A children's hospital raising money with junk food? Shameful

[Guest guest]

[excellent to see " sickness care " make it into this article from the Globe

& Mail]

 

A children's hospital raising money with junk food? Shameful

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040722/HPICARD2\

2/TPHealth/

 

By ANDRE PICARD

 

UPDATED AT 3:40 PM EDT Thursday, Jul 22, 2004

 

Today, the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children is holding its annual BBQ for

staff, patients, volunteers, visitors and colleagues from neighbouring

hospitals.

 

The $5 lunch includes a choice of pizza, sausage or jumbo hot dog, soft

drink, and two cookies. All proceeds go to the Sick Kids Foundation.

 

What are the administrators of Canada's premier health-care facility and

one of the country's pre-eminent charities thinking? Why are they serving

up sugar and fat-laden junk food at a children's hospital?

 

A child who opts for the Maple Leaf hot dog, Pepsi and Tim Hortons cookies

will be ingesting 990 calories (more than half their recommended daily

intake), along with 40 grams of fat, including trans fats. There would be

nary a fruit or vegetable in sight if not for a small group of employees

planning to sell some token healthy food under the guise of protest.

 

The message they plan to deliver is an important one: Sick Kids cannot

content itself with providing sickness care. It should be a role model for

healthy living, not a de facto fast-food outlet.

 

Yet, the BBQ is only the latest questionable fundraising activity. " Eat a

Whopper for Sick Kids " is a recent initiative that stands out for its

perversity in the age of obesity.

 

There are also Burger King, Tim Hortons and Yogen Fruz outlets on the main

floor of the hospital itself, a decision made five years ago that still

raises eyebrows.

 

The companies donate either all or a portion of the profits to the

hospital. The food mall brings in almost $6-million a year in revenues to

Sick Kids. Some of the " corporate partners " have been incredibly generous.

Burger King, for example, has donated more than $2-million to the hospital.

 

These initiatives are lucrative, but that does not make them any less dubious.

 

Events like the barbecue are more modest but they also come with a strong

corporate stamp. Sponsors, of course, are looking for a plug, so here it

is: Maple Leaf Foods is donating the sausages and hot dogs, Pizza Pizza the

slices, and Tim Hortons the cookies.

 

Companies are tripping over themselves to be associated with Sick Kids

because it helps the bottom line. The link to sick children provides a

" halo effect " that marketers love, and the tacit endorsement that comes

along with having their products available at the barbecue or in the food

court is worth its weight in gold.

 

Hospital officials argue that the fast-food outlets are there for the

benefit of staff, not to seduce children. They justify the appalling BBQ

fare by saying it's okay to have a hot dog and pop occasionally, as long as

you have a balanced diet. They will tell you other institutions do the

same: The Philadelphia Children's Hospital, perhaps the best pediatric

hospital in the world, is home to a giant McDonald's franchise.

 

These are not sound arguments. They are rationalizations -- the same kind,

which have long ago ceased, that justified allowing smoking in hospitals

and giving new mothers baby formula instead of promoting breastfeeding.

 

Sick Kids is not a shopping mall, it is a hospital. In fact, it is more

than a hospital, it is a symbol -- a symbol of hope, caring and of

superlative medical care. Sick Kids is a place where little miracles happen

every day.

 

When the hospital and its foundation kowtow to corporate interests, when

they put fundraising ahead of promoting good health, they are tarnishing a

stellar and well-earned reputation. When they serve up junk food to

patients, staff and volunteers, they are behaving, as Pierre Trudeau once

said of Robert Bourassa, like a " mangeur de hot dog " -- a withering

Québécois term applied to one who lacks class.

 

We are in the midst of an epidemic of obesity -- and childhood obesity in

particular. Half the Canadian population is overweight, including 15 per

cent who are obese. About 36 per cent of children aged 2 to 11 are now

overweight, and 10 per cent of them are obese.

 

You can see the results of the double Whopper of inactivity and poor

nutrition every day at the hospital, in its overflowing clinics for lipid

disorders, diabetes, asthma and orthopedics. (Oddly, Sick Kids does not

have a pediatric obesity clinic, but that is a subject for another day.)

 

Leadership is required to tackle the obesity epidemic. The hospital could

show some by kicking its unseemly junk-food habit. Children are constantly

bombarded by promotions for unhealthy foods, from breakfast cereals to

fries and soft drinks. Sick Kids should be an oasis, not another billboard.

 

You need only once see an obese child coming in to get his soaring blood

pressure checked while wearing a Burger King crown or clutching a box of

Timbits as a reward for having endured the blood tests necessary to check

his dangerously high cholesterol levels to know there is something sick at

Sick Kids.

 

The nutritional facts

 

An assessment of the meal combinations offered at the Hospital for Sick

Children's annual barbecue fundraiser:

 

.............................................................Total......%

rec......Total fat.....% rec.

 

.............................................................kcal........kcal*...\

......grams........fat*

 

Meal 1

 

Jumbo vegetarian pizza, pop, 2

cookies...............910.........46%.........26...........43%

 

Meal 2

 

Jumbo hot dog, pop, 2

cookies.........................980.........50%..........40...........67%

 

Meal 3

 

Jumbo sausage, pop, 2

cookies......................1,130..........57%..........62..........103%

 

*Based on the 2000 kcal/day.