Kaitlin Gill ’15 stays busy with yearlong internship
If a Messiah grad works as a busy intern providing clinical and patient care at a major medical center, you might suppose she is a doctor or nurse. You would be wrong. Counseling patients and completing nutrition screenings are just a few of the duties of a registered dietitian (R.D.).
“I like the idea of using food to help people,” said Kaitlin Gill ’15, a nutrition science graduate.
In August, Gill began a yearlong dietetic internship at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., and Geisinger Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., taking her one step closer to becoming an R.D. A Selinsgrove High School grad, she wanted an internship close to home, which she found through a national match system.
For those looking for opportunities close to campus, the Messiah College dietetic internship launched this fall. The program offers dietetic interns practical experience, partnering with Women, Infant and Children (WIC), Central PA Food Bank, Mechanicsburg School District and long-term care facilities.
“We are excited to be in the first year,” said Cheryl Beiling ’98, the dietetic internship director at Messiah. “The internship emphasizes both serving individuals with limited access to food needed for a healthy life and servant leadership.”
Gill says Messiah prepared her well for the internship. She took classes in organic chemistry and medical nutrition therapy while also working as a resident assistant—an experience that took her out of her comfort zone
“[As an R.A.,] you’re in charge of all of your residents,” she said. “You have to accept that maybe they don’t want to be your friend. The mentorship you get from residence directors that’s built into the R.A. program helped me develop as a student and a person.”
For now, she rotates among the oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, pediatric, nutrition support and bariatric departments of the medical centers.
“I spend one to two weeks in different departments, so I’m constantly the new person,” she said.
Once she passes the R.D. exam, Gill says she wants a career that combines nutrition with government policy. “We can lobby politicians to help with food stamp programs,” she said. “I’d like to give back to the community, through a hospital or community setting.”
— Anna Seip