My name is Candice Rech and I am a region 4 intern based in New Jersey. I started my internship rotation in February in a corporate food service setting. In 6 weeks, I spent hours planning, preparing and executing for three different activities focused on National Nutrition Month. Once a week I had a table outside the workplace cafeteria with raffle baskets, free samples of a recipe, and nutritional education to go along with the theme. One of the biggest turn outs was when I educated the employees on the Sodexo Bite. This app allows users to view weekly menus for the cafeteria so they can plan their meals ahead of time. I told employees about another app called My Fitness Pal, and how it can be used to track fitness goals and keep track of what you eat. It links to Bite and users can then log what they eat daily with all correct calorie and macros/micros information. We had a sign-up sheet for a 30 day challenge, which was a partnership with the on-site employee gym. They had a 15% increase in employees who participated in the challenge to the prior year.
Then the world was plagued with COVID, and the internship I knew was about to change. I was told by my preceptor that I was no longer allowed to be on site. I was contacted by my clinical preceptor who I was starting with a week later and was told that we would have to push back my start date and see what would happen. I knew interns in other programs, and they were being completely shut down until further notice. I began to panic, unsure what my future would hold, but the regional directors worked very hard to come up with a plan. They provided endless support for the interns and gave us the necessary tools to continue our internship online. The directors kept us calm, and most importantly, confident that we would still be able to get the type of education and experience online that we would receive in person. We were able to watch webinars on a variety of topics pertaining to clinical, community, as well as concentration topics. We also had the chance to access clinical case studies. There was also time to complete rotations online, and work on assignments related to our rotations. I am proud to be a Sodexo dietetic intern.
Four months later, and I am beyond excited to be back in rotations. The hospital I am in now makes me feel safe, they have proper protocol in place to protect us. After talking with patients, learning my way around the department, and shadowing the RDs, I am able to see how important the entire department is to making the patient’s nutritional experience work. Future interns, have no fear and believe in yourself. You were chosen to represent Sodexo as a dietetic intern for a reason. Always remember you have your regional director and fellow region interns as a support system!
Then the world was plagued with COVID, and the internship I knew was about to change. I was told by my preceptor that I was no longer allowed to be on site. I was contacted by my clinical preceptor who I was starting with a week later and was told that we would have to push back my start date and see what would happen. I knew interns in other programs, and they were being completely shut down until further notice. I began to panic, unsure what my future would hold, but the regional directors worked very hard to come up with a plan. They provided endless support for the interns and gave us the necessary tools to continue our internship online. The directors kept us calm, and most importantly, confident that we would still be able to get the type of education and experience online that we would receive in person. We were able to watch webinars on a variety of topics pertaining to clinical, community, as well as concentration topics. We also had the chance to access clinical case studies. There was also time to complete rotations online, and work on assignments related to our rotations. I am proud to be a Sodexo dietetic intern.
Four months later, and I am beyond excited to be back in rotations. The hospital I am in now makes me feel safe, they have proper protocol in place to protect us. After talking with patients, learning my way around the department, and shadowing the RDs, I am able to see how important the entire department is to making the patient’s nutritional experience work. Future interns, have no fear and believe in yourself. You were chosen to represent Sodexo as a dietetic intern for a reason. Always remember you have your regional director and fellow region interns as a support system!
