by Kay Conner
Cholesterol does indeed contribute to heart disease. Most adults need about 1,000 milligrams of calcium each day for strong bones. If you have heard these statements recently, chances are they were made by a registered dietitian, not a doctor.
Mollie Smith (M.S., R.D.), has spent years sorting through the abundance of available nutrition information such as this. Smith, a 1974 graduate of UC Davis, is director of the Dietetic Internship Program, a Certificate of Advanced Studies Program in the Enology, Food Science and Nutrition Department.
The program, now in its second year, has seen its first nine students receive certificates and find employment as registered dietitians, most of them locally. Smith is justifiably proud of this achievement.
Interns in this program come from all over the United States. A nationwide computer matching system pairs a student with one of the 250 programs available in the country. Smith said only 50 to 60 percent of those who apply for internships are accepted into the program. To be eligible, a student must have a bachelor's degree, must have completed an approved didactic program in dietetics within the last five years, and must have some work experience in dietetics. Fresno State's program is among those listed on the American Dietetic Association (ADA) Website.
Interns work 32 hours a week in such facilities as the Veteran's Administration Hospital, WIC (a federal program for women, infants and children), the Clovis Unified School District, the Fresno-Madera Area Agencies on Aging, and many other community agencies. One day a week of class time for the interns is Monday afternoon, when they are instructed by Smith or a physician or pharmacist she brings in to speak to the class. The interns also take four units per semester of graduate coursework. The nine-month certificate program encompasses the fall semester, winter session and the spring semester.
Smith says registered dietitians are more visible today. They are no longer associated only with hospitals. Their role there is actually on a decline because of the diminished finances of those institutions. RDs now work as much with preventing disease as with those who are already ill. Continual research provides new information for RDs to pass on to the public. The ADA says the field of nutrition is more popular than ever and careers in the field of dietetics are abundant, especially in the areas of healthcare, education and research.
RDs are trained to work with business and industry and with the media, educating the public about good nutrition. Last Thanksgiving intern Sheila Naab assumed the role of Betty, the Bacteria Buster, on KJEO TV's presentation on food safety. Her job was to work with a home economist with the UC Cooperative Extension to make the kitchen safe from bad bacteria lurking in the usual aftermath of a Thanksgiving feast.
Working in large institutions, interns are taught how to feed a crowd nutritiously and economically. Dietetic interns working at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility at Corcoran State Prison last year met the challenge of feeding 6,000 inmates three meals a day at a cost of about $2.50 per person per day.
Having heard for years that eating right is a way to look and feel better, people today search relentlessly on the Web, in fitness and health magazines, and in clinics for information on ways to stay healthy. The Dietetic Internship Program will graduate 10 new registered dietitians this year who will help answer some of the questions these information seekers pose.
"Fresno State provides one of only two internships located
in this area. We are proud to be training dietitians to meet the
unique needs of the Central Valley," said Smith.
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