Reflection 23: Milk please and perhaps an apple!

 For the sake of argument, let's pretend that there are only 100 vending machines on the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) Campus. And for sake of argument, let's pretend that there are 50 slots in the 100 vending machines. I invite you to take a good look at a couple of them as you walk down any hallway. The common denominators in all of them is: fat, salt and sugar. Oh they come in different shapes, sizes and packages, but that is what they all contain. There is none or precious little nutrients in any of them. They are awash in fat, salt and sugar. 

 Why is this? The HSC is a hospital. It is a place people in the community look to for answers to health and wellness issues. It is a principal hospital in Manitoba for pete's sake! It has lofty ideals. Seek out their "Vision and Values Statement." I fail to see how an abundant source or cornucopia of unhealthy junk food provides the "best possible hospital experience." Do you? Probably not.  

 The HSC is reported to be a repository, a stronghold of good health and wellness, including good nutrition. They publish this fact. It should be a model for the community. I suggest that the current practice of stocking each vending machine with fat, salt and sugar is not the way to live up to such ideals. It is too easy to 'talk the talk' rather than 'walk the walk.'


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflection 7: Whose body is it anyway?

WHOSE BODY IS IT ANYWAY? How dare you! How dare you invade my space Unbeknown to me you sneak in  Like a coward Destroying my healthy cells Destroying my healthy cells. Day after day Night after night You go about your sinister work While unknown to me I go about my ordinary business Of living Of living. While you are not going to get away with it. You, you only have the code to destroy But I have the smarts in this conflict I am in control I am in control. You might think that you have the upper hand; so Bring on the bad days Bring on the doubt and anxiety Bring on the depression Bring on the uncertainty  Use all of the tactics and strategies that you can muster It matters not For you are not going to win For you are not going to win. I have made a conscious decision Whose body is it anyway? Mine...and I have decided That I will win That I will win!
Read more

5. Empathy is Key

Shortly following his release from the hospital after head and neck surgery for cancer, the One Ear Man decided, along with his doctor he could resume teaching healthcare students. So, he did. He began his first class on a Tuesday afternoon, right after lunch. I consider myself to be in a very fortunate position, the One Ear Man began. I am both a college teacher who stands in front of you day-after-day teaching Microsoft Office and Google Docs within the context of the healthcare profession. I am also a cancer survivor. So by being hospitalized, I have observed both sides of the business; what we teach and how my former students practice. What a window of opportunity I now have handed me by being able to talk to you here today. You, who sit in front of me will be within a year of working in a medical clinic, on a ward in a hospital, or perhaps an 'old folks' or extended care home. Maybe you will be working in a hospice. You will be nursing the very people I spent some time wit
Read more

7. Two Kingdoms

The One Ear Man was on the Shanghai "Maglen," a high-speed train going NorthWest from Shanghai and Beijing. The train left Shanghai's Hongqiao Railway Station some time ago. It crossed the Yangtze River, made famous by Chairman Mao Zedong’s swim in 1966. It has been an uneventful trip, and the novel he is reading, A House Divided , by Pearl S. Buck seems a little too heavy in the “navel gazing" and light on the action at this particular point in the story. Buck is rapidly becoming one of his favourites. She has such a passion for the ordinary people, especially those that work the land. She has almost a religious fervour about China at the turn of the 20th century. The One Ear Man has learned so much about China’s history and its people from the setting of the three novels. Sitting across from the One Ear Man, the Three Travelling Companions seem a little bored. His conclusion is based on a large number of times they have passed back and forth the tattered magazines
Read more