Amanda Ericson is Estes Park Health’s new registered dietitian. She joined the EPH team in August of 2024. Ericson helps patients in and out of the hospital.

“A registered dietitian provides education and counseling to patients regarding their nutrition needs and to understand how to adapt their eating patterns to accommodate their new diet or restrictions.”

Ericson was a baker for many years. She received a lot of requests from customers to make their favorite desserts gluten free, sugar free, dairy free. She began to learn more about nutrition and what ingredients were appropriate to use. She enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen.

Ericson began attending her local community college and taking as many nutrition classes as she could. She got a letter in the mail from Colorado State University to come join their program. She moved to Colorado to attend the program there. Pursuing further education, she attended University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) to get her master’s degree.

“At Estes Park Health, I have helped patients manage their GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease),” Ericson noted. “I’ve helped out with wound care and diabetic diets for the outpatient clinic.”

Before she worked at EPH, Ericson worked at the Medical Center of Aurora where she helped a wide variety of patients with different needs, from food tube feeding to helping patients in rehab recover from a fall or broken bones.

Estes Park Health has introduced outpatient nutrition counseling. This is a great way for people to manage their health by learning more about what to eat and how to eat.

“The services that we will offer are geared toward what insurance covers,” Ericson explained. “Medicare covers diabetes and renal diets. I will also work with other insurance companies if patients have GERD or other diseases that could benefit from dietary help. I love that I get the creativity to design nutrition handouts or presentations. I really like seeing how it makes it easier for patients to understand. Most of the nutrition education that is available to people is black-and-white writing. It’s not interesting and the information is ultimately not absorbed. I feel like what I create for them is easier for them to understand and remember.”

Ericson believes it is important for a small Community Access Hospital like Estes Park Health to have a registered dietitian on staff.

“For a lot of patients, this might be the only opportunity they have to receive this type of education,” she stressed. “They might not receive that when they’re an outpatient or living at home. A lot of what you find on the internet you can’t really trust all the sources. I can use my education and training to collaborate with all these different resources and then make it easy for them to understand.”

Ericson still enjoys baking. While she studied at UCCS, she had the opportunity to work with other nonprofits and develop whole grain products.  

“A lot of the baking I do now is whole grain focused using Colorado-grown grains,” she added. “I’m teaching people while I’m baking how to support their local communities and farmers.”

To learn more about outpatient nutrition counseling at Estes Park Health, call the EPH main number at (970) 586-2317 and ask to be connected to the registered dietitian.