Public Health Dietitian

What is a public health dietitian?

As a public health dietitian, Rachael works with staff and area partners to plan, develop, coordinate, implement and evaluate programs to meet KFL&A community needs. She works behind the scenes to make it easier for KFL&A residents to make healthy eating choices.

A main part of her role is to make healthy food more accessible to support the health of our community. Public health dietitians assess the nutritional needs of the community and develop programs and services to meet those needs, working with all age groups from babies to the elderly. 

Rachael works with her colleagues to look at ways to increase vegetable and fruit consumption in KFL&A. Our local statistics tell us that 82.5% of adults in KFL&A do not meet Canada's Food Guide recommendations for vegetables and fruit.

Rachael collaborates with her partners to work on provincial initiatives such as menu labelling     and healthy food systems.	Public health dietitians work with local partners to promote healthy eating in the community. Some examples include work with municipal partners on healthy eating policies, membership on the Food Policy Council for KFL&A, and support to the childcare centres network and community organizations offering food skill programming etc.

A typical day in the life as a public health dietitian:

Every day is different as a public health dietitian. Rachael interacts with a variety of experts to move effective health initiatives forward within our community. She participates in committees and networks and provides nutrition expertise to support the health of our community. As part of her role, Rachael acts as the Good Food Box host site coordinator at the Kingston KFL&A Public Health office. The Good Food Box program provides vegetables and fruits at wholesale prices to community members. 

What inspires you to work at KFL&A Public Health?

Rachael is inspired to be an advocate for health within her own community. Along with her colleagues, she continues to work on initiatives that will make the healthy choice an easy choice in places where KFL&A residents live, work, learn and play.

Every year in May, Rachael coordinates the Nutritious Food Basket survey and releases the results in the Cost of Eating report. The results tell us how much it costs for individuals and families to eat healthy in KFL&A. In 2015, the cost of a monthly Nutritious Food Basket for a family of four was $881.