Maddie Martini, MS, RD, LD; NSAND President Elect Works at: Unidine (at Brookside Care Center in Kenosha, WI) Hobbies: I co-coordinate my local improv comedy group, the Picard Players - we practice weekly, perform quarterly, and donate all our proceeds to charitable causes. I also love to try new foods and restaurants, host themed dinner parties, riff on bad movies, and attend live theatre as often as possible. What do you do in the field of dietetics? I am currently the only RD at my 150-bed skilled nursing facility in Kenosha, WI. I see residents for nutrition assessments and follow-ups throughout the day, which includes everything from adjusting tube feeding regimens to providing nutrition education to someone heading home for the first time in months. It’s a lot of work and the caseload is high, but I enjoy it! Did you always know you wanted to be a dietitian? Actually, I started college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison wanting to be a choir teacher! I always loved food, but didn’t think about a career in nutrition until I attended a seminar led by an outpatient RD. The prospect of helping people find the right foods to fit their lifestyle was incredibly appealing to me (and still is)! What's a fun fact about you? Once, I (and three friends) held a 14-hour marathon of the Lord of the Rings movies (extended edition), complete with a Hobbit-style menu based off of specific scenes. Some highlights included actual Lembas bread, “Samwise Gamgee’s Coney Stew,” and “Mount Doom Cinnamon Lava Cake.” So worth it. What is your favorite food? Such a hard question! It’s a three-way tie between: fresh-from-the-garden cherry tomatoes; Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowls called “bun” (cold noodles and vegetables with lemongrass-marinated protein and a tangy sauce to pour over top); and a dish from Renga Tei in Skokie called Salmon Oyako-don, which takes a piece of grilled salmon and places it on a bed of steamed rice with julienned cucumber, fresh salmon roe, and a slice of lemon. There’s nothing else like it! What is your favorite memory from your career thus far? Honestly, starting my career has been my favorite thing! It felt like it took forever to finally get going as an RD. Now that I have, I am enjoying just about everything. And I’m hoping to hold on to that feeling as long as possible. Name one thing an RDN could do to benefit the dietetics profession in general. The nature of the dietetics field is that the research is always shifting, so it’s important that we as professionals keep an open mind and seek out learning opportunities wherever we can find them. Then by bringing back what we learn and applying it to our own areas of practice, we can help to contribute to the notion that dietetics practitioners are essential in providing evidence-based care. Where did you complete your internship? I completed my MS+DI through Eastern Illinois University, with my clinical rotations taking place primarily at St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital in Effingham, IL. Twitter: @maddiemartinird
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