CENTENNIAL STORIES:
Nutrition programming in western Nebraska
 

One of the resources used in UNL nutrition and wellness programming is the federal government’s mypyramid.gov web site, which has health recommendations for eating and activity.

By Dr. Linda Boeckner, Former Nutrition Specialist,
Now Director of Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Like some other areas of specialization, work in human nutrition research and extension education has become a more recent component of the work done at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center. Dr. Linda Boeckner arrived as the first nutrition specialist and Home Economics Program Coordinator for the Panhandle District in January 1987.

In the initial years program responsibilities were divided, with three-fourths of the effort going toward developing community nutrition education and wellness programs for the Panhandle District and statewide, and one-fourth of effort working with county-based extension educators to coordinate the delivery of family-based programming in the District.

Projects included development and educational delivery of curricula focused on weight wellness, nutrition, fitness, and youth, Eating Today for a Healthier Tomorrow, and ABCs for Good Health delivered to participants in the Every Woman Matters Program, a statewide cervical and breast cancer screening program.

ollaborations were formed with local community health coalitions and eventually relationships were formed with the Panhandle Partnership for Health and Human Services.

As program coordinator, Boeckner initiated child care and early childhood education conferences in the Panhandle District as a way of building educational expertise of child care providers and enhancing professionalism within child care. Exploring multiple ways to deliver educational materials was integral to nutrition program development. Some of the delivery methods explored included interactive website programs, asynchronous website learning, podcasting, webinars as well as serial classroom education and educational conferences. Master Preserver classes to train volunteers on food preservation were coordinated and offered in the early years.

In the late 1990s the program coordinator responsibilities of the position were dropped as the statewide extension system moved more toward statewide action teams. Boeckner was a co-leader of a statewide action team focused on preventive health and wellness education which later transitioned to nutrition, health and food safety.

In 2001, the position was changed from 100 percent Extension focus to also include 25 percent responsibility for nutrition research. Boeckner joined a multi-state research team consisting of faculty from 10 other states to conduct research in nutrition behavior change among young adults who received tailored nutrition messages. This work had implications for the delivery of nutrition education within extension systems and the factors that drive decision making when nutritional changes are advised. Another research focus was a collaborative effort on a University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing project to reach post-menopausal women with tailored educational messages to help them make healthful lifestyle changes in eating and physical activity behaviors. Both projects are on-going to the present time.

Dr. Lisa Franzen-Castle joined the UNL Panhandle Research and Extension Center faculty in September 2009 as the nutrition specialist, and is continuing the statewide and district work in nutrition education program development and delivery. Her work in adaptation and acceptance of nutritional behaviors among new immigrant populations will be useful in a state that has a growing number of new immigrants and which is changing the face of Nebraska clientele.