Angelina Ely shatters the notion that higher education doesn’t prepare students for the real world.

 For her senior project, the 36-year-old University of Idaho graduate created a fundraising campaign that will help low-income cancer patients afford nutritional supplements needed during chemotherapy.

 “The inspiration came from my father-in-law who had stage 3 colon cancer,” said Ely, who graduated summa cum laude in May and was named the outstanding dietetics student by the Idaho Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “He fell into a financial gap between his insurance coverage and his income and he couldn’t afford the supplements. I started to look into these cancer patients and I was surprised to learn how many people fell into the same category as him.”

 The campaign is expected to launch this fall at local Super 1 Food stores. Here’s the concept: People can pick up a flyer with designated barcodes from volunteers outside the stores. Then customers can donate money when they go through the check-out lines.  Those dollars go directly to buying nutritional supplements for needy cancer patients.

 The Kootenai Health Foundation expressed excitement over Ely’s efforts and said it complements what they do. Since 2006, Kootenai Health Foundation has served nearly 1,700  patients through the Cancer Patient Support Program.  A total of $276,488 has been gifted to Kootenai Health’s Cancer Services to provide a total of 19,038 vouchers, said Britt Towery, Foundation Manager.

 “There is a greater need than we can fund at this time,” said Towery. “We have patients coming to us from northern Idaho and western Montana. It’s fantastic that she took this on.”

 As part of her degree, Ely completed 1,200 hours of supervised practice — including working at Sacred Heart Medical Center and with Spokane Public Schools.

 “Being in those settings prepared me for my future career,” she said.

 Dr. SeAnne Safaii, an associate professor in the dietetics program, said graduates like Ely have focused on clinical management and community nutrition with real world experience.

“Community nutrition is about prevention,” said Safaii. “That means working in schools to address obesity and diabetes. We want to get to them before they have different chronic problems that shorten their lives. Today’s children will not outlive their parents.”

Ely grew up in Sandpoint and married her high school sweetheart nearly 17 years ago. She worked in the title industry, but after her son was born she began working as a medical transcriptionist from home.

Her interest in going back to school began when her son, Aidan, was diagnosed with asthma.

“He wasn’t responding well to the medications,” Ely said. “I started doing a lot of reading and a common theme was nutrition. I changed our diet and I saw a huge improvement. The more research I did, I discovered a love for a career.”

Ely said the field of food and nutrition is ripe with opportunity — good and bad.

“There are so many fad diets, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist,” she said. “A dietitian is where you get your degree from an accredited university and there’s a national accrediting body. It’s important for people to use dietitians through a doctor’s setting.”

Ely will begin work on a Master’s degree in the fall. She hopes to pursue naturopathic medicine and blend dietetics with the field. She also is interested in researching nutrigenomics, the study of the interaction between food and genes.  

“Graduating was a great accomplishment,” she said. “I am excited for the future.”

--Written by Marc Stewart, Director of Sponsored Content

If you’re interested in learning more about sponsored content, contact Kari Packer,  Sales Manager at the Coeur d’Alene Press. She can be reached at (208) 664-0215 or at kpacker@cdapress.com