Vermont Dietetic Association

Knowledge-based Strategic Governance

The House of Delegates (HOD), as the voice of members, governs the profession and develops policy on major professional issues.

The HOD is a body of 100 member leaders, including the Speaker, that govern the profession of dietetics. The process by which the House of Delegates is governed is known as Knowledge-based Strategic Governance (KBSG).

Delegate Report---Summary of Communications from ADA
March 3, 2009
Sue Johansen, RD, VDA Delegate

Activities of the House of Delegates … The House of Delegates (HOD) has had a series of trainings conducted via conference calls to prepare for the Spring House of Delegates meeting which will be held electronically on May 2nd and 3rd. 

The Mega Issues which will be discussed are:

• Prevention of Childhood Obesity: a discussion about how this trend/epidemic can effectively be reversed  
• House Leadership Team (HLT) Proposal for Incorporating an Inclusive Practice Perspective in the HOD: a recommendation for incorporation of DPG delegates within the ADA House of Delegates. 

These DPG Delegates will replace the Professional Issues Delegates by June 1, 2012..
Please review the HOD Fact Sheets for each of these issues, respond to the questions in the “What the HOD Needs from You” paragraph, and send your answers to Sue Johansen before Saturday, April 25th. 

The following links provide detailed background information about each topic, a summary of each topic, and questions which need to be answered in the discussion.  You can send your thoughts and answers to these questions to Sue gmnajoha@vtlink.net or post feedback on the HOD Community of Interest without contacting Sue Johansen directly.

• Prevention of Childhood Obesity (pdf):  hod-childhoodobesity@eatright.communityzero.com
• HLT Proposal for Incorporating an Inclusive Practice Perspective (pdf) in the House of Delegates: hod-hltproposal@eatright.communityzero.com
  

HOD Spring Meeting Dialogue Sessions

• The HOD Dialogue Session on Prevention of Childhood Obesity will be conducted on Saturday, May 2, 10:00 am – 2:35 pm (CT).
• The HOD Dialogue Session on the HLT Proposal for Incorporating an Inclusive Practice Perspective in the House of Delegates will be conducted on Sunday, May 3, 12:00 pm – 2:05 pm (CT).
  

VDA Delegate Report---Summary of Communications from ADA
Submitted by Sue Johansen RD - January 13, 2009

Activities of the House of Delegates … The House of Delegates conducted its fall meeting in October 2008 in Chicago. Based on the extensive discussions during the meeting, delegates voted on two motions.

• Nutrition Informatics: The House of Delegates will refine and prioritize the ideas and strategies identified during the dialogue session during January. The results of these additional steps will be shared with all ADA organizational units in early 2009. ADA members are requested to increase and/or enhance personal knowledge and application of nutrition informatics in all practice settings. 
• Nutritional Genomics: All ADA committees/task forces, Council on Future Practice, CADE and CDR are requested to evaluate the gaps identified by HOD and determine first steps for addressing them. Plans for addressing the gaps will be submitted to HOD by Fall 2009. The Speaker requests ADA members to develop personal goals for increasing knowledge and understanding of nutritional genomics in order to begin preparing for the future. 
• Also during the meeting, delegates identified future mega issues for future discussions. The new mega issues list will be distributed in April 2009.

ADA Bylaws … In addition, the House of Delegates addressed two amendments to the ADA Bylaws electronically. The first amendment approved was the revised mission and vision statements for the Commission on Dietetic Registration. Also approved was an amendment to include Member Interest Groups. To see more specifics about the Fall HOD Meeting and ADA Bylaws amendments, please review Speaker Message #19 available at www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/governance_19288_ENU_HTML.htm.

Input Needed on Draft Revised Code of Ethics … The revised draft Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics is still available for member and credentialed practitioner input. The comment period to submit input on the draft revised Code of Ethics will end January 23. You can access the draft revised Code and the survey questions at www.surveymonkey.com/Practitioner. Please take the time to review and respond to this document — your input is critical. If you have any problems or questions related to the draft Code of Ethics or the survey, please contact the HOD Governance staff at hod@eatright.org.
We are pleased to provide you with a link to a short (8 minute) video produced during FNCE highlighting ADA members’ views on the current Code of Ethics for the Profession of Dietetics and the current revised draft.  The link to this video is www.eatright.org/ethics/video/ethicspromovideo.html .  Please share this information with your colleagues and other member, encouraging them to provide input to the draft revised Code of Ethics.  You can find additional information about the review process for this document at www.eatright.org/DraftCode .  We will accept member comments on the revised draft Code until January 23, 2009.