President's December 2008 Message

Nadine Pazder, MS, RD, LD/N
nadine.pazder@baycare.org

 

Dear FDA Members,
I hope that each of you were able to enjoy the holiday season with the people who mean the most to you. Happy New Year 2009!

Leadership
The FDA Board of Directors will be meeting on a working retreat January 16-18. The agenda will include association finances, district issues, legislative priorities and strategic planning.
The Nominating Committee is finalizing the FDA ballot for 2009. Thank you to JoAnn Donnelly, Pam McMahon and Mary Keith for sorting through nominations and vetting the nominees.
Have you visited the FDA website lately? There are some changes to our home page but the biggest change is to our logo:

State affiliates have been requested to participate in the American Dietetic Association organizational identity. The new tag line visually links ADAF, CDR, CADE, DPGs, MIGs and the state affiliates with ADA, and ultimately increases the visibility of ADA members. Creating a respected brand is a strategy of the new ADA strategic plan. You can view a webinar about the organizational identity program at www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/16884_16897_ENU_HTML.htm. My hope is that the individual districts will incorporate this as well.
Also on the FDA website, are order forms for the 2009 hard copy of the FDA diet manual. If you are unfamiliar with our manual there is a test drive button on the home page. The fall edition of FOCUS is available on the members-only section at www.eatrightflorida.org. And be sure to check out the meeting highlights for the FDA symposium in Naples this July.
ADA has cancelled many face-to-face meetings for 2009 in an effort to conserve financial resources. As a result, the spring House of Delegates meeting will be held electronically. Please respond to our delegates when they request feedback on issues scheduled for deliberation.

 

Legislation and Public Policy
Have you heard the news? ADA’s PPW is going online and is free to all members for 2009. Join a viewing group in your local area for the opening session on February 8 and participate in a home office visit while Congress is in recess in late February. Florida State Policy Rep Melissa Dancer-Brown and Public Policy Coordinator Carole Mackey are your resources for this event. More information will be coming soon. Many thanks to Melissa for getting us organized!

Member Recognition
Congratulations to our Florida members who appear on the ADA ballot for 2009: Judy Rodriguez (pres-elect), Clara Lawhead (professional issues delegate, community nutrition), Catherine Christie (at-large delegate). Lauri Wright is on the DEP ballot for the office of chair-elect.

Lauri Wright has also been appointed to the ADA Council on Future Practice. This council will work with CDR and CADE to project the future practice needs for the profession of dietetics.

Ruby P. Puckett has been re-elected to a second term on the board of trustees of the Foodservice Consultant Society International: the Americas, a professional organization offering design and management consulting services around the world.
Melissa Dancer-Brown has been promoted into a marketing position with Capital Health Plan in Tallahassee.

Nancy Collins, PhD, RD, LD/N, FAPWCA has been appointed to the position of contributing editor for the peer reviewed journal Ostomy Wound Management (OWM).

While this is not a new book (copyright 2007) it is certainly new to me. I stumbled upon “the diet selector” by Judy Rodriguez during my Christmas shopping.
Coming soon to a bookshelf near you is a joint venture with FDA and UNF: the “Latino Food Lover’s Glossary”. This resource will be available in February and can be purchased through FDA.

Donna Ward and the scholarship committee have awarded scholarships to deserving students in December. Congratulations to Jamie Stolarz (UF, undergraduate, Sister Helen Marie Pellicer scholarship), Joseph Quinlan (UNF, intern), Lori Nelson (Eastern Michigan University, graduate student, President’s scholarship), and Alyssa Beloma (undergraduate runner-up, Broward Dietetic Association scholarship). And thank you to members who donate to the “Dollars for Scholars” fundraiser each year. Without these donations we could not make these scholarships available.

Lastly, the remaining AstraZeneca grant money was awarded to Tallahassee, Southwest (Caloosa) and Orlando districts to help fund health fairs in their respective communities.

 

Until next time,
Nadine Pazder