Hospital Wanderer

This may not be a news anymore because this happened last September 2009 but this is worth noting for. There is a program called Balance Menus which is a voluntary program that seeks to improve nutrition and benefit the environment by reducing meat purchasing among participating hospitals by 20 percent within 12 months. The program also promotes shifting towards serving more sustainably produced meat.

Developed and piloted by San Francisco Physicians for Social Responsibility, Balanced Menus
was first implemented in 2008 in four San Francisco Bay Area hospitals. In September 2009,
Health Care Without Harm launched the program nationally.

This program was implemented in four San Francisco Bay Area hospitals: Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the San Francisco VA Medical Center, the John Muir Health Medical Center, and one anonymous hospital. The hospitals vary in size as well as medical and food services provided, representing a broad range of possibilities for the program.

So what is the result of this program. Did the healthcare personnel,patients,doctors and nurses in medical uniforms grew thinner and unhealthier at the span of this program. Definitely not.

The Balanced Menus program implementation in these four hospitals exceeded the 20 percent meat reduction goal, and yielded substantial savings in costs and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as, potentially,some improvements in health for those eating reduced quantities of meat. The program’s expansion provides an important opportunity to further advance these goals. With a larger sample of hospitals and a longer time-span, future program evaluation work can gain an even clearer perspective on the program’s impacts.

This is actually a great news! If only all hospitals would do this, then even patients will be healthier and doctors too!