ADSA e-newsletter Vol 12

Every year we get to the end of November and I ask myself where the time has gone. This year is no different and has indeed been an exciting and fast-paced year for many of us. The same applies to ADSA as an organisation, with 2022 having been a year of ‘returning to normal’ and meeting in person at events while continuing to navigate the hybrid world we have become accustomed to. We made the best of this opportunity, visiting five branches for the ADSA Exec Roadshow during October and November 2022. The presentation on ‘Navigating true north: finding direction in the profession’ and the ImpENSA presentation on ‘The first 1000 days - why it matters’ sparked insightful discussions and offered a great opportunity to connect and engage with our members.

Several branches have also hosted events during the last quarter of the year. The commitment of the branch committee members and support of these events are acknowledged and appreciated. I encourage our branches and members to utilise the events not only as opportunities for formal continuing professional development, but also to engage in discussions about the profession and the role we play, individually and collectively, to represent and develop the profession.

FROM THE PRESIDENT

As we start planning our diaries for 2023, make sure to block off 18 to 20 April to join us in Cape Town for the National Nutrition Congress. The congress theme, ‘Synergy & reconnection in a diverse nutrition world’ promises thoughtprovoking exchange of ideas and knowledge and an opportunity to cherish old and embrace new collaborations. The draft programme has been launched and holds exciting opportunities to update, upskill and network with colleagues.

If you are taking a break during the festive season, rest well and stay safe. We are looking forward to again picking up the reins in January 2023, representing and developing the profession of dietetics.

Best wishes

Maria van der Merwe

ADSA PRESIDENT, 2021 TO 2023

ADSA Biennial

GENERAL MEETING

The ADSA Executive Committee hosted the Biennial General Meeting (BGM) as a virtual event on 18 October 2022. The meeting began with a word of thanks and appreciation by past ADSA President, Megan Pentz-Kluyts. The President’s report was presented by Maria van der Merwe, and the Financial Report by Estelle Venter, Treasury portfolio holder. Proposed amendments to ADSA’s constitution were presented, and members unanimously voted in favour of the amendments. As an ADSA member your opinion and contributions to the running of ADSA are very important, thus we thank those who supported the event.

ADSA executive committee

ROADSHOW

The ADSA executive committee embarked on a Road Show, visiting five branches between October and November 2022. The main aim of the Road Show is to engage directly with members, showcasing how ADSA is representing and growing the profession and to reflect on current trends in the profession. The Road Show will visit the rest of the branches in early 2023.

The Road Show serves a number of purposes, namely:

• Providing presentations and discussions around leadership, professionalism and continuous education

• Showcasing the work and activities that ADSA is involved in to achieve the vision and mission of the association

• Connecting with members and facilitating direct engagement, enabling the Executive Committee to gain a better understanding of the needs of members

• We are also making use of this opportunity to share information on the ImpENSA Training Programme, the results of a multi-centre collaboration aimed at equipping healthcare professionals in South Africa with knowledge and skills to improve micronutrient malnutrition and behaviour change in the first 1000 days of life.

Left: Jessica Byrne, ADSA Executive Chief Operating Officer speaking at the Eastern Cape Road Show, with a topic titled ‘Navigating True North: finding direction in the profession’

Right: Estelle Venter (Treasury Portfolio, Executive Committee) and Maria van der Merwe (ADSA President) at the Gauteng South road show, 16 November 2022

ADSA executive committee

UPDATES

With the year rushing to an end, we took a moment to pause and reflect on the 2021-2023 ADSA executive committee’s activities over the past 18 months. Short presentations on the individual portfolio activities and achievements can be viewed on ADSA’s website (www.adsa.org.za), demonstrating how ADSA continues to serve the interests of dietitians in South Africa and promote the nutritional wellbeing of the community. We extend a word of appreciation to the executive committee, branch committees, our spokespersons and all ADSA members who have contributed towards the representation and development of our profession.

ADSA PPD COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES

Although dietitians were listed as service providers to this group of patients, the Compensation Fund has not yet activated the Gazetted codes as a result of a matter between the IT company that writes the codes for the new tariffs and the Compensation Fund. The matter is being followed up and the promise is that the matter should be resolved soon. Dietitians are however encouraged to continue sending through claims as these will all be paid as soon as the codes are activated. The Government Gazette as well as the document describing the tariff codes and procedures for report writing can be found on the ADSA website: https://www.adsa.org.za/

NEW MEDICAL AID TARIFFS FOR 2023

At the beginning of each year ADSA receives numerous queries to provide new tariff codes. Software companies/ practice management systems automatically update the new tariffs on the systems of clients. In

the case where a dietitian does not make use of an official practice management system, tariffs can be obtained from each fund’s website if you are registered as a service provider.

