It could be described as Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) quiet achiever. For the past decade, the nutrition and dietetics program at CSU has been producing graduates who improve the health and lifestyle of Australians, particularly those living in regional, rural and remote areas - a success which will be celebrated at a renunion this weekend.
Without a doubt, Charles Sturt University’s Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) has increased the capacity and sustainability of our profession in regional, rural and remote Australia,” Course Coordinator Associate Professor Sue McAlpin said. “The importance of ensuring there is a supply of qualified and experienced dietitians to improve the health and well-being of Australians now and into the future cannot be stressed enough.”
“This is what we have been doing during the first ten years of the Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) and aim to continue doing so as the health issues facing our society grows in urgency including obesity, eating disorders and an ageing population.
When introduced in 2000, the Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) was the first program of its kind offered outside a metropolitan area in Australia. The four-year course remains the only nutrition and dietetics program based in regional Australia.
Figures collated by CSU of on campus students between 2007 and 2009 found that nutrition and dietetics is one of the CSU courses that retained the highest proportions of its graduates to be initially employed in regional areas with over 90 per cent starting their career in regional Australia.
“Our graduates are working locally in public health and in the private sector in areas such as Cootamundra, Griffith, Leeton, Tumut and Wagga Wagga. They are also meeting the ongoing strong demand for dietitians in clinical and industry settings as well as private practice across Australia,” Professor McAlpin said.
Nutrition and dietetics began at CSU in Wagga Wagga with 25 students. The course, run through the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences will accept 49 first year students in 2011 when on campus classes resume on Monday 28 February.
Accredited by the Dietitians' Association of Australia, the CSU program provides an important rural perspective in the education of dietitians.
“There is also a strong course focus on workplace learning in clinical and community placements to ensure graduates are ‘workplace-ready’. To support the workplace learning, a Nutrition Clinic is held at CSU in Wagga Wagga for third year students in early 2011,” Professor McAlpin said.
To mark the course’s ten years, graduates, past and present lecturers and students will gather from 12.30pm at the Convention Centre at CSU in Wagga Wagga on Saturday 26 February for a reunion.
The guests include the inaugural Nutrition and Dietetics Course Coordinator at CSU, Ms Marjo Roshier-Taks, now with Deakin University and Ms Jackie Priestly, the senior Dietitian at Wagga Wagga Community Health.
The Bachelor of Health Science (Nutrition and Dietetics) graduates from CSU include:
- Mrs Candice Trist was one of the first graduates in 2004. She is employed by the Riverina Division of General Practice and Primary Health (RDGP) in Wagga Wagga as Dietitian and is the Program Manager for Rural Primary Health Services – Allied Health. Presently the RDGP employs three nutrition and dietetics graduates.
- Ms Elesha Honeysett also graduated from CSU in 2004 as one of the inaugural graduates. She is working as Senior Dietitian at Dubbo Community Health Centre. This includes clinical work at the diabetes unit at Dubbo Base Hospital.
- Ms Peta Larsen graduated from CSU in 2004. She is currently Dietitian-In-Charge at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital. Ms Larsen’s career since graduation has included working as a Community Dietician in Canowindra, Cowra, Tumut as well as in private practice.
- Ms Melissa Mannell graduated from CSU in 2005 and is employed as Community Dietitian at the Cootamundra Community Health Service. “Charles Sturt University has had an immense role in increasing the numbers of dietitians and their desirability to work in rural and remote areas,” Ms Mannell said. When I commenced work with Murrumbidgee Local Health Network (formerly Greater Southern Area Health Service), I was so surprised by the sheer number of dieticians working here who studied through Charles Sturt University. The students that I now supervise have an understanding and appreciation of what it is like to live and work in rural areas, enabling them to have a greater connection and empathy with clients.”
- Ms Kelly Schouten graduated from CSU in 2005. “Within six months of graduating, I was employed as a Remote Area Nutritionist in the Northern Territory, operating out of Alice Springs,” Ms Schouten said. “Study at Charles Sturt University not only made this possible, but also equipped me to take on further study and I am currently about half way through a postgraduate social work degree and I am also involved with research through the Centre For Remote Health in Alice Springs looking at nutrition in Indigenous elderly people.”
Mrs Di Wintle graduated from CSU in 2005. She is employed as a lecturer in nutrition and dietetics in the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences at CSU in Wagga Wagga and continues to engage in clinical practice, mainly with Saint George Family Medical Centre in Wagga Wagga and with Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation. Her areas of interest include Indigenous health, eating disorders and rural women. “The impact of the nutrition and dietetics program at Charles Sturt University has been enormous,” Mrs Wintle said. The degree prepares its graduates to adapt to the ever evolving area of nutrition and dietetics, and preventative and public health. Graduates from our program also provide further evidence that graduates of all the professions are more likely to work in regional and rural areas if they study at regional universities. From within my own year from Charles Sturt University, I have colleagues working in diverse areas of practice and location, including remote central Australia, research, rural, regional and metropolitan areas.”
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