Chair Messages
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July 18, 2022, 1:30pm EDT
CNNT Chair Message
Melinda Martin-Lester, RN, BA, eCNN, CHC
The CNNT Executive Committee met at the Spring Clinical Meetings in April. While I was unable to attend, CNNT was pleased to present the following awards and stipends at the meeting:
- Carol Mattix Award – Cheyenne Fasce
- Outstanding Nurse Award – Dean Baron
- Outstanding Technician – Carol Lane
- Outstanding Dialysis Technician – Daniel Royster
- CNNT Education Stipend-Deborah Halinski, BSN, RN, CNN, CPHQ
I want to thank Sheila Deziel, outgoing Chair, for representing me at the meeting and Amy Proctor, past Chair for her service to CNNT. I also want to recognize Jo Ann Otts and Leonor Ponferrada for a great program. They have agreed to stay on for this year and are currently selecting their Program Committee.
Our new year has started with a group of talented and dedicated nurses and technicians, who serve on the CNNT Executive Council. We will begin meeting in June by conference call to discuss future plans and projects for this year. Just a reminder we will have three open positions on our Council next year. Elections for these positions, two Directors at Large (2 year terms) and a Chair Elect (serves 3 years and requires previous experience on the Council) will be held in the fall. Those positions will take office next year at the Spring Clinical Meetings in Austin, TX. If you are interested in any of these positions, please feel free to contact me and we will send you the nomination form.
I look forward to serving our nurse and technician members this year. Please remember to renew your membership this year as you will need to be a CNNT member to be on the Council.
CNSW Chair Message
Melissa Fry, MSW, NSW-C
Hello CNSW members,
As I write this, I just spent the weekend with my oldest son graduating high school. It was amazing to see that his class of young adults have taken their high school years which have been shaped by the pandemic, and all of the changes that they had to endure, to make it to graduation. The students discussed the past four years and the struggles and challenges they faced and put a positive spin on the pandemic. They are looking at the pandemic as a way to build their resilience. They discussed that they learned how much they actually love in-person school when they had to attend virtually. They learned to appreciate the time that they had with their families that would have been spent with the many activities that they missed in high school. They also discussed how much better it is to talk to people in person than just text them. I am very hopeful for the future with the impact that these young adults will have on the world.
I hope that we as social workers are able to help our patients, co-workers and ourselves start to look at the positive aspects of the difficult times that we all have faced, whether it is the pandemic, health concerns, family concerns etc. I hope we are able to sit down and help each other process the past several years and take time to think about the potential positive impacts on our lives, even though they have been incredibly difficult times.
It was so wonderful to see so many of you at SCM22 in person in Boston! The energy and enthusiasm that come with being in person was so appreciated. Thank you, Elizabeth, Lisa and the program committee for their hard work and dedication for this amazing conference. There were many amazing sessions throughout the conference. It was also great to be able to come home and watch sessions online that I missed in person as the sessions were all recorded for people to watch virtually.
We also were able to present our CNSW Awards in Boston at an evening reception. We have an amazing group of winners this year. The Region III Award was given to Andrea DeKam. The New Worker Award was given to Berkley French. The Merit Award was given to Kevin Ceckowski. The Robert W. Whitlock Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Teri Browne. This is an amazing group of social workers who continue to work for the betterment of our patients and of CNSW. Thank you again to all of the award winners.
CRN Chair Message
Matilde Ladnier, R.D.,L.D.
It is I have been working with CKD patients for thirty years and have learned a great deal from many of my patients. They remind me why I have chosen this profession and I firmly believe that good eating is very important for good health. Nephrology, although challenging, is a very fulfilling and exciting specialty. However, it saddens me when I think that many of my patients could have made some changes earlier in their lives, when their kidney disease was just beginning. I wish they would have visited healthcare professionals earlier. I wish their PCPs or nephrologist referred them to me then. Of course, I also wish I would have known then what I know now, and dedicated my profession to patients in much earlier stages of chronic kidney disease.
The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) is a great organization that works with healthcare professionals, including renal dietitians, government representatives, patients, volunteers, etc., and has partnerships with various companies and organizations that can help with NKF’s mission and goals. Today, dietitians have the great opportunity of letting the community know that we are here, that we are trained and possess the knowledge to help people with diabetes, hypertension, and other diseases that can lead to CKD, and can help them prevent getting to the point of requiring renal replacement therapy. In September 2022, 53 years after the White House first had a conference in Hunger, Nutrition and Health –The White House is having a second conference. Let’s take advantage of the US government’s new mission from this conference: “reimagine our nation’s food system to end hunger, improve nutrition and reduce diet-related chronic diseases.” (1)
Who do you think should be involved in the reduction of diet-related chronic diseases?
