Huron Expositor, 2007-08-15, Page 3- News
The Huron Expositor • August 15, 2007 Pogo 3
Dietitian joins family health team in Seaforth
Rebecca Blane plans to help educate patients with concerns about nutrition
Susan Hundertmark
diEEDEIMM
As the new dietitian joining the
Huron County family health team
in Seaforth, Rebecca Blane will be
helping local patients with their
health concerns relating to nutri-
tion.
"I want to increase awareness in
the community about how nutrition
can impact your health," she says.
Joining the FHT that is so far
made up of five Seaforth doctors, a
nurse practitioner, a psychologist
and a social worker, Blane begins in
the middle of August out of an office
at the Seaforth hospital until a new
building is erected next to the
Community Care Access Centre in
Seaforth.
While it hasn't been determined
yet exactly what services she will
provide, Blane says she's expecting
to work one on one with patients
referred by local doctors and to offer
community education and seminars
on topics such as weight loss, cho-
lesterol and diabetes.
"We'll be looking for the highest
need and I think that those are the
main issues," she says, adding that
obesity and diabetes are local health
concerns.
Because there is a diabetes educa-
tion department at Seaforth
Community Hospital, Blane says
she'll be working in coordination
with the hospital dietitian.
"We'll work out a care plan to
work towards specific goals. Each
patient has a different level of
readiness to make changes - we'll
Rebecca Blane
work towards making them
ful," she says.
Originally from.-Lucan, Blane
graduated from the applied human
nutrition program at the University
of Guelph in 2004 and has been
working in Huron County nursing
homes as a nutritionist since.
Since her position with the FHT is
part-time, she'll be continuing with
Huronview in Clinton and Huron
Lea in Brussels.
"I'm really excited about this new
challenge. It's an exciting time in
healthcare and there are a lot of
new jobs opening up for dietitians
success -
Robyn Doig comes 62nd
out of 120 Canada -wide
From Page 1
golfing Doig family, Robyn has been
golfing since she was "really little"
and is surrounded by the support of
her family.
She says it doesn't hurt that the
Canadian Tour is coming to the
Seaforth Golf Club starting next
August for the next three years
when she'll be surrounded by profes-
sional golfers.
Doig says pro golfer David Walker,
who won the recent skins game pro-
moting the Canadian Tour's planned
stop in Seaforth, has already been
helping her with her short game.
Walker and her dad Cam came to
watch her during one day of the
nationals last week, which was a
mixed blessing.
"I got nervous when they came.
When I saw David I thought, 'You
should be golfing and I should be
watching.' It was nerve-wracking.
But, they kept saying, 'Good job' so I
felt better after awhile," she says.
Doig says her nerves are also
something she has to work on when
golfing.
"There were so many people there
and it was such a big event. A lot of
people knew I was going and I
thought ,they expected me to do
well," she says.
"When I told David I get nervous,
he said it means I actually care
about what I'm doing," says Doig.
She says she's wondering if a
career in professional golf might be
in her future. But, in the meantime,
she's just going to keep practising.
"I'll keep practising and if I get
there, I get there," she says.
with family health teams," she says.
Blane says she's met everyone on
the local FHT and is feeling very
welcome.
"Everyone I've met is very enthu-
siastic - they seem like a great
group of people. The possibilities of
what a FHT can offer a community
are endless," she says.
Huron East economic develop-
ment officer Ralph Laviolette says
the FHT is still recruiting several
positions including an administra-
tive manager, a secretary, a second
nurse practitioner, a respiratory
therapist, a psychotherapist and a
bookkeeper. He says he's also
applied to the Ministry of Health to
recruit for a registered practical
nurse and more hours for the team's
pharmacist.
The local FHT has been without a
nurse practitioner since last
December when Cate Verberne
went on maternity leave. She is
scheduled to return in November.
With Dr. Dan Eickmeier still see --gam' g�ood healthcare," says
Laviolefte. •
Anyone looking for a family doctor
is encouraged to call the Seaforth
medical clinic at 527-1770 and
make an appointment.
6,000 patients still out there in
eastern Huron County, Laviolette
says the FHT is still hoping to
recruit two more doctors.
Of the total of orphans, Laviolette
says not all of them are actively
searching for a family doctor.
"This area is used to being under
serviced so they just let it be until
they need a doctor," he says.
Laviolette adds that Seaforth ini-
tiatives like Healthkick Huron and
its MedQuest camp for high school
students is helping to intrigue doc-
tors about working in the area.
"A lot of doctors begin their
careers as locums as they decide
where they want to practise. Lately,
we've been having an easy line-up of
doctors asking to be locums here
because they're wanting to know
what's going on in Seaforth," he
says.
"Healthkick and MedQuest are
really helping because they show
the enthusiasm of the community to
ing new patients after setting up a
Seaforth practice in June, Laviolette
says orphan patients looking for a
family physician still have a chance
to see him.
But, with an estimated 3,000 to
+,Agriculture and Agriculture et
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For eligibility criteria call 1 800 667-8567 before August 31".
For more information on the CCPP, visit www.agr.gc.ca/ccpp
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Growing Forward is a Federal -Provincial -Territorial Initiative.
Canada