Francie Astrom

Francie continues to impress me. Although I have worked with her for two years, I feel that I learned so much more today about her, her work, Well Works, etc.

Francie Astrom is the dietitian in Well Works which is the Ohio University Wellness Program). It came about have the merging of two different programs some years ago. Now its located in Grover and is open to a variety of people including: OU faculty and dependents, retirees and dependents, community members, corporate members, full time grad students and medical students, and rarely some undergraduate students. The purpose of Well Works is to provide a wide variety of programming that acts to promote optimal wellness and improve health status of the OU community. The types of services that are provided are: fitness center, massage, personal training, different types of screenings, worksite wellness, and wellness coaching. When looking at developing programs, there are many areas that Well Works assesses such as: needs of the OU community, special requests of individual departments and programs, needs of corporate members, and perceived needs of the university as a whole. The funding of Well Works is supported by many areas. It is supported partially by the Ohio University Wellness funds. Then the rest if supported by memberships and fees and services. Francie in particular has her salary split between the OU fund and money brought in by the program.

For the nutrition aspect, there are many things that Francie does. First and foremost, it is the focus at Well Works that an RD is the integral to success in the wellness program, more specifically, the nutrition part of it. The purpose of nutrition programming is to provide up to date nutrition information, review and interpret current literature on nutrition, and the RD is to act as a change agent and be a resource to Well Works staff and members. There are variety of programs that go on such as nutrition counseling and education, drop-ins, computerized dietary analysis, disordered eating, talks to communities and departments, sports nutrition talks to teams, Health Ohio, risk reduction program, etc. The list goes on and on. As a volunteer of Francie's, I suggest every dietetic student to join her. It is a once in a lifetime experience! :)