFORMATION RESOURCES
www.eatright.org: Newly redesigned,
ADA’s Web site is faster, more userfriendly, oﬀers a more powerful search
function, and can be personalized to
meet your needs. The new eatright.org
features ﬁve sections speciﬁcally targeted to members, students, the public,
the media, and other health professionals, making it easier for all visitors to access the content they want. Build your
MyADA proﬁle and get involved with
quick links to blogs, forums, surveys, and
online communities—and get connected
by easily subscribing to and sharing
e-newsletters, RSS feeds, podcasts, and
videos. And as always, eatright.org
keeps you informed with 24/7 access to
scientiﬁc and professional resources, and
links that are essential for any food and
nutrition practitioner. The secure, member-only site can be accessed using your
member ID and password, and provides
a wealth of information and programs in
a location that guards your privacy.
ADA NewsBytes: This monthly e-newsletter from ADA’s Board of Directors
informs members of developments
aﬀecting food, nutrition, and health
topics, as well as ADA’s legislative and
regulatory priorities.
Daily News: Opt in to receive this key
resource for keeping abreast of the top
news stories concerning dietetics and
the profession. Delivered to your e-mail
inbox every weekday morning, ADA’s
Daily News is a quick review of the nation’s
leading food, nutrition, and health headlines, with links directly to the articles.
On the Pulse: More government-focused than ADA’s Daily News, On the
Pulse is a weekly e-newsletter on ADA’s
legislative and regulatory priorities in
both Washington, DC, and state legislatures. It also addresses reimbursement,
research ﬁndings, and practice-related
issues.
continued on page 11
10
Market-Link
Fall 2009
ADA New in Review: Formerly a section
of the Journal, the new online exclusive
ADA New in Review compiles abstracts
and citations from nearly 200 diﬀerent
scientiﬁc and professional publications
to convey fundamental knowledge in
nutritional science that spans specialty
practice. The monthly ADA New in
Review e-mail alerts members to recent
updates and provides an overview of
each month’s content, while the New
in Review page at www.eatright.org/
adanewinreview provides 24/7 access
to both new material and archives.
CAREER RESOURCES
Center for Career Opportunities:
The Center for Career Opportunities is
a 1-day exhibit opportunity for FNCE
exhibitors and other employers to meet
face-to-face with qualiﬁed nutrition
professionals who are interested in
employment opportunities. Attendees
are encouraged to bring their résumés
in order to participate fully and get the
most from the experience. Employers
who have participated in the event
have commented on the high caliber
of potential recruits, and with attendees coming from across the country,
you could ﬁnd your next dietetics employee or employer at this event no
matter where you are located.
ADACareerLink: ADA’s online job service
allows you to post résumés, target
searches by specialty and geographic
location, respond directly to job listings,
and receive e-mail alerts about new
positions. For a fee, you can also recruit
professionals for your organization.
Access this indispensable service under
the Career Center in the Member
section of eatright.org.
Compensation and Beneﬁts Survey
of the Dietetics Profession 2009: This
comprehensive report details compensation for dozens of core RD and DTR
jobs, broken down by region, education,
experience, supervisory and budget
responsibility, and several other factors.
You can also use this information to
determine fair market value for your
services by accessing the interactive
salary calculation worksheet available
at eatright.org, which is based on a
statistical model developed with data
from the survey. The worksheet oﬀers
a rough idea of what professionals with
similar characteristics and in similar
situations earn, on average, and provides
a sense of the relative importance of
each factor in predicting salaries.
Members enjoy signiﬁcantly reduced
pricing for this downloadable report.
PRACTICE RESOURCES
MNT Practice Resources: There is a
wealth of information on ADA’s Medical
Nutrition Therapy (MNT) Web page to
help members understand the business
of dietetics. Consider it your one-stop
shop for practice management education. Learn about codes for nutrition
services, how to become a Medicare
provider, private insurance reimbursement, tips to expand MNT coverage,
telehealth, and more. Popular advocacy materials available for download
include the MNT Works marketing
toolkit, ADA’s payer brochure for increasing MNT coverage, and a step-by-step
billing presentation called “Cracking the
Code: Billing Potential beyond Medical
Nutrition Therapy.” Access these
resources at www.eatright.org/mnt.
Hot Topics: Hot Topics are timely,
one-page science-based answers to
members’questions and issues that have
a signiﬁcant impact on consumer health.
Responses are written in consumerfriendly language and are designed to
clarify a controversy or debunk a nutrition myth. Some current hot topics
address organic foods, bottled water,
probiotics, stevia, and superfoods.
Eat Right Messages: The Eat Right
Messages Program is an online and
print nutrition education program that
is available on ADA’s Web site as printready, two-page handouts in PDF
format. Content includes a statement
promoting registered dietitians and a
special section where members can include personalized contact information.
