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| Bessie Hambrick, president of the Tennessee Dietary Managers Association (TDMA), Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes and Harry Ford, customer service manager at Sycamore Shoals Hospital in Elizabethton, from left, are pictured at a TDMA-sponsored reception for health care professionals in Northeast Tennessee held in Elizabethton, recently. |
Bessie Hambrick knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
In her role as the Certified Dietary Manager (CDM) at the Carter County Jail in Elizabethton, she plans menus and prepares 800 to 900 "nutritious meals" per day for inmates, at a cost of 80 to 85 cents per day.
Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes said there has been a noticeable improvement in inmate morale at the jail since Hambrick was employed in October of 2006.
"Her meatloaf is a big hit with inmates. It is important to serve a nutritious meal to those who are in jail. It gives them hope. 95 percent of them will return to society," said Mathes, who commended Hambrick for teaching cooking skills to female inmates and inspiring inmates to live a trouble-free life.
Sheriff Mathes described the benefits of employing a CDM in remarks delivered at a TDMA reception for health care providers in Northeast Tennessee.
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| Phyllis Ensor, CDM, an instructor for the online Dietary Manager Training Program at TTC-Elizabethton, third from left, is pictured with online students Amy Tapp, Elisa Overdorf and Karen Berry, all of Elizabethton, and Stoney Collins of Johnson City, from left, who attended the TDMA reception in Elizabethton. |
"Most of the inmates at the Carter County Jail are good people who just made a mistake," Hambrick said. When she is not working at the Carter County Sheriff's Department, Hambrick is extolling the virtues of the association, where she serves as president.
Hambrick also serves on the advisory committee to the Tennessee Technology Center at Elizabethton, one of eight training facilities in the U. S. and the only one in Tennessee with an online Dietary Manager Training Program.
The program prepares students for the national credentialing exam to become a CDM and employment in hospitals, nursing homes, correctional facilities, schools and large day care facilities. The average salary of CDMs, nationally, is $40,374.
Since 2003 when TTC-Elizabethton first offered the online Dietary Manager Training, more than 212 students from 130 cities and towns in 28 states have graduated from the program. Field training is arranged in the student's hometown.
Sixty students from across the U.S. are currently enrolled in the online Dietary Manager Training Program at TTC-Elizabethton.