ETHICAL BILLING PRACTICES

All private practicing dietitians are reminded that the current billing system is time based and that services rendered should be according to time spent. Funders are realising the importance of non-face time as part of the execution of the Nutrition Care Process. Therefore, adding a reasonable non-face time for planning to the time billed for, is acceptable. However, funders compare each service provider’s billing pattern with that of peers and will perform an audit if general billing does not align with that of peers. In addition, meticulous record keeping is essential and required by the HPCSA. If dietitians work in hospitals, each provider needs their own set of records, as the hospital records alone will not suffice. Please refer to the HPCSA Ethics Booklet for more information: https://www.hpcsa.co.za/ Uploads/Professional_Practice/Ethics_ Booklet.pdf

ADSA SECRETARY MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME

We were very excited to launch the ADSA Mentorship Programme earlier this year. The aim of the programme is to provide guidance, support and advice on a voluntary person-to-person basis. From individual personal information, we match mentees and mentors with similar interests to optimise the benefits of this initiative. Each mentee-mentor pair is able to customize their mentoring approach and format.

WHO IS THIS INITIATIVE AIMED AT?

If you are at an early stage in your career, considering a change in your career path or at any stage of your career where you would like to connect with another dietitian for guidance and support, you are invited to subscribe to this initiative as a mentee. Dietitians who have some experience in the field, a special interest or expertise in an area of work or with a passion for personal growth and development are invited to subscribe as mentors. Due to the success of the programme, we will be facilitating a second round of mentoring in 2023.

Applications will open in February 2023 for commencement in March 2023. For further information, please contact secretaryadsaexec@gmail.com

ADSA PUBLIC RELATIONS

ADSA’s PR team has been extremely busy during the third quarter of 2022. The following media releases were compiled and distributed to media across the country:

Practice guidelines

FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

To be a good health care practitioner, requires a lifelong commitment to sound professional and ethical practices and an overriding dedication to the interests of one’s fellow human beings and society. Are you familiar with the HPCSA Ethical guidelines for good practice in the health care professions? We will be sharing snippets from these guidelines as an integral part of professional conduct.

BOOKLET 2: ETHICAL AND

PROFESSIONALS RULES OF THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS

COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA.

NAMING OF A PRACTICE

5. (1) A practitioner shall use his or her own name or the name of a registered practitioner or practitioners with whom he or she is in partnership or with whom he or she practises as a juristic person, as a name for his or her private practice.

(2) A practitioner referred to in subrule (1) may retain the name of such private practice even if another practitioner, partner of such partnership or member of such juristic person is no longer part of

such private practice: Provided that the express consent of the past practitioner or, in the case of a deceased practitioner the consent of the executor of his or her estate or his or her next-of-kin, has been obtained.

(3) A practitioner shall not use, in the name of his or her private practice, the expression “hospital”, “clinic” or “institute” or any other expression which may give the impression that such private practice forms part of, or is in association with, a hospital, clinic or institute.

(https://www.hpcsa.co.za/Uploads/ Professional_Practice/Ethics_Booklet.pdf )

Retha Harmse, ADSA Executive Public Relations Portfolio, giving a talk on ‘Ethical guidelines for social media’ in the Eastern Cape.

National Nutrition Week 2022

“MAKE HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES EASIER”

South Africa commemorates National Nutrition Week (NNW) every year from 9 - 15 October to encourage South Africans to make healthy choices towards improved nutrition, each year with a themed campaign. The overarching objective of the NNW 2022 campaign: “Make healthy food choices easier”, helps adults, adolescents and caregivers to make healthy and affordable food choices every day by eating regular and correctly portioned healthy meals and snacks and by being physically active. Thank you to all ADSA members who supported the campaign by sharing the key messages and infographics via social media and in your places of work.

The resources can still be accessed at www.nutritionweek.co.za

THE IMPENSA

Training Programme

ImpENSA partners, final project meeting, 21 to 25 November 2022, Munich, Germany

Improving Early Nutrition and Health in South Africa (ImpENSA) is a capacity building project aiming to optimise micronutrient nutrition and behaviour change during the first 1000 days of life. As of 7 December 2022, the ImpENSA Training Programme is now available to any interested healthcare practitioners in South Africa. The Programme consists of two e-learning modules to enhance knowledge on micronutrient nutrition and communication skills (open access). A third module is aimed at supporting behaviour change and is facilitated in-person or virtually (administrative fees apply).

