At Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, if you end up in one of the beds because your burger had some super-bacteria, you’re in for a treat.
Have you watched the movie Food Inc? If not, do yourself a favor: Before you eat another meal made from food that you don’t know the origins, watch this powerful film (it’s now out on DVD). To give you a little taste, that burger you just gobbled down from your favorite fast food restaurant has parts from approximately one thousand cows from everywhere and possibly filler that has been bathed in ammonia. Seconds anyone? It’s no wonder we have so many chronic health issues in our country. The industrial food-supply chain is slowly poisoning us.
Sacred Heart Hospital’s CEO Stephen Ronstrom completely gets it. “Quality care for our patients is our primary goal, but taking care of the environment also is a top priority. We strive to integrate green programs because we recognize the fundamental link between healthy people and a healthy environment.”
Sacred Heart pledged to spend $200,000 a year on healthy, local food. Ronstrom cites the industrial food-supply chain for much of the chronic illness driving healthcare costs. He recognized that buying food from around the country and trucking it to Wisconsin was wasteful when the food could be grown and raised locally.
But, as they found out, just because they wanted to buy local didn’t mean the local farmers could immediately deliver the volumes the 223-bed hospital needed.
An ad hoc committee was formed and the result is the Producers & Buyers Co-op. Producers and processors that sign up for the co-op promise to employ growing practices and animal husbandry that’s good for the land, good for the animals and good for the people who eat the food. The buyers, in turn, agree to pay a price that reflects the cost of producing food that lives up to those standards plus a small profit. Buyers also agree to be flexible if certain products or quantities aren’t available when they want them, filling the gaps through other suppliers.
Remember that burger of a thousand cows you just consumed? Sacred Heart, in contrast, knows that each tube of ground beef came from a single animal and knows where and how that animal was raised.
Sacred Heart has also partnered with the River Country Resource Conservation and Development Council, a not-for-profit organization that works on projects that support sustainable resources and communities. With a foundation laid with Sacred Heart’s money and cooperation, River Country believes a co-op could sell to other institutions and create a new market for food that’s locally raised. This will result in better food that is healthier for people, the land and the animals.
The idea soon won a $40,000 grant from the Wisconsin Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection Department. As of September, Sacred Heart was buying most of its beef through the co-op, as well as half its pork and more than a third of its chicken. Recently the co-op signed up its second buyer, 102-bed St. Joseph’s Hospital in nearby Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.
Source: Modern Healthcare, November 2, 2009
We all have a stake in a clean environment. Because it is an inheritance that we pass down to later generations, we have a great ethical responsibility. Source: Sacred Heart Hospital’s website
Sacred Heart doesn’t stop being green when the meals are over, they have a deep Franciscan commitment to environmental stewardship that consistently