Dietary Services
A Registered Dietitian (RD) is your nutrition professional. Registered dietitians are your most credible, objective source of nutrition information.
Look for the initials RD after your nutritionist’s name.
Registered Dietitians counsel people on many different topics, including:
- Healthy Meals
- Weight Control
- Menu Planning
- Diabetes
- Kidney Disease
- Weight Loss
- Heart Disease
- Cancer Food Labels
- Oncology
- Wound Care
Registered Dietitian
Andrea Graham, RD LD, is our Registered Dietitian at SCH. Andrea has a number of years under her belt as a Hy-Vee dietitian. Andrea provides nutrition services both in-patient and out-patient at SCH.
Our Diets
Our diets play a major role in our health & well being but we as individuals have a very limited knowledge about what we eat and about how much impact it has on our bodies.
Once an individual has been admitted to the hospital by a physician, Andrea will begin her communication with the new patient by visiting about their personal diet history, their preferences, and of course their dislikes (including possible food allergies they might have).
This phase may also include nutritional screenings and assessments, which are referred to the Dietitian along with calculating calorie needs and fluid intake for the patient .
As an interdisciplinary healthcare team member, Andrea does patient teaching in such areas as: high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, weight loss, and a host of consultations with the patient which gives them a better picture of themselves.
Nutrition is always considered an important part of any patient’s total “care plan”. There are many disease processes which must have a nutrition-specific diet guide, including: aids/hiv, cancer, diabetes, digestion and kidney disorders, osteoporosis and related bone disease, to mention a few.
Special diets are ordered by physicians. After consulting with the patient, physician, and healthcare team, Andrea may also provide additional dietetic patient education. This step may also include a new nutritional screening and assessment, for the patient’s future and the life-style changes that may need to be encouraged for the individual’s future longevity.
Andrea has provided some nutritional information for you on the following web sites:
- American Diabetes Association (www.diabetes.org)
- American Dietetic Association (www.eatright.org)