Grassrootshealth Customer Service
 Welcome Candace Leenheer, our new customer service representative! She started with GrassrootsHealth at the beginning of 2015, so if you have needed help - you have probably communicated with her. She lives in San Diego and is a mother of 4-year old Kalani. She learned about GrassrootsHealth last fall and started volunteering for us in November 2014. In addition to working for GrassrootsHealth, she also goes to school at Mira Costa College, taking classes in organic chemistry to move toward a doctorate in naturopathy. Candace has a BA in political science from Evergreen State College, Washington.
Fun facts:
Hobbies - hiking, outdoors and reading (she stays away from screens)
Favorite animal - Siberian white tiger
Favorite food - Korean food
Favorite song - Take you to Church, Hozier
Favorite book - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
What does Candace do?
Most of Candace's job is to help the participants of D*action. They may call or email with questions. She is responsible for making sure their participant data is entered correctly, checking the blood spot cards, and processing the cards.
 She also answers many questions about vitamin D and can help navigate our web site. When on the phone, she guides people to videos from our video archive section to help answer their questions. She recommends videos because they are easy to understand and cover a myriad of topics.
One of the most memorable things she has done on the job so far is to actually help someone prick their finger! They came into the office to receive help processing their blood spot card and so she stepped in. What a demonstration of her wonderful "can do" attitude.
What is working for GrassrootsHealth like?
Candace enjoys working for GrassrootsHealth because it falls in line with the health paradigm she wants to lead. She loves that GrassrootsHealth has analytical data at its core. She likes working to help a worthy cause.
Last December, while still a volunteer with GrassroootsHealth, she was able to attend the seminar - Vitamin D and Public Health. She enjoyed that seminar, meeting all the scientists, the partners, and visiting the exhibits. That experience helped kick-start her knowledge and fueled her need to see more data and hear more research.
In the future she expects to use this information in her daily practice when she becomes a naturopath. It will be the first thing she does - to check vitamin D levels (and other nutrients) of all her patients.
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Mary Pittaway, registered dietitian and public health nutritionist, has been involved in public health for 35 years, serving state and county governments, non-profit and private organizations. She received her BA at Holy Names College in Spokane, completed a dietetic Internship at UW- Harborview Medical Center and earned her MA in Communication at University of Montana. She's led many public health nutrition programs including Montana's WIC program, the launch of community sustainable agriculture efforts, osteoporosis prevention, population based breastfeeding promotion, obesity prevention and nutrition intervention for people with IDD. 
Pittaway starts her talk by explaining how the Missoula Health Department looks at the community. Instead of looking at a lab report and diagnosing one person, they looked at epidemiology reports to spot trends. They frequently referenced the parable of the 
Much of Pittaway's presentation focuses on tools - which ones work and which don't. She ends with an African proverb - "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far go together." This has been her passion - to get everyone in the community educated on vitamin D so the community could reap its health benefits together.
