i
Duke University
Medical Center
Intercom
VOL, 25, NO. 20
MAY 19, 1978
DURHAM, N.C.
Special touches at mealtime
help make stay more palatable
By John Becton
Very few youngsters can resist a pizza.
But for those on low sodium diets,
resisting pizza and other such delights is
necessary.
Yet the picture may not remain so
bleak, because some people in dietary
services are working on a low sodium
pizza to go along with similarly modified
hamburgers and salt-free potato chips.
These treats are soon to be added to
other special touches which have become
a regular part of mealtime and snack time
on Matas and Howland wards.
"We try to make the patient's stay as
pleasant as possible," pediatric dietitian
Julie Thurlow said.
Start with food
They start by making the food pleasant,
as well as nutritious.
There is "appropriate food for
appropriate ages," Thurlow said, and
most youngsters are offered a selection of
foods at each meal. All those on regular
diets get a choice as do many on modified
diets. Eventually everyone will have a
choice.
"We're developing modified menus
with pediatric emphasis," Thurlow said.
"Many times children won't eat well on
a modified diet, so we try to provide a
menu which will pick up their appetites
and yet go along with their diets."
Snacks important
Snacks have become a bigger part of the
pediatric dietary program.
Snacks were available in the past if a
child requested something, but now
pediatric diet writer Nevelyn Pierce
delivers them to each room every
afternoon around 3 o'clock.
And, like mealtimes, a selection is
offered.
"Fresh fruit, fruit juice, crackers and
cheese are going the best," Thurlow said.
"Snacks are an important part of
children's needs. Their stomachs are too
small for large meals, so they need smaller
amounts of food more often than an
adult," she said. "But snacks should
contribute to nutrition, as well as just
filhng them up."
Extra surprises
Lunch trays often include extra
surprises, like shamrock decorations on
St. Patrick's Day or balloons on the first
day of spring.
Sometimes there's a game or puzzle to
help fill some of the less entertaining
moments and provide a simple lesson in
nutrition as well.
"This is an ideal time to offer nutrition
iConliitHi'tl on pujic ,?/
DELICIOUS AND NUTR/T)OUS—Pediatric dietitian Julie Thurlow pinns meals designed to make a
young patient's stay as pleasant as possible. IPholo hy /im Wallacel
Shifting emphasis in veteran care projected
Veterans Administration statistics
project a significant shifting of the
veteran population into the middle and
later years of life, a specialist on problems
of older Americans noted here yesterday.
As a result, the \'A anticipates being
responsible for a larger segment of the
population by the turn of the century.
Those observations were made by Dr.
Ewald W. Busse, who has been appointed
by the Administrator of Veterans Affairs
to the VA's Special Medical Advisory
Group (SMAG).
Busse established Duke's Center for
k
the Study of Aging and Human
Development and was its director from
1957-70. He currently is associate
provost and dean of medical and allied
health education.
A psychiatrist who has done extensive
research in aging and the care of the
elderly, Busse said in an interview that his
primary responsibility as a member of
SMAG will be to relate to those VA
offices concerned with the aging veteran.
Busse said the VA also anticipates that
it will be shifting from an emphasis on
acute diseases and treatment to that of
chronic disease and prolonged disability.
"In the planning for veterans, the
assumption is made that there are at least
three stages of life after the age of 65," he
explained. "During the first 10 years,
most individuals show little age change,
and normal activities continue unless
there is a specific disabling disease.
"Between 75 and 85, most persons
continue normal activities, but many,
even without overt disease, begin to show
the effects of age. After 85, there are few
who can maintain full normal activity
without some assistance."
Busse said the current average age of all
veterans is approximately 46 years, and
by 19Q0 this figure will reach 51.1 years.
There are 130,000 veterans presently
over the age of 85, he added, and by 2010
there will be a million in this age group.
The projections, Busse pointed out, are
based on the assumption that there will
not be a major war and an Influx of new
veterans.
SMAG, mandated by Congress in l‘>46,
is composed of physicians, dentists,
nurses and allied health professionals. It
formulates policies which respond to the
specific needs of veterans and are aimed
at providing high-quality of care for
them.
Busse will serve a four-year term.
'THREE-TRACKER —
Steve Kimbrough lost a
leg in an accident a few
years ago, but that
hasn't kept him out of
competitive skiing.
Here he participates in
the National Handi
capped Ski Champion
ships held this winter
in Colorado.
Skiing on one leg 'no big deal'
By Earl Wolslagel
Duke News Service
If you didn't know that Steve
Kimbrough, a rising junior undergradu
ate at Duke, was minus his left leg, you'd
never guess he is a "handicapped"
individual.
Steve is a championship class skier, and
while the approaching summer has long
since melted any trace of snow in
Durham, it isn't about to do the same to
the young man's vivid recollection of the
National Handicapped Ski Champion
ships which took place earlier this year in
Winter Park, Colo. Steve placed Hth in
the downhill finals and eighth in the
slalom.
Hurtling down the slopes at speeds of
up to 50 miles an hour, young Kimbrough
said the thought had crossed his mind
that the loss of his leg in an accident in
Germany six years ago was really "no big
deal."
"It was just one of those things that
happen to people, and in my case it has
made me more serious about life," said
the trim, sturdy youth.
"Spectators used to come to watch
events for the handicapped just to see a
freak show," Kimbrough said. "Now they
are there because they like to watch ski
racing, to be thrilled by disadvantaged
athletes who pit their lesser physical skills
against the dangers of the hill."
Kimbrough himself is thrilled by
(Continued on page 4)