You can earn 16 CEUs by completing the whole ImpENSA Training Programme.

Visit https://aanh.med.lmu.de/ for more information about the modules and to start the Training Programme.

ADSA is a proud partner in developing this training programme and bringing it to our members.

IS NOW AVAILABLE TO YOU!

WITH A DIETITIAN interview

JEAN BRAZENDALE, RD(SA)

3. Describe the earlier years of your practice.

1. What made you choose dietetics as a career?

I have always had an interest in food and nutrition and how the body is affected by diet and lifestyle changes. I used to drive my family crazy with all my food experiments when I was younger!

2. What would you have chosen as an alternative career?

I really didn’t have an alternative career as I knew what I wanted to study. My vocational guidance recommendation interestingly enough suggested a Business Science degree as the choice of careers best suited to my interests and aptitude. I think it would have combined so well with my Dietetics degree but would never have anticipated this when I chose my career so many years ago. I grew up in an entrepreneurial family and am privileged to have learnt what I did from my father who ran a few businesses.

I worked in private practice for 25 years mainly based at Kingsbury Hospital until 2020. I worked in the traditional way that we have been trained as a clinical dietitian until I started to get frustrated with patient outcomes and questioned why I was in private practice. I wasn’t sure why some patients did so well and others not. I probably didn’t realize it at this stage but this was the start of a completely new and exciting journey for me.

4. Describe your journey. What led to the change in your career path and new venture?

I believe I was an early adopter of nutrigenomics. Costs were very high initially as the demand was low and results required tricky dietary intervention. Hence, I started to look for supplements suitable for my patients. This became another full-time job in itself as where to even start was just as overwhelming for me as it is for patients. I realized I needed to upskill considerably, and it would require keeping stock of products as well. Keeping nutrition

supplements in stock soon became a serious pain point - from month end stock counts, to finding storage space, and the costs of expired stock and courier fees. Accessibility for patients to quality supplements across multiple brands needed to be my goal. At this time I met Deon, my business partner, and we founded VitaGene in 2017.

We launched VitaScript in 2020 as the first virtual dispensary for health and skincare practitioners in South Africa. I believe that one brand of supplements cannot give an individual patient everything they need and accessing multiple brands ensures the best supplement solution for each patient.

5. Who have been the most influential people that have guided you in your career path?

I have been privileged to meet a few extraordinary people in my journey. One of which many will remember is Joan Husskison who ran the UCT Dietetics department with passion and a drive to make it the best dietetics course in the country at the time I studied there.

Meeting both Yael Joffe and Danny Meyersfield, with their expertise in the field of nutrigenomics, has been crucial to where I am now. My partner in the business, Deon Swart, has given me the opportunity to see things differently and pushed me into upskilling in the IT world which has become an extraordinary adventure and challenge. To you all I am truly grateful.

6.

Where to from here?

I have many wonderful ideas and projects on the go and will continue to look for exciting products and tools that will add value to the lives of both practitioners and patients. My mission in life is to promote health and longevity by providing access to the highest quality health and skincare products in South Africa. I believe in this way I am giving back to the community by enabling efficient and accurate supplementation while improving nutritional education for each individual.

My mission in life is to promote health and longevity by providing access to the highest quality health and skincare products in South Africa ”. - Jean Brazendale RD (SA)

If you have an interesting career story or community service experience you’d like to share, please contact We’d love to hear about your journey. adsacomms@gmail.com

NUTRITION CONGRESS 18-20 APRIL 2023

The Nutrition Congress will be held in-person in Somerset-West 18 - 20 April 2023. You can find more information on the congress website.

Stay in touch with ADSA and help us spread the word to promote optimal nutrition for all South Africans

PPD Alta Kloppers adsappdqueries@gmail.com

CPD Philna Neethling cpd.adsa@gmail.com

REPRESENTATION

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Retha Harmse adsapublicrelations@gmail.com

SPONSORSHIP

Janetta Harbron adsasponsorship@gmail.com

Michelle Zietsman adsarepresentation@gmail.com www.adsa.org.za

does not constitute any form of endorsement by ADSA. Sharing of information from sponsors and advertisers should not be construed as favouring one company over another. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of ADSA. ADSA will not be held liable by any company or their affiliates for any errors, omissions or damages arising from any information shared.