NOSM Celebrates Graduates of the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program

On Friday, August 21, 2009, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) celebrated the graduation of the second class of the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program (NODIP). A videoconferenced graduation celebration linked the four principal community sites – Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, and Thunder Bay.

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean, congratulated the interns at the graduation earlier today. “The Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program’s graduation marks the end of an exciting year of milestones at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. The success of the program is spectacular. I would like to congratulate the interns on their outstanding achievements, and wish them success as they begin their careers as dietitians,” said Dr. Strasser. “I would like to thank Denise Raftis, Program Manager for the Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program for her steadfast commitment, as well as the preceptors, partners, and communities that have supported the program for their generosity and dedication.”

With placements across Northern Ontario in rural, Aboriginal, and Francophone communities, and the four principal community sites, ten dietetic interns worked with, and learned from, preceptors in hospitals, public health units, long-term care facilities, and clinics. The following communities welcomed NOSM’s dietetic interns this year: Kenora, Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Fort Frances, Atikokan, Marathon, Sturgeon Falls, Garden Village, North Bay, Penetanguishine, and Little Current. Graduates now have an appreciation for the unique health-care needs of Northern Ontario, as well as the cultural diversity of the people who call it home. Ninety percent of this year’s graduating class will begin working in Northern Ontario communities.

The Northern Ontario Dietetic Internship Program offers diverse and distributed experiences in the provision of nutrition care across the health-care continuum. The next class of dietetic interns are scheduled to begin their training on September 14, 2009, with the class size increasing from ten to twelve. As with all of the School’s educational programs, NODIP was established with a social accountability mandate, of working towards improving the health of people and communities in Northern Ontario.