Sick
25 Jun
Welcome guest blogger, Cat Delett, who visits us from Consume This First, a blog dedicated to sharing food intelligence with families who eat.
An Open Letter to Jamie Oliver
Re: McDonald’s and Hospitals
Dear Jamie Oliver,
When you are finished fixing school lunches, can you and your Revolution please get McDonald’s out of hospitals?
Recently, we spent the evening in the emergency room with our three-year-old. By 8:30 pm we knew we weren’t leaving anytime soon so my husband took our six-year-old to the cafeteria to get some dinner.
Half an hour later they were back with a McDonald’s bag. The cafeteria was closed, but the McDonald’s was open. In the hospital. Where people are trying to get well.
We ate it. We didn’t have much choice at that point, but it seems crazy to me that an institution dedicated to the idea “do no harm” would be giving people easy access to such unhealthy food and, by allowing it in the hospital at all, silently implying it’s okay to eat.
It’s not just nighttime ER visitors who are impacted. I look around at the many overweight hospital staff, especially the ones who work at night when the cafeteria is closed, and I think – rather, I know – easy access to McDonald’s in the hospital is a contributing factor. And then there are the families of patients needing long-term care. I’m sure the “comfort” of McDonald’s food is psychologically welcome, especially for kids – a Happy Meal to take their little minds off of sad issues. But at what price?
You of all people know, Mr. Oliver, that fast food is directly connected to heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It may cut down on travel time to get the food that’s making you sick right in the hospital and it may be good for hospital revenues, but it’s killing people.
Sure, people need to take responsibility for what they eat, but such unhealthy, fried, trans fat-filled, sugar-laden food and drink doesn’t belong in a place dedicated to healing and health. People should have to leave the hospital if they want it.
Mr. Oliver, I implore you: Use your Food Revolution influence to bring some sense back into the health industry. A hospital is no place for a McDonald’s. We need to get toxic fast food out of places that should be teaching us about nutrition and healthy lifestyle
I first noticed this phenomenon at least 20 years ago. It would almost be funny if it weren’t so unbelievable. Totally mind boggling. What a country.
My father worked at a children’s rehabilitation center in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for many, many years. Even as a teenager, I thought the idea of a McDonald’s in a hospital was counter-productive. Although as a teen I probably didn’t say “counter-productive”. I probably said “really f-ed up.”
I had to endure McDonald’s at St. Barnabas last week while waiting for my littlest to get out of emergency surgery. There was no food left in the ER (apparently they keep snacks of some sort there), and when they directed me to the McDonald’s I asked if it were right next to the cardiology unit. The nurse rolled her eyes, said “I know! But at least their lease is up next month.”
So maybe there’s hope. Maybe.
Wow…talk about contradictions. According to some philosophy, contradiction can only lead to destruction in proportion to the degree of contradiction.
Although, I cannot speak for the doctors, because doctors do act in the best interests of their patients with the tools they have at their disposal, the truth is, the hospital is out to make money, and McDonald’s is a profitable business to be associated with. Sad, but true.
Why not hand out vouchers for a free cholesterol screening with every happy meal or big mac sold? Grease is the word…….. THX