Knapp Auxiliary Diabetes Food Chart Community Outreach Program Wins 2010 AHA HAVE Award

The Knapp Medical Center Auxiliary has received national recognition through the American Hospital Association (AHA) for their long running Food Chart Community Outreach Program.

Out of 125 entries, the Knapp Auxiliary was one of four receiving the prestigious AHA Hospital Award for Volunteer Excellence (HAVE) Award. Auxiliary Past President, Bruce Lime accepted the award in Washington DC on behalf of the Auxiliary. Also on hand were Knapp Auxiliary President Paula Sauceda, Knapp President/CEO James A. Summersett III and Lynn Carter, Knapp Guest and Volunteer Services Director.

The project began 14 years ago with a $10,000 grant to the Knapp Nutrition Services Department to create Diabetes and Renal Food Charts. In collaboration with the hospital’s Public Relations Department, two user-friendly, bilingual, four-color food charts were developed.

This effective teaching tool was appealing to patients and helped them learn how to understand food choices to better manage and regulate their disease. Once the charts were developed, the Knapp dietitians suggested that the charts be made available for sale to area facilities. The Auxiliary turned the project into a community outreach project and took on the responsibility of production, marketing, sales and distribution, which Lime has headed since inception.

After receiving an overwhelming response locally, the Auxiliary agreed to expand the project to include the entire state of Texas. In addition, they began to advertise the availability of the charts in national dietitian publications. Orders from hospitals and clinics lead the way, but diabetes educators have requested them for prison populations, for use on Indian reservations, and for indigent Eskimos in Alaska. S

ince 1997 over 70,000 charts have been sold in 34 states. While fund raising was not the original goal of the project, the Auxiliary has generated enough money to recoup the initial $10,000 grant and offset all additional printings.

This project has also received the 1998 Texas Association of Hospital Volunteers Past President’s Award and the 2000 American Society of Directors of Volunteer Service’s Extraordinary Program Award.

PHOTO CAPTION: Lynn Carter, Volunteer Services Director; Bruce Lime, past Auxiliary President; and Paula Sauceda, current Auxiliary President, represented the Knapp Medical Center Auxiliary at the American Hospital Association meeting in Washington, DC to receive the prestigious AHA Hospital Award for Volunteer Excellence (HAVE). With 125 entries, the Knapp Auxiliary was one of four so honored.