Dietitians honored at annual convention

Four of five awards granted at the Washington State Dietetic Association convention this week will go to professionals from Spokane, organizers said.

Michelle Weinbender will receive the award for Outstanding Dietitian of the Year, the highest honor granted by the group. Weinbender is a clinical dietitian at Sacred Heart Medical Center who specializes in medical nutrition therapy for patients with heart and kidney disease. She also works with dietetic interns from the University of Idaho.

Her award recognizes notable leadership, ability and service.

Lisa Grentz will receive one of three Recognized Dietitian of the Year awards. Grentz is a nutrition support dietitian for LifeCare Solutions who provides support to adults who use intravenous nutrition or feeding tubes. She is a former clinical dietitian at Deaconess Medical Center working in the neonatal intensive care unit and with high-risk pregnant women.

Stacy Lueck will receive the Emerging Dietetic Leader award. Lueck is a nutrition support dietitian at LifeCare Solutions helping patients fed through feeding tubes at home.

Janet Gilliam will receive the WDSA Community Practice Award for Excellence. Gilliam is a public health nutritionist with the children with special health care needs program at the Spokane Regional Health District.

For more information, visit www.nutritionwsda.org.

Anti-smoking ads target Washington youth

Anti-smoking television ads produced through the award-winning Truth campaign of the American Legacy Foundation will air in Washington cities, including Spokane, through fall.

The ads are part of a $3.6 million matching grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will allow the agency to target young smokers in Washington, where nearly 19.7 percent of high school seniors smoke.

Two ads – titled “Body Bag” and “1,200” will run through mid-September in markets in Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma, and Yakima, Pasco, Kennewick and Richland. Aired nationally in 2000 and 2003, the ads have been among the most effective anti-smoking spots produced by the agency, research showed. A report published in the March 2005 edition of the American Journal of Public Health credited the campaign with a 22 percent decline in youth smoking during its first two years.

Advertising also will increase in 17 additional states and 38 cities across the country, officials said in a statement.