We know that CMS and other insurance companies are reimbursing for Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) for patients who have CKD and diabetes mellitus. We also know that MNT is extremely underutilized. Why? We know that many nephrologists and the majority of primary care physicians (PCPs) are not fully aware of, or are familiar with, MNT. The Council of Renal Nutrition (CRN-NKF) alongside the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Renal Practice Group (AND-RPG) will work together to help increase awareness of MNT among physicians, NPs and PAs who care for CKD patients. On the other hand, renal RDs need to stay abreast with current CKD diet education to be best prepared to educate these patients. One way this can be done is by attending the NKF’s Spring Clinical Meetings (SCM). By attending SCM the past three years, I have learned that patients with CKD3 or CKD4 should not only follow a lower in protein diet, but also that eating more plant-based protein and less animal protein can help slow down the progression of kidney disease (2).
National CRN members have access to the Professional Education Resources Center (PERC) designed for renal professionals to continue their education. We, the CRN executive committee (EC) members, are aware that many experienced renal dietitians could be providing education to CKD patients in earlier stages of the disease but are simply not doing it. We know there are many factors causing this, including but not limited to the reimbursement process, the referral process, the cost of running a business, lack of confidence, lack of knowledge, training, etc. The EC is working to improve these issues. Three renal RDNs are presenters in an educational series for PCPs about how nutrition therapy can help patients better manage their DM and HTN and how/when to refer CKD patients to RDs. This NKF educational series should be available by the time this article prints. We will continue to work on getting the resources, inviting speakers for our next Spring Clinical Meetings and work with your local region’s CRN leaders to invite some of these speakers or have access to their presentations.
My plan as chair of the NKF Council on Renal Nutrition with the help of the EC members and volunteers, is to help renal dietitians to have access to current information, research, educational materials, etc. Many of our executive committee members and other renal dietitian volunteers are currently updating the educational materials on the NKF website and adding more current information on PERC. Additionally, the CRN and RPG will partner to help increase the number of CKD dietitians in the future. We are planning to get in touch with nutrition and dietetic schools and internship programs to help them get the latest updates to improve their renal nutrition curriculum. The RPG and CRN are collaborating in reaching these ambitious but attainable goals. We will continue to collaborate with nephrologists who firmly believe in including renal dietitians in the prevention of ESKD by educating other MDs about the referral process, etc. Our hope is that MNT becomes more utilized.
The time is now for us to act and show who the kidney nutrition experts are and how we can not only help prevent the complications of diet-related chronic disease, but also save a significant amount of expenses which these diseases’ complications incur to the government and to society. There is a lot of work to do and we need to include all stakeholders, and kidney/renal/nephrology dietitians need to take an active part for our profession to continue to succeed.
References:
(2) Kalantar-Zadeh K. Joshi S, Schlueter R, et al. “Plant-Dominant Low-Protein Diet for Conservative Management of Chronic Kidney Disease” Nutrients 2020.
RPG Chair Message
Mel Young, MS, RDN, CSR, LD
Chair, Renal Practice Group for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
Hello Renal Dietitians!
Happy warmer weather! As I am writing this note, I’m reflecting on the recent National Kidney Foundation Spring Clinical Meetings (NKFSCM22). As a renal dietitian, I always enjoy the NKF’s SCM as it’s an entire conference with sessions that pertain to our everyday practices. I love hearing new topics and trends in the field and the chance to dive a little deeper into the topics. I also loved seeing how many of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Renal Practice Group (RPG) members participate in not only attending, but in helping the conference be successful. Yes, NKF Council of Renal Nutrition (CRN) is a separate organization from the RPG, but we are working on many common goals and it is wonderful to build each other up.
Annually, at the start of SCM, the RPG meets with the CRN board to review upcoming projects for collaboration. It was a great discussion this year with a lot of energy. It always amazes me how far we have come in renal nutrition. One thing that we discussed was related to the feedback from RPG membership on wanting the role of a renal dietitian to be better promoted. This is something that the RPG has taken to heart at our meetings, and I am so glad that the CRN was already discussing this need as well. This goal is something that CRN and RPG will be joining in efforts to help promote the benefits of a renal dietitian to outside stakeholders. We value all that you do for patients and the healthcare community. We want to support you in your careers and growth.
We also had a conversation on underutilized membership benefits that both groups have for their members, such as Find A Renal RD and the Speakers Bureau. We would love for more members to participate in these benefits as that will increase the visibility of renal dietitians. We talked about possible barriers to joining the speaker’s bureau and how to best address them. We have a few things in the works, so please stay tuned. Also, check out all the great benefits of being an RPG member at renalnutrition.org.
The RPG’s mission is Empowering members to be the nation’s leaders in nephrology nutrition. We are continuing to move forward on that mission with our incoming Chair, Rory Pace. I am so excited for what this year will bring.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Mel Young MS RDN CSR LD