Screenings and Events

The Avera Heart Hospital's Nutrition Clinic, helps you:

• Go beyond what you would do alone
• Get the strength you need to overcome your obstacles
• Partner with our nutrition expert to develop your personal nutrition plan
• Commit to taking charge of your nutrition goals

The Avera Heart Hospital's Nutrition Clinic provides:

• Private or group sessions customized to your needs
• Assessment of your current diet
• Review of your supplements
• Creating meal plans individualized to your lifestyle
• Education on effective diet strategies
• Wellness coaching to keep you motivated

You are unique and no diet plan fits everyone. With Avera Heart Hospital's Nutrition Clinic, you'll gain the personalized attention to take advantage of real benefits, including:

• Losing weight - and keeping it off
• Gaining energy
• Fighting heart disease
• Lowering blood pressure
• Minimizing joint pain
• Fighting cancer
• Lessening migraines
• Controlling and preventing diabetes

Nikki Ver Steeg, RD, LN

Nikki is a Registered Dietitian and with over 10 years experience.  She is also a:

• Certified Wellness Coach
• Cardiovascular Nutrition Expert
• Cookbook Author
• Menu Planning Guide Creator
• Motivational Speaker
• Nutrition Spokesperson

To learn more about the Avera Heart Hospital's Nutrition Clinic email Nikki Ver Steeg at

From I-229 take the Louise Avenue exit and travel south to 69th Street. Turn right on 69th Street and go west 1/2 mile.

The nicotine in tobacco is a powerful, highly addictive drug that makes quitting difficult. Thankfully, with coaching, educational tools and a personal commitment, a person can successfully quit.

Quit For Good is a one-on-one coaching program designed to help you stop all tobacco products through guidance, education, support and medication options.  The clinic includes:

• Six one-on-one sessions customized to accommodate your schedule
• Spirometry (breathing) test
• Carbon Monoxide breath test
• Educational materials and tools
• Coaching with a respiratory therapist

• One-on-one counseling helps increase success when quitting tobacco.
• Coaching helps the person start the quitting process.
• Sessions help zero in on personal obstacles that may be encountered.
• Coaching addresses both the physical addiction and psychological addiction.

• The benefits of quitting tobacco will be outlined to help motivate the desire to quit.
• Participants learn what to expect as their body goes through physical withdrawal and how to navigate through the symptoms.
• Coping skills are outlined and matched to your personality.

Tobacco has been described as “the most important individual health risk in this country.” It is responsible for more than 430,000 deaths
each year – 50 deaths per hour.

• The rate of lung cancer death in women is higher than the rate of breast cancer death.
• 70% of tobacco users want to quit.
• There’s no safe way to smoke. There’s no safe amount to smoke. There’s no safe cigarette.
• Smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking. In fact, it has more nicotine than cigarettes.
•  Medical costs for tobacco-related diseases add up to more than $50 billion a year.
• Oral cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to treat.
• When you quit tobacco, you raise the likelihood that your children will never start.
• Tobacco companies need over 1,000 new tobacco users each day to replace those who have died from tobacco products.
• Smoking is the most common cause of COPD, accounting for 9 out of 10 COPDrelated deaths.
• If you refer to the monetary impact of increased respiratory illness, time off from work, health care costs and health care
  premiums, the cost of a pack of cigarettes is nearly $40.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Lung Association

It is to your benefit to quit tobacco use.  But do you know some of the reasons why?  Tobacco use:

• Is strongly linked to Peripheral Vascular Disease (decreased blood supply to the arms and legs) and respiratory disease
• Weakens the immune system - increasing the chance of colds and flu
• Impairs the ability to heal cuts and wounds 
• Increases heart rate and blood pressure
• Raises the chance of heart attack, stroke and aneurysm

In addition, smoking disrupts the normal function of the lining of arteries, and smokeless tobacco can lead to cancer of the mouth, throat and voice box, bleeding gums and stomach ulcers. The good news is that quitting at any age can help to minimize the effects of tobacco. Quitting tobacco requires personal commitment, self-discipline and patience.