Month: November 2022

Lunch Packing Tips with Rachel Williams

Lunch Packing Tips with Rachel Williams

When it comes to packing nutritious lunches for your school-aged child or teenager, there are a few simple rules that you can follow to make sure your kiddo is getting a satisfying meal, and that all their nutrient needs are being met each day! 

Read along for some tips and tricks to packing healthy – but tasty –  school lunches! 

Rachel Williams, BCHA’s Nutritionist

Focus on providing a variety of foods: 

The ideal lunch box contains one fruit, two veggies, one protein, and one grain. However, it is important to remember that sometimes it takes a few tries to like something new. Children are more likely to be “picky” eaters when they are young. Experimenting with different types of dishes and preparations of food can make a huge difference, have fun with it! 

Involve kids in choosing and preparing lunches: 

Let your children choose what they prefer among a few nutritious options, and try out age-appropriate food preparation activities. Take them to the store with you, and allow them to pick out a new vegetable or fruit, with the agreement that they will try it.

Apply the Plate Method to the lunch box: 

You might be asking, “What is the Plate Method?” It’s an easy solution to incorporating nutritious produce into lunches! Here’s how to apply it to your lunch prep:

Half of the plate is made up of colorful fruits and vegetables, a quarter of the plate consists of protein foods, and another quarter of the plate consists of whole grains. Be sure to include small servings of healthy fats (like nuts) and fun foods on the side.

Some assembly required: 

While a thermos of soup might be nourishing, finger foods are more fun for children! Try your hand at assembling a nutritious DIY lunch kit, using tupperware with compartments for finger food. This could include whole grain crackers, hummus, cucumber slices, carrot coins, pickled beet rounds, and other stackable veggies! 

Dippers are a fun option for little ones, too! Salad dressing, hummus, mustard, bean dip, veggie dip, applesauce and yogurt all make great dips. Apple slices, celery stalks, and whole grain bread sticks are each tasty dippers, and all pair well with peanut butter.

A bento box or a lunch box with built-in compartments are perfect for assembling meals with variety. These options keep food in place without the need for multiple plastic bags and containers. Plus, this method of lunch packing is a great way to implement sustainability into your family’s everyday routine! 

Themes can make a lunch more fun to pack and eat:

There are countless themes that you could follow and build a lunch around. Color, shape, place, holiday, or event, are all fun themes for school-aged children! For example, an Italian themed lunch could include whole grain bowtie pasta, white beans, cherry tomatoes and green beans with pesto or Italian salad dressing, plus a side of grapes and an almond cookie. A red foods lunch could feature strawberries, red pepper slices, beets, red kidney bean and red quinoa salad.

Older kids may prefer more composed options like all-in-one bowls, salads, sandwiches and soups.

Homemade snacks and treats can be healthy and economical.

Prepare them in advance and have them ready to go for daily lunch packing. Whole grain, low sugar mini muffins and cereal bars freeze well; salads and sandwich components can keep in the refrigerator for a few days; trail mix or snack mix can keep for a month or more if stored properly. 

Don’t forget water! 

Let your child choose a favorite water bottle or to decorate one with stickers, etc. Add juice ice cubes, orange slices, frozen mango, etc. to add some flavor if desired.

Nutrition counseling is a free service to all Barbour Community Health Association patients. If you and your loved ones would like additional recipes and more tips on nutrition, keep looking out for our nutrition blogs and social media posts or schedule an appointment with our Nutritionist, Rachel Williams. 



Accountable Care Organization Q&A with Amy Chenoweth, LPN

Accountable Care Organization Q&A with Amy Chenoweth, LPN

The Accountable Care Organization (ACO) team plays a vital role to Barbour Community Health Association from coordinated patient care to providing education to the staff that works within BCHA’s organization to help best treat and assist our patients. The team promotes integrated and higher quality care and seeks alternatives to fee-for-service for BCHA patients.

We chatted with Amy Chenoweth, LPN, Team Lead Coordinator for BCHA’s Accountable Care Organization about the value that this team brings not only to BCHA but the Barbour County community.

Q: How long has the ACO team been a part of BCHA?

A: We have been providing these services for a while, but within the last year we noticed these services overlapped and decided to bring this team together for a more integrative approach with our services such as Accountable / Quality Care, Follow up ED calls, Advance Directive Care, Transitional Care Management and Annual Wellness Visits.

Q: What services does this team offer?

A: Our team provides many services. The Annual Wellness Visit (sometimes referred to as a Medicare Wellness Visit) offers one free visit a year with your primary care physician. During this visit, we make sure your chart is completely updated and make sure all necessary screenings are done. These visits are for anyone with Medicare Part A and B coverage. The nurses on our team who conduct these visits are trained by Aledade, an organization that helps us pull all the data together for these visits.

Another service is Transitional Care Management. After a patient spends time in the hospital, our nurses contact them to help make sure they have all their orders in place and arrange a hospital follow up with their PCP. After a visit to the hospital, it can be difficult for patients to locate oxygen, canes, or anything else they might need and that’s where our Transitional Care Nurses come into play. They work as a liaison between the hospital, patient, and the patient’s PCP to make the transition back to home and regular appointments easier.

Finally, we offer Accountable/Quality Care Management, which is where one of the nurses on our team will check in with patients that are due for screenings or tests and help educate them on the importance of this screening. They answer questions regarding procedures, medication, diet, and much more. This program is designed to help capture past due screenings to prevent health problems before they occur. We want to assist patients to live a healthy lifestyle and reach their health goals!

Q: What kind of patients, typically, are utilizing these kinds of services?

A: The patients who typically use or are eligible for these services have Medicare Insurance and are usually 65 and above.

Q: What kind of projects and tasks do you do to keep the team running smoothly?

A: Our team gets together monthly for meetings. Communication is a key for our team so being able to get together and check in on how things are working with everyone is important and if there are any problems or concerns that need to be discussed. I have a great team that I trust, so it’s not hard to keep it running smoothly!

Q: Who makes up the ACO team?

A: Erica Weese, RN, and Chelsea Reed, LPN, our Accountable Care/Quality Nurses at our Belington Medical Clinic and Myers Clinic, they handle the emergency department follow-up calls, Advance Directives Care, and ordering screenings and tests for Quality care of patients. Brandy Cunnigham, LPN works as our Transitional Care Nurse and helps with Annual Wellness Visits at Myers Clinic. Jamie Carpenter, LPN handles our Annual Wellness Visits at Myers. At Belington Medical Clinic, Ashley Spencer, LPN, works as our Transitional Care Nurse and helps with Annual Wellness Visits. And I am the Team Lead Coordinator of the ACO Team and work with the Annual Wellness Visits.

Q: What are probably the biggest parts of this whole team that you would like the community to know about?

A: An ACO is a group of medical professionals that’s providing high-quality care. Our goal is to make sure that patients are getting the right care at the right time, avoiding duplication of services, preventing medical errors, making sure patients’ medical histories, medication and allergies are up to date, as well as vaccinations and screenings. It’s more of a preventative care. We want to prevent illnesses and problems before they begin, and that’s the importance of these screenings.

If you or a loved one is eligible for any of these ACO services, give our talented team of experts a call at either our Belington Medical Clinic or Myers Clinic! They are here to help, educate and guide you into the right direction.