Significant Life Chapters
This year in the Cal Poly Dietetic Internship (DI) will be a chapter in my life that I will never forget. In my experience, the one thing that I can expect in life is change. Nothing in life is stagnant, anything I put energy into will tend to grow while over time I will lose ground in the areas I ignore. The different rotations require considerable effort, but provide amazing learning opportunities and professional growth. The opportunities would not be possible without our preceptors who are fully employed, but selflessly take time out of busy work schedules to mentor and provide enhanced learning experiences to interns as we prepare to become RDs.
Dayna Ravalin, RD, CDE is a Master Food Preserver Program Coordinator and was my preceptor during a community rotation at University of California Cooperative Extension. She is involved in a multitude of projects including teaching, providing technical information, coordinating volunteers, and public outreach. Dayna has had the same employer, the County of San Luis Obispo (SLO), for over 33 years. Having the same employer for more than three decades may lead you to assume her career has followed a predictable progression; however, the arc of Dayna’s career path is dynamic and multifaceted.
Newly married and her husband living in SLO to finish his Cal Poly degree, Dayna completed her DI in LA County. Some rotations were in exceedingly unsafe neighborhoods where she was given a short amount of time to assist individuals who were mainly interested in receiving their benefits, not improving their health. During the DI, Dayna concluded that the last thing she wanted to do was counseling. In another rotation at a large hospital she enjoyed working in the ICU and burn unit where patient needs are frequently changing, and she enjoyed completing calculations for EN and TPN and making recommendations. Based on these experiences, you may not have expected her first position as a RD to be with WIC in SLO county working both in primary care and obstetrics.
Dayna recommends to all dietetic interns, “Don’t base your lifetime goal on what you like during your internship. When you close doors, you lose opportunities. Saying ‘yes’ provides an opportunity to confirm whether this actually is what I want, or concluding I really don’t want to do this.”
Dayna found it strenuous to work for WIC because she had to see a high number of clients each day. The difference from her DI experience was that she had the opportunity to attend trainings provided by the county and gained valuable experience over time which helped her improve her ability to efficiently provide client education. Dayna told me that with greater experience, “you will be able to hone your skills so that you can focus on 1-2 important points with a client and effectively help them in a short time.”
As her career progressed, Dayna found in each job that there were some negative aspects, however, that overall the positive aspects outweighed the downsides. She found it especially rewarding to counsel women with Gestational Diabetes who incorporated healthier eating patterns and saw the tangible benefits of improved blood sugar. Rather than an attitude of, “I just want my voucher,” many moms were engaged and motivated by the goal of having a healthy baby.
Throughout Dayna’s career she has made adjustments from supervising staff within 3 years of becoming an RD, to deciding to work part-time for part of her career so she could be home more for her son. In addition to diabetes counseling, she saw pediatric patients with referrals for helping children with failure to thrive or obesity and has worked on programs for employee wellness, staff development, and training.
Transitioning a few years ago from WIC to becoming a Master Food Preserver Program Coordinator was another new chapter in her life. I am so grateful to have had the experience of working with Dayna in this setting. During one project I created a healthy recipe. As a mom, I am accustomed to cooking in large quantities to feed my family and adjust ingredients to our taste preferences. Dayna helped me adapt the recipe to appeal to a wider audience by making it more universal. She also helped me clarify the instructions so someone trying the recipe for the first time would not misinterpret. Whether I was working on a project or presentation, Dayna provided a combination of constructive feedback and wise advice which really enhanced the final product. Lastly, on a personal level, Dayna truly cares. She helped me to see that over the long haul of this year I need to pace myself because the DI year is challenging, but one I will never forget.
Currently Dayna’s two adult children are building their own professional careers and Dayna is excited to have recently started planning her next life chapter which will be retirement. I have no doubt that when she is ready, she will launch into this new chapter with all of the vitality that she has had in her career as a RD.