Dietitian Amanda Reichardt helps 9/11 responders

A Kings Park woman whose father and uncle were 9/11 first responders has worked to improve the health and wellness of thousands of others impacted by the terrorist attacks.

Amanda Reichardt was a co-founding registered dietitian of the Stony Brook Medicine World Trade Center Health and Wellness Program’s Lifestyle Medicine Program, where she spent six years giving free one-on-one nutrition counseling to thousands of emergency personnel and essential workers affected by the terrorist attacks. The program was created in 2018.

Reichardt’s father, Robert, was a firefighter at the New York Fire Department’s Engine Company 301 in Queens, while her late uncle, Dennis, was a sergeant in Suffolk County’s Emergency Services Section. Dennis, who spent several days at Ground Zero and then screened debris at the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island through the end of 2001, died of 9/11-related pancreatic cancer in 2018, she said.

“Many first responders have experienced tremendous amounts of mental health trauma, and to cope sometimes they turn to food as an emotional release,” Reichardt, 30, said of her patients. “Or you have individuals anxious that their friends or colleagues are sick, and they want to do the best they can to prevent any of the 9/11-related conditions they may be faced with in the future.”

Patricia Burke, 66, who participated in recovery efforts at Ground Zero for a year, credited Reichardt for improving her day-to-day life. Burke, a West Islip resident and retired NYPD officer, said she suffered digestive issues after being diagnosed with a 9/11-related cancer and worked with Reichardt to find foods that were both nutritional and comfortable for her to eat.

“When you have someone like Amanda behind you, she keeps lifting you up every time you feel like you’re falling down,” she said.

Reichardt, who works at Elevation Fitness and also at Functional Nutrition RX, both in Babylon, started her career as the campus dietitian for Stony Brook University, where she built an on-campus nutrition program. She was named 2023 Mentoring Preceptor of the Year by the Stony Brook Dietetic Internship program.

She volunteers as the scholarship chairwoman and public policy co-chair for the Long Island Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics-Greater New York Dietetics Association, which honored her for her volunteerism with its Excellence in Practice Award in 2022.

Reichardt’s other volunteer efforts have included being an ambulance attendant and driver for the Commack Volunteer Ambulance Corps during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When there’s bad, you combat it with good,” Reichardt said. “If more people volunteered, we would have a healthier society.”

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.