Sharon Walker, RD, LD, CNSD – Director of Nutrition
Learn More About Nutritional Therapy At Eastern: Chat with Us | Email Us
For Sharon Walker, working for Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is all about taking care of patients as if they were members of her own family. At CTCA, it’s the only way we care for our patients—every day.
As Director of Nutrition at CTCA at Eastern Regional Medical Center, Walker provides nutrition support and counseling to patients. She is a registered and licensed dietitian with national credentials in metabolic nutrition support. Walker earned her undergraduate degree in dietetics at Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan, and completed her dietetic internship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is also a member of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.
Before coming to Eastern Regional Medical Center, Walker spent four years at CTCA at Midwestern Regional Medical Center in Zion, Illinois. Her experience includes nutritional management of patients undergoing stem cell transplantation, radiation and chemotherapy.
Walker says it is extremely important for patients fighting cancer to meet with a nutritionist.
She emphasizes, “It’s well documented that 80 percent of all cancer patients have signs and symptoms of malnutrition. We also know that, based on that, as little as a five percent weight loss in one month can decrease someone’s tolerance to treatment, or it can alter their treatment plan altogether.”
At CTCA, Walker and her team do everything possible to see that patients are nourished, so that they feel strong enough to receive the conventional medicine their oncologist at CTCA recommends. In addition, the nutrition plan she puts together for every patient complements and supports all of the cancer fighting therapies they are receiving.
One of the unique tools Walker uses to find out if patients are getting the nutrition they need is body composition analysis. It measures the different components of each patient’s weight and helps Walker determine if he or she is gaining much-needed muscle mass—not fluid or fat.
What makes the nutrition therapy program at CTCA unlike most hospitals, Walker says, is that patients receive far more education. Additionally, she says patients’ treatment plans are thoroughly and regularly followed by CTCA nutritionists.
Walker and her team are committed to an individualized, evidenced-based, proactive nutrition approach. She says her first goal is to manage her patients’ nutritional needs. Furthermore, she teaches them how to apply nutritional information to their everyday lives to make healthy dietary choices.
In addition to meeting with patients, Walker holds a weekly class on topics such as choosing beneficial foods, how to apply the 10 whole grains to your diet and facing the facts about fat. Classes are open to CTCA patients and their caregivers.