Operations
Vancouver hospital can’t control rat problem
A surging rat population in the cafeteria and food prep area at B.C. Women’s and Children’s Hospital has prompted management to step up rodent control efforts. But inspectors said they don’t believe rodents pose an imminent health risk.
Operations
Two Chicago schools test program to track students’ food choices
The Healthy School Meals Realized through Techonology (SMART) Schools is a program designed by preventative medicine experts to track students’ food choices when cafeteria workers scan a student’s identification card and log their food selections. Parents receive a monthly report card that summarizes the food selections that their children have made.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine slams Greenville (S.C.) Memorial Hospital for its contract with Chick-fil-A, calling it one of the “six worst public hospital food environments” out of more than 200 medical centers surveyed. But the hospital’s administrators have taken issue with the report, calling it flawed and suggesting that the PCRM has ignored a number of steps the hospital has taken to improve patent and community health.
Providence Health & Services, based in Portland, is phasing such drinks out of its hospitals, clinics and business offices over a two-month period. According to the healthcare system, Providence would be the largest such organization on the West Coast to make such a change. The ban includes drinks sweetened with HFCS, sucrose, dextrose and even cane sugar.