ADSA Gauteng South: Pivoting in the Pandemic

Adaption has been the name of the game for 2020. The ADSA Gauteng South branch is doing their best to adapt to these strange times. 

The year started off as usual with a live hosted event in February. We were fully booked with a variety of advertisers to discuss all things on weight loss. 

Lock down started and many of our committee’s plans came to a holt. We had the unfortunate luck of planning our next live event to cover clinical nutrition. With these practitioners being in the thick of things on the COVID-19 front line, we postponed this event. We were exhausted, emotionally drained and in survival mode. A CPD event was not a priority or a possibility. We were ignorant then on how long COVID-19 would grip the health system and how long restrictions would be in place. Our initial 1-month event postponement turned into several new dates and an eventual cancellation. 

Our committee jumped onto the Zoom bandwagon and offered 3 online webinars. We learnt more about emotional eating, gut health and neurological conditions. For most of us the biggest learning curve was adapting to using online platforms. The committee needed to host large numbers of attendees, arrange multiple speakers at different locations, record sessions, run polls, and fix technical issues. Our committee rose to the occasion and hosted three very successful webinars.  

These adaptions were made easier with great support from the ADSA community. The ADSA CPD officer guided us on the new rules to provide points online. ADSA Exec guided us on Zoom usage, new advertisers guides and more. 

The ADSA Gauteng South committee were privileged to assist in arranging a video to support dietitians during the strain of COVID-19. A psychologist provided insights into coping with the emotional stresses of COVID-19. We were grateful to play a small role in uplifting the spirits of dietitians during a very difficult year.

This term our committee has been a full house with twelve eager committee members. They have all worked hard in providing CPD events, monthly newsletters and support to the ADSA community. I am truly thankful for their dedication and giving up their spare time to give back to dietitians.