Episode 105: Dignified Cancer Care, a Today’s Dietitian Spring Symposium Feature
About the Podcast
It’s challenging to know how to rebuild mentally and physically during and after cancer. With over 20 years of experience in this realm, Shayna Komar knows exactly how to help her patients through this process. She is a dietitian at the Thomas F. Chapman Cancer Wellness Center at Piedmont Hospital and provides individual nutrition counseling, cooking classes and group lectures for cancer patients and caregivers.
About Shayna Komar
Shayna Komar is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian based in Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her undergraduate degree in Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise at Virginia Tech and her dietetic internship at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2002, Shayna has been contracting with oncology practices in Atlanta, GA. In 2006, she helped create and start the nutrition department of the Thomas F. Chapman Cancer Wellness Center at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA. She currently still works there and provides individual nutrition counseling, cooking classes and group lectures for cancer patients and caregivers. She was the proud recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Dietitian of the Year Award from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In 2019, Shayna was one of the “Top 10 Dietitians of the Year” from Today’s Dietitian. She is on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic Speakers' Bureau for Oncology Dietitians and speaks all over the country. Shayna has been featured as a nutrition expert on Fox News Atlanta, CNN Accent Health, WSBTV Radio, and most recently, 11Alive Atlanta and Company. She writes weekly with her colleague, Chef Nancy Waldeck, on their blog. She is also an avid fitness enthusiast who has been teaching group fitness classes for 20 years. She stays busy at home with her husband and three sons.
Discussion Takeaways
- Shayna helped build and create the Piedmont Thomas F. Chapman Family Cancer Wellness Center. The center serves cancer patients from across the nation for free, virtually or in-person.
- At her facility, they take an integrative, person-centered approach to cancer treatment.
- Shayna and her coworker, Joel Hardwick, an exercise physiologist specializing in cancer care, are presenting at Today’s Dietitian Spring Symposium. Their presentation is called, “The Continuum of Care for the Cancer Patient: How to ‘Prescribe’ Nutrition and Exercise,” and it will be occurring on Sunday on May 22 at 3:45 PM (ET). Shayna will cover the standard of care and medical nutrition therapy recommendations for cancer survivors, and Joel will share the exercise component.
- How do we create wellness outside the hospital walls? After cancer treatments and doctor’s appointments, there is usually a gap where patients have to figure out how to get back to their new normal. This is where Shayna’s team jumps in with free community-based nutrition education. There is an important component of connecting the medical arena to the community.
- Caregiver inclusion during appointments is so important. So often, caregivers take on responsibility of feeding those who are sick.
- Some of the best food gifting ideas for to those going through cancer treatment include:
- Making a comforting soup may sooth the stomach and mouth sores of cancer patients.
- Splitting up a meal into small containers, allows people to freeze it for later. Appetites often fluctuate when going through treatment.
- When providing fruits and vegetables, make sure they’re incredibly clean. Cancer patients' immune systems put them at higher risk for foodborne diseases.
- Some people aren’t able to cut easily because of nerve damage associated with cancer treatment. Chopping up foods, like fruits and vegetables, for people is so helpful.
- Creamy dishes are often a sign of love, but lighter foods might be easier for cancer patients to handle.
- When Shayna did classes in-person, any food cooked or created were given to her patients for free. They did 2-3 food demonstrations per week with 50 people in a class.
- Dietetic, health and anti-hunger professionals can be available for learning, humble, and passionate.
The beautiful image above was created by Rebecca Garofano, our Food Dignity Institute Lead and Illustration Specialist. You can find more of her work at @VeggieDoodleSoup on Instagram and at her website veggiedoodlesoup.com.
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