On February 14th, 2012, Jane Dummer, RD, Project Coordinator for Norfolk County’s Local Foods to Health Care Facilities Project, shared some how to’s and lessons learned with members of Seniors Health Research Transfer Network (SHRTN)‘s Nutrition Community of Practice.
The project, From Our Fields to Your Table – Local Foods to Health Care Facilities, has four phases. The first was to determine where health care facilities (two hospitals and a long-term care facility) in Norfolk County get their protein, produce and milk from, and to assess how the facilities could move toward purchasing more local foods. In phase two, Jane conducted an environmental scan to find new local products, develop recipes that would fit the needs of the health care facility, and try to replace non-local products with local. Read on »
Tags: Greenbelt, health care, Jane Dummer, Local Foods, long term care, LTC, Norfolk, public sector
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
Yesterday I spent the day at OMAFRA’s Annual KTT (Knowledge Translation & Transfer) in Action Day! A-HA had a poster on display to share our KTT activities funded by Agri-Food and Rural Link, part of the OMAFRA-University of Guelph partnership. As well, A-HA researcher Alison Duncan, PhD, RD, participated in the morning panel discussion to provide more detail about our social media efforts, the development of a toolkit for healthy aging and our work with a Nutrition Community of Practice.
All in all it was a very informative day, but there are a few key points that I will take away with me:
- No silo research – engage a variety of end users throughout the research process, not just when it’s time to share the findings.
- Social media can be a knowledge broker – there is an opportunity to use social media to engage others and facilitate knowledge exchange. As the name suggests, it’s supposed to be social, not a form of one-way communication.
- Think about measuring impact from the beginning of the project – what will you define as impact and how can you effectively measure it?
- Mixed methods KTT will likely have the best outcomes – engage in multiple methods, different approaches may work better for different groups of knowledge users.
- K* – don’t get bogged down in the terminology (KTT, knowledge mobilization, engaged scholarship, etc.), use what works for you.
If you attended and have some lessons learned, please share them, and if you have tips about how you are measuring impact in your K* projects, I’d love to hear about it.
Thanks to OMAFRA & Agri-food and Rural Link for a great day!
Tags: Agri-Food and Rural Link, Dr. Alison Duncan, K*, KMb, KTT, KTT in Action, OMAFRA
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
Yesterday I tuned in to a teleconference by Dr. Jaime Brown, from the National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools (NCCMT), to hear about their registry of knowledge translation (KT) resources. Although the collection of tools is focused on the public health realm, they can be useful for anyone involved in KT.
The registry allows you to search for tools based on the stage of KT you are involved in: synthesis, dissemination, exchange, or application. Some recent additions to the site include a toolkit about social media use, influencing policy with effective communication and starting and maintaining Communities of Practice (CoP).
As A-HA is actively involved in SHRTN‘s Nutrition CoP I found this tool helpful. It provides a nice overview of CoPs, tips on how to facilitate one effectively, evaluation guidelines and lots of extra resources for more information. You can take a look at the toolkit summary on NCCMT’s website and can access the complete version on SHRTN’s website.
Take a look through the registry and see if you can find some tools to help in your KT endeavors! If you have any other KT resources to share, please feel free to comment.
Tags: Jaime Brown, knowledge translation, KTT, National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, NCCMT
Posted in Events |
Happy New Year! The A-HA blog has officially been up and running for a full year and you can expect many more blogs for 2012! I thought I would kick off the year by providing some details about an upcoming webinar - From our Fields to Your Table – Local Foods to Health Care Facilities on February 14 from 2-3. Jane Dummer, RD, will be discussing one of her latest projects that is helping to increase the amount of local Ontario food products purchased by and served in health care facilities in Norfolk County.
Webinar Outline:
- An overview of the project scope and objectives
- The Health Care Sector’s changing needs and engagement
- What are the opportunities and challenges to integrate local foods?
- Overall impact on the local food system
- Summary
Learning Objectives:
- Develop an understanding of the approach and possibilities to procure fresh, local food within the Health Care environment
- Identify how to overcome perceived barriers to promote and implement local food in your LTC facility
- Be able to discuss the benefits to the local food system
The webinar is being hosted by the Seniors Health Research Transfer Network’s (SHRTN) Nutrition Community of Practice and you can register for the webinar here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Nutrition2012. To view the event flyer, visit the A-HA website.
If you aren’t a member of the Nutrition Community of Practice, I recommend joining. Check out a past blog to learn why.
The Local Foods to Health Care Facilities project is supported by the Ontario government funded by the Broader Public Sector Investment Fund (BPSIF – Greenbelt).
Tags: community of practice, health care, Jane Dummer, local food, long term care, LTC, Norfolk County, nutrition, SHRTN
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
I am pleased to announce that registration is open for the Innovation Breakfast – Formulating Foods for the Aging Population. On March 22, 2012 at the Pearson Convention Centre, A-HA will co-host the event with the Guelph Food and Technology Centre (GFTC).
Presentations include:
- The Challenge and Opportunity of Meeting Nutritional Needs of the Older Adult Population- Dr. Heather Keller, Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition & Aging, University of Waterloo
Dr. Keller will discuss the need for high quality diets in order for older adults to maintain their health and quality of life and also the importance of prevention. Micronutrient needs are often inadequate and enhancing the diet may be needed to meet needs.
