Wynona Woolf
Award-Winning
Work in the Community
Wynona ("Nonie") Woolf, Yakama, MPH,
RD, has been working as a dietitian on the Blackfeet
Reservation for 21 years. Her first position with the tribe
was as a nutrition specialist in the diabetes program. She
provided medical nutrition therapy for obesity and diabetes
treatment and prevention. She also worked in the community.
At the annual community dinner, she and her colleagues
developed healthy meals and gave participants reduced-fat,
higher-fiber recipes. The meals often included traditional
bannock bread. Knowing that during the summer the families
on the reservation do a lot of picnicking, Woolf offered
classes in which she presented lower-saturated-fat,
alternative healthy picnic foods, such as marinated chicken
and fruit. In the summers the local restaurants and grocery
stores catered to tourists visiting Glacier National Park
by offering salad bars and extra lean meat. Woolf convinced
them to make these items available all year round.
Woolf’s community nutritional programs included Shop Smart
Grocery Store Tours, Cooking for Good Health Classes, Head
Start and school lunch classes, and healthy eating classes
for developmentally disabled adults and seniors. The IHS
published a manual for dietitians that Woolf wrote,
entitled “Cooking for Good Health: A Series of Cooking
Classes Designed to Teach Healthy Eating in American Indian
Communities.” For all this work Woolf received many awards,
including an award from the IHS as Nutritionist/Dietitian
of the Year and a creative nutrition education award from
the American Dietetic Association (ADA).
Nine years later Woolf took the position of public health
nutritionist at Blackfeet Community Hospital. In this role,
she created even more innovative programs for which she was
honored including an award from the American Dietetic
Association for innovative nutrition education for the
public. She also published another booklet and made
presentations at national meetings and conferences.
Today Woolf is a clinical dietitian with the Blackfeet
Community Hospital. She primarily serves the inpatients on
the ward, which include about 21 new patients a week.
Typically she screens new patients each morning for such
things as food allergies, lactose intolerance and food
preferences. She also checks their lab test results to see
if they have anemia or another problem. Then she meets with
the cooks and the food service manager to talk about the
menus and what adjustments need to be made for specific
patients. Woolf also confers with nurses and doctors, if
their patients have special nutritional needs. When
patients are ready to be discharged, Woolf provides
nutrition counseling to those who need it. She notes, “One
of the advantages of working in a small hospital is that we
are likely to see people more than once. They feel
comfortable when they return because they know us and we
keep their diets on file.”
Journey
As an
undergraduate at South Dakota State University, Woolf knew
she wanted to help her people but she was confused about
what direction to take. Thankfully she received guidance
from her aunt who, in turn, put her in touch with Veta Mae
Wenzel, a nutrition consultant with the Portland Area
Office. Wenzel became Woolf’s mentor, supporting her in
earning her bachelor of science degree in general dietetics
at Washington State University and then her masters of
public health in nutrition at the University of Hawaii.
After her graduation, Woolf’s first position was as a
public health nutritionist in the Western Oregon Service
Unit on the campus of the Chemawa Indian School in Salem,
Oregon. Her next position was as nutrition training officer
with the IHS Nutrition and Dietetics Training Program in
Santa Fe, New Mexico. Among other accomplishments, she
developed workshops on a variety of topics including,
maternal and infant nutrition and food production for
tribal cooks. After a year she was promoted to Chief of the
program. Her many duties included serving as an education
resource person and instructor for workshops and making
presentations throughout Indian communities in the United
States.
Woolf did a great deal of traveling, sometimes a week at a
time. She enjoyed her work, but when she traveled her young
son started to be afraid that she wouldn’t return home.
Woolf wanted to be with her son every day, and she wanted
to be a nutritionist in a community where she could see the
results of her work – good or bad, so she took a position
at Blackfeet Community Hospital. Within a year of being on
the reservation, Woolf knew that she had made the right
decision professionally and personally. She liked her work
and she met and married her husband with whom she had two
more children.
Retirement
Woolf plans to retire, but she’s not likely to stay home in
rocking chair. She is taking steps to be a Weight Watcher's
leader and is already dreaming up ideas to be part of a
dietetic internship that, hopefully, will be created soon
in Montana.
Advice
“Look for a
mentor. Be on top of your sciences. It’s a science-based
occupation. Take science and math in high school. Get
tutoring, if you need it.”
This
article was originally published in the Summer, 2009
issue of
Winds of Change. (The cover
artist is William Rabbit, Cherokee.)