Evidence-Based Nutrition Practice
Guidelines and Toolkits: Located in
the Evidence Analysis Library, these
guidelines provide disease-speciﬁc nutrition recommendations using a systematic approach that assures nutrition
care is based on scientiﬁc evidence.
Toolkits accompany the guidelines and
provide Medical Nutrition Therapy tools
used for documenting patient encounters and collecting outcomes.
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Center for Professional Development:
The premier choice for lifelong learning,
the Center for Professional Development
oﬀers conferences, workshops, meetings,
lectures, live phone teleseminars and
webinars, e-learning, CD-ROM and
online courses, and audiotapes. ADA’s
professional development opportunities
are easily accessed through the Center
under the Professional Development
tab on the Member section of
eatright.org.
Leadership Institute: ADA’s Leadership
Institute is an integrated, intensive, multiformat training program in the theory
and practice of leadership in dietetics.
The purpose of the program is to enhance
the leadership competencies of ADA
members both conceptually and interpersonally, through a combination of
information, skill development, and
practice-based educational experiences.
Free Online Journal Continuing Professional Education (CPE): Since January
2008, ADA members have been able
to easily complete their Journal CPE
quizzes online at www.eatright.org.
See which quizzes you’ve already completed and take one that’s still available
to complete for credit. Quizzes are
scored automatically online, and once
all questions are answered correctly,
CPE credit for completed quizzes may
be added directly to your Professional
Development Portfolio.
Fall 2009
Market-Link
11
DPG Newsletter Database
Looking for an article from a past issue of a DPG newsletter? No need to sort through all your back issues. Just check the
online DPG Newsletter Database index to quickly locate the correct issue. This searchable database provides an index of food,
nutrition and dietetics practice articles for most DPG newsletters beginning in 2000 through the present. You can even delve
back into dietetics history as some titles are indexed as far back as the late 1980’s. Developed as a resource for members by
ADA’s Knowledge Center, the link to the database is located in the Food & Nutrition Information section of the Web site under
Food & Nutrition Resources for Members. Or, go directly to http://www.eatright.org/Members/content.aspx?id=5361.
If the issue you need is missing from your collection, the ADA Library can provide a single copy of an article. There is a
library fee of $5 per article for this service. To request an article or for more information contact the Knowledge Center at
[email protected].
Ethics Opinion
Ethics opinions reﬂect the interpretation or application of the ADA/CDR Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics
by the Ethics Committee in response to a speciﬁc ethics issue or situation facing dietetics practitioners in practice. What is an ethics
opinion and where
Opinions serve as an educational guide for conduct and are published in the Journal of the American
can I ﬁnd one?
Dietetic Association. http://www.eatright.org/About/Content.aspx?id=7996&terms=ethics+Opinions
Market-Link is a management newsletter published
quarterly (winter, spring, summer and fall) by
the Management in Food and Nutrition Systems
Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) of the American
Dietetic Association (ADA). 2010
Articles about successful management practices,
interventions, strategies, educational materials,
meeting announcements and information about
food and nutrition management are welcome and
should be sent to the publications editor by the
next deadline. Viewpoints, statements and publication of advertisements should not be construed
as endorsement by or reﬂecting policies/oﬃcial
positions of MFNS or ADA. Please forward
information and articles to Rita Berthelsen, PhD,
RD, LMNT, at [email protected].
Subscription cost for persons non-eligible for
ADA membership are available by contacting
the Publications editor.
Market-Link is the newsletter of over 1,200 ADA members. It is published four times
a year, and read by decision-making dietitians and dietetic technicians throughout
the United States. It is the target audience you are seeking. Market-Link is an
excellent advertising vehicle to reach this target audience.
Advertising rates:
Corporate advertising
Corporate Sponsor—1/4 page ad in two newsletters: $350
Corporate Sponsor—1/4 page ad in four newsletters: $650
MFns member display rates
Members who are independent consultants or owners of their own business:
1/4 page ad: $175 per newsletter: 1/8 page ad: $90 per newsletter
1/8 page ad: $90 per newsletter
Classiﬁed advertising
Advertisements will be limited to seminars, publications, services or products
oﬀered by approved members or professional associations, other ADA dietetic
practice groups, or individual MFNS members. 50 word limit: $25 per ad.
employment opportunity advertising
Individual members may advertise job openings in management positions.
50 word limit: $25 per ad. All copies, logos and art work must accompany
the editorial copy. Make checks payable to: American Dietetic Association—
MFNS DPG 41. To place your ad or for more information, contact R. Berthelsen.
120 South Riverside Plaza
Suite 2000
Chicago, Illinois 60606-6995
Market-Link is a management newsletter published quarterly (winter, spring, summer and fall) by the Management in Food and Nutrition Systems Dietetic
Practice Group (DPG) of the American Dietetic Association (ADA). 2010