Northwest Arkansas's growth is surpassing Little Rock and central Arkansas, and registered dietitians are key people in the mix. I interviewed Katie Mones, RD, LD, Clinical Nutrition Manager at Northwest Medical Center, to get her views on everything from RD's pay to what she hopes her legacy will be.

Northwest Arkansas has many different settings for RD's to work, including Northwest Medical Center: Willow Creek, Springdale, Bentonville, Washington Regional medical center, and St. Mary's, to name some of the major facilities.

So who is Katie Mones and why is she working in that area?

Katie and her husband Greg live in Fayetteville, with two energetic weimaraners. "I met my husband here and we loved the area because of the Razorbacks and all the fun outdoor activities available, so we came back to live here after my internship," Katie states.

Katie was the Arkansas Recognized Young Dietitian of the year in 2003-2004 in her third year of being a clinical dietitian at Northwest Medical Center. She did her undergraduate work at the U of A in Fayetteville and completed her internship at UAMS under Polly Carroll. Currently she covers the SCIU, Post-op, oncology, and part of rehab. She was just promoted to Clinical Nutrition Manager last month.

Her passion is making a difference in peoples lives, encouraging healthy living by eating right and exercising. Looking ahead professionally five years, Katie would like to continue her work in achieving an additional certification in nutrition support and/or oncology.

I asked her to name one thing she loves about being an RD and one thing she hates.

A: It really makes me feel good when I make a difference in people's lives, whether it's helping someone through chemotherapy or healing from surgery.

One frustrating thing is that most of our services are not covered by insurance. It's frustrating when patients cannot pay for our services on an outpatient basis unless they
have Diabetes or Kidney disease.

I asked if she believed we were getting paid what we're worth.

A: No, I don't think so. We are the experts in nutrition. We have a very good
education program that we go through. But there is no law stating that
only dietitians can give nutrition education, therefore many other healthcare
providers give nutrition education that should be handled by a
registered dietitian.

And her motto to live by?
A: What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone, but what is woven into the lives of others.