Dietitian Services
The dietitian at the Community Health Clinic is here to serve you! When diagnosed with a metabolic condition, you may need help planning meals, reading labels or deciding if a nutrition supplement is right for you. When you meet with the dietitian, you will receive guidance and ideas on how to make living with a metabolic disorder easier.
The CHC’s dietitian, Elaine, at an education event
The dietitian has access to recipes, meal planning ideas and specialty products to help make complicated diets more appealing. Finding ways to include vegetables in meals and snacks may be challenging for some families. Learning to cook with low protein baking mixes is intimidating at first. Let us help you find ways to keep foods and meal preparation fun!
The CHC also has access to several nutrition databases to evaluate the pros and cons of nutritional supplements. When dealing with a metabolic disorder, nutrition supplements may contain ingredients that interfere with the medical plan for a patient. A review of supplements can help put your mind at ease that you are providing your family member with the best treatment options.
Medical food and formula
Medical food and formula pantry at the CHC
The Community Health Clinic maintains a small medical food and formula pantry. Medical foods are generally very low in protein. They allow our patients on protein restricted diets to include a greater variety of items in their diet. Specialty products in the pantry may include baking mixes, meat substitutes, egg substitutes or low protein pasta. Our goal is to have popular items available at the lowest price possible. We order by the case to get the best price and share that discount with our patients.
We stock a few basic medical formulas for our patients. The medical formulas are a major source of nutrition for many of our patients. The formulas are designed to meet the needs for each metabolic condition by eliminating the specific amino acid they are unable to process. We try to have samples of a large variety of formulas on hand. These are used for newly diagnosed patients or for those who want to try a new type of formula. We work in close contact with the major formula manufacturers to get samples for anyone who wants to try a new product to better meet their dietary and nutrition needs.
The CHC keeps our food pantry stocked with medical formulas for patients with metabolic conditions.
As children get older, they may find the formula they have known and loved is no longer as convenient. Medical foods that come in a bar or packet to add to a bottle of water may better meet their needs when they reach school age. Adults with metabolic disorders may need to have lower calorie options for getting their daily medical protein. We can work with patients to find products that better fit their lifestyles.
For those who need assistance purchasing medical formula, there are several options. Formula companies have assistance programs that will work with insurance to get coverage . For those without insurance, there are programs to provide product at reduced prices based on family income. The Plain Church Group Ministry has a program for their members to assist with the cost of medical formula.
Contact the dietitian at the Community Health Clinic for assistance with accessing these products and programs.