As we reflect upon the agency’s 25th year, we are so proud of all that our Nutrition Services Department has been able to provide to the community over the past twenty years. The Nutrition Department was added to complement our Home Delivered Meal Program in 1992. Staffed by registered dietitians, the department was dedicated to developing individually tailored meals and providing nutrition counseling and education. This built upon God’s Love’s strength as a compassionate food provider to both increase the array of services provided, and ensure that the food created with love, was nutritionally optimal for clients with HIV/AIDS. In fact, it is the provision of nutrition services that has become God’s Love signature difference among food providers.

In 2001, when God’s Love broadened its mission to serve other seriously ill populations like people with cancer and Alzheimer’s disease the nutrition team expanded its scope of expertise to meet the new challenge. Over the past decade, this capacity has grown considerably, and today, God’s Love serves people living with over 200 different illnesses. In order to best serve this diverse clientele, its registered dietitians continuously keep up-to-date with developments in nutrition practice by participating in educational webinars and teleconferences, attending and presenting at local and national conferences, holding leadership roles in local and national professional organizations and by hosting bi-monthly professional development meetings for area HIV dietitians. As a result, the Nutrition Services Department has earned widespread acclaim as experts in the field of community nutrition.

Our Nutrition Services Department is determined and on track to remain a leader in the field of nutrition. We have many goals, a couple of which are to publish more nutrition booklets for our clients and the community and to further research, promote and work with our “Food is Medicine” initiative. Because we are so passionate about the work we have done, the work that we do and the knowledge that we have acquired, this year we are hosting a nutrition symposium.

On Saturday, June 9, the Greater New York Dietetic Association Nutritionists in AIDS Care Special Interest Group and God’s Love We Deliver will present Thirty Years of HIV Nutrition Care: Today’s Opportunities and Challenges. Below are the keynote speakers and their presentations:

HIV Nutrition: A Thirty Year Retrospective
Theresa Galvin, MS, RD, CDN
Village Care Certified Home Health Agency

Food & Nutrition Needs of PLWHA in NYC
Angela Aidala, Ph.D.
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Health Care Reform, Public Policy & the Impact on the HIV Community
Matthew Lesieur
National Association of People with AIDS & Village Care of New York

HIV over Fifty
Stacey Gladstone, RN, BSN, ACRN, COS-C
Village Care Health Home

Please register for the event and 5 CPEUs have been requested for the day. Registration fees are as follows: $70 GNYDA members, $85 non-GNYDA members and $45 students (with valid ID). We are looking forward to congregating with GNYDA members to discuss this historic and important topic. For program, parking and transit information, contact Lisa Zullig at lzullig@nyc.rr.com.