- Age Related Changes in Sensory Perception: Challenges and Considerations for Product Developers- Dr. Lisa Duizer, Assistant Professor, University of Guelph & A-HA Research Scientist Read on »
Tags: A-HA, aging population, Dr. Heather Keller, Dr. Lisa Duizer, food innovation, formulating foods, GFTC, Innovation Breakfast, Jan Ouwehand, product development
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
Last month A-HA co-hosted the 2011 Health Professionals’ Forum at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, and it was a great success! The pictures have arrived on my desk so I am posting a sampling below. For highlights of the event and presentation recaps, take a look at a past post. The presentation slides are still available on the A-HA website.
Read on »
Tags: Health Professionals Day, Health Professionals' Forum, photo, pictures, royal agricultural winter fair
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
Every month I look forward to receiving the latest edition of Nutrition Action because the magazine is always packed with the latest on nutrition and health. Another plus, the magazine is put out by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a non-profit organization that advocates for safer and healthier foods and honesty in food labelling and marketing.
One of my favourite sections is ‘Quick Studies’, it summarizes the results of 3 or 4 academic articles on current ‘hot’ topics. For example, a large trial on saw palmetto and prostate health was profiled this month. The section also includes ‘What to do’ and spells out the key messages for each article summary, exactly what you need to know and how you can use the results. Read on »
Tags: food, health, Nutrition Action, nutrition research
Posted in Uncategorized |
The Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA) held its third annual Applied Research and Education Day on November 27 at the Allstream Centre in TO. Besides the typically terrible commute on the 401, the day was great!
As part of the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging booth, Agri-food for Healthy Aging (A-HA) had a banner set up and the 2011 A-HA News to distribute. Even more exciting, Nila Ilhamto (a Master’s student working with A-HA researcher Dr. Lisa Duizer of the University of Guelph) won first place in the poster competition – congratulations to Nila! She previously wrote a blog about her research, so give it a read for more details about her project.
Although all of the sessions were interesting and informative, I thought I would recap the ‘Food for Thought’ session. A-HA researcher and soon-to-be Schlegel Research Chair in Nutrition and Aging at the University of Waterloo, Dr. Heather Keller, discussed her work on mealtime experience for those living with dementia. Below are the key points I went home with:
- Mealtimes are the way we are – this is the central tenet of the Life Nourishment Theory developed by Dr. Keller. Mealtimes are often observed and studied to better understand family dynamics and relationships, they say a lot about who we are. Read on »
Tags: Applied Research Education Day, dementia, Dr. Aileen Burford-Mason, Dr. Heather Keller, mealtime, minerals, Nila Ilhamto, nutrition, OLTCA, RIA, supplements, vitamins
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
On November 9, A-HA co-hosted the 2011 Health Professionals’ Forum at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and the day was a huge success! We had 115 people attend and almost 70 tune in via webcast. The ‘food innovation’ buffet was also a hit, the veggie chili with Sol Veggie Crumbles was delicious. Requests were made for the recipe and I will be posting it soon.
The speakers of course were the true highlight, and I wanted to give a recap in case anyone missed out:
Dr. Alison Duncan, Associate Professor at the University of Guelph, discussed her research on functional food consumption in older adults and will be incorporating the findings into a Functional Foods for Healthy Aging toolkit she is developing.
The toolkit also provides background information on functional foods, including definitions, regulations and understanding product packaging. Everyone in attendance and those joining via webcast had the opportunity to provide feedback and help to inform the final version of the toolkit. Upon completion, it will be posted on the A-HA website for distribution.
Dr. John Kelly, Vice President of Erie Innovation and Commercialization, discussed the potential health benefits of consuming agri-foods, and that the aging population is demanding ‘healthy’ products. There are many opportunities in Southern Ontario for farmers to produce innovative crops/agri-foods that can promote health and also crops that are culturally relevant. However, he also made an interesting point, that education will be important for producers and consumers in order to understand what the functional ingredients are and how they can promote health or increase sales. He gave an example that many thought resveratrol was a pesticide, not an ingredient found in grapes that is connected to heart health. Read on »
Tags: Alison Duncan, Colin Farnum, Health Professionals Day, Health Professionals' Forum, John Kelly, Kim Arrey, Royal, royal agricultural winter fair
Posted in Uncategorized |
Yesterday the Dairy Farmers of Canada’s 2011 Nutrition and Health Symposium stopped off in Toronto during their cross-country tour. I was able to attend and learn the latest on ‘Emerging Perspectives in Cardiometabolic Health’. Below are some of the key ‘take aways’ from each speaker.
Jennifer Sygo, MSc, RD, Director of Nutrition for Cleveland Clinic Canada and nutrition columnist for the National Post, highlighted the changing focus for health professionals’, moving away from low fat diets to ‘fat is back’, with increasing interest in healthy fats and how they can promote health. There is also a move to a treatment model that is team-based and client-centred, highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary team work.
Veronique Provencher, PhD, RD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Food and Nutritional Science at Laval University, discussed how nutritional claims and food packaging can influence eating behaviour. It is getting increasingly more difficult for consumers to determine what ‘healthy foods’ are and older adults may be especially vulnerable as their health literacy (the capacity to find and understand information about promoting and maintaining health) may not be sufficient to decode today’s food labels.
Jean-Philippe Chaput, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa and Junior Research Chair in Healthy Lifestyle and Obesity at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute. His presentation discussed some of the key factors behind the North American obesity epidemic: Read on »
Tags: dairy, Dairy Farmers of Canada, nutrition, Nutrition Symposium
Posted in Events, Uncategorized |
