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Dieticians educate patients and staff on health issues
January 20, 2005 From left, Brookhaven Hospital dieticians Amy Zdan and Christine Herkommer work on a nutrition newsletter. Did you know: • watching comedy increases Immunoglobin A, defending against colds and flus? • canned fruit has as much nutritional value as its fresh siblings because it is picked ripe and processed immediately, while fresh produce can be subject to under-ripe picking, transit problems and extended shelf life? Information like this is shared by registered dietician Christine Herkommer to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital patients and staff. Last year, Herkommer and colleagues started a nutritional newsletter that makes the rounds to the Suffolk County hospital's departments. Obviously, there is a hunger for information — 200 copies a month are now printed. "First it was 50 copies, then 100," said Herkommer, a member of the Brookhaven Memorial Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals. Herkommer and colleagues Colleen Jackson, Rama Rajagopalan and Amy Zdan see their dietician mission as separating trends from facts. Sugar, insulin, carbohydrates and high blood pressure are some buzz words in the nutrition world. The dietician-writers address these in the newsletter, along with topics such as holiday eating, high fiber and diabetes. Educating people is a natural fit for this crew. Their daily work is strictly clinical — they neither cook nor distribute menus, but assess the nutritional needs of patients who might be in a coma or have had stomach or colon surgery. "A lot of patients are on respirators and are fed by tubes," said Herkommer. "We have to decide what to feed them." A milkshake-like nutritional formula is created, with dieticians assessing the mixture, rate of feeding and patient tolerance. Dieticians then counsel patients on eating. "If they don't eat, their skin will break down and they will start to get bed sores," Herkommer said. "Our main goal is to prevent malnutrition while the patient is in the hospital." Because people are living longer than ever, they are getting more diseases, she said. Americans 85 years and older are the fastest growing segment of the population. Forty percent of this age group are malnourished. But Herkommer is also attentive to the beginning of the life cycle. She has put together a pamphlet for new parents on starting out right with nutritional needs. "I really like pediatric nutrition. There's a whole epidemic with childhood obesity and it's driving me nuts," she said. Her booklet is given out in the maternity ward to new parents. In it, she stresses how, once a child starts eating, he or she does not need sweets — and they also don't need the "extras" that adults use: salt on an egg, gravy on potatoes, butter on bread. Young children only need to be introduced to plain yogurt without fruit, flavorings or toppings, or cereal without sugar coating. "Until your child starts talking, they cannot tell you what they want to eat and do not know what is available. In their first two years of life, there is no reason to see any child eating potato chips or candy bars unless they see you eating it or you provide it to them," Herkommer said. The president of her union, Ron Abrahall, is a member of New York State United Teachers Health Care Professionals Council, a group fighting childhood obesity through a pilot program called "24/7 Let's Go!" Later this winter, the motivational nutrition and exercise project will be released in schools across the state. |
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