| SPRINGFIELD — Gloria Houston, DTR, a longtime Baystate Health employee, has received the 2006 Recognized Dietetic Technician of the Year Award from the Mass. Dietetic Association. This prestigious award, given each year to the most outstanding candidate in the state, recognizes the professional contributions of members of the American Dietetic Association.
Houston, a 36-year employee of Baystate Health, began her career at Baystate in 1969 as a member of the kitchen staff. “After learning every job in the kitchen and diet office, I decided to return to school in 1981 to become a dietetic technician,” she said.
She completed her associate’s degree in Dietetics in 1988 at Holyoke Community College and began working on the pediatric and adolescent floor, where she provided nutrition assessment and medical nutrition therapy. “I love this aspect of my job because I am helping youngsters and their families,” Houston said. “I also find that working with sick children can be a very humbling experience.”
Houston said she finds the field of nutrition extremely interesting, and appreciates that she is always learning something new. She is a member of the American Dietetic Association Pediatric Practice Group, the Dietetic Technician Practice Group, and the Food Allergy Network. Houston was also involved with the recent transition to CBORD, the new diet office computer system at Baystate Health’s Department of Food and Nutrition Services.
Active outside the hospital, Houston presented a poster session at the Mass. Dietetic Association Convention in 1998 and has published articles on healthy eating habits in the Baystate Health Connections employee newsletter.
She and her husband, Leon Houston, whom she met while working at Baystate, have been married for 28 years. The couple lives in Springfield.
“Gloria has been a wonderful asset to our Food and Nutrition Services staff at Baystate, where she makes a difference every day in the lives of our patients, and she is a wonderful representative of the dietetic profession,” said Mary Jane Rogalski, manager of Clinical Nutrition at Baystate Medical Center. |
