Kassi Swallow is a clinical dietitian at Southbridge-based Harrington HealthCare.
Q: What is the biggest part of your job?
A: The majority of my time is spent providing outpatient nutrition counseling. The counseling consists of meeting with patients one on one to provide extensive education, set goals, and monitor and adjust those goals as needed.
Q: Why is your job important?
A: People do not have control over some factors that lead to being overweight or obese, such as genetics or age. Diet is one risk factor (that) is modifiable however, and that’s why I believe my job is so important. Consistently following a healthy diet is one of the most important things a person can do to sustain or improve their health.
Q: What is your biggest challenge?
A: Attempting to change lifelong behaviors or habits. The education portion is generally easy, but when it comes to behavior modification and motivating clients, it takes more work and creativity.
Q: What’s the best part of your job?
A: The best part of my job, by far, is seeing clients make progress. Not only seeing the number on the scale (go down) or their lab results (improve), but seeing how much better they feel, physically and mentally, because of the positive changes they’ve made.
This interview was conducted and edited for length by Emily Micucci
