Melanie is finding purpose in retirement

Melanie Polk, a Blue Choice health plan member, is a registered dietitian nutritionist who recently relocated to the Jacksonville area at 69 years old.

“I loved my career and am a relatively new retiree. I relocated from DC, where I lived the past 20 years, to North Florida. The moving van came and packed me up the Monday after I officially retired.”

Thanks to GetSetUp’s partnership with ElderSource in the area, Melanie came across a GetSetUp ad on Facebook almost right away.

Retirement has been a bit of an adjustment for Melanie. After having an extensive career as a nutrition educator, media spokesperson, public speaker, and nutrition counselor, adjusting to so much free time has been different. Now she is nowhere near as busy as when she was a Director of Nutrition Education for the American Institute for Cancer Research or on the faculty at the University of Connecticut.

It only seemed natural that she would volunteer in retirement teaching what she always loved: nutrition. For the last 14 years of her career, she was the Director of the Senior Nutrition Program, where she oversaw more than 40 congregate and home-delivered meals programs, along with nutrition education and counseling to more than 6,000 seniors.

A natural next step was to bring the latest nutrition research to GetSetUp in the session Nutrition Facts & Fallacies. This group discusses practical strategies that can be applied to everyone's daily lives to lower disease risk and promote health -- without ever forgetting the joy of eating! Melanie brings her insights weekly on Wednesday to this event to help learners understand fact from fiction.

“I want people to get involved in their nutrition. It’s extremely important throughout life but especially as we age. In my group, we understand nutrition facts and help to correct misinformation that may be circulating.”

So many Learners find her expertise indispensable. As Suzy R. says, ‍

“Almost since the inception of this group, I’ve attended Melanie’s sessions, and I keep returning because I’ve learned so much from her as I continue on my 'healthy living' journey! Being a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Melanie is a wealth of knowledge and is so willing to share that knowledge. Because there is much conflicting information to be found on the internet, Melanie is good at coaching us on how to find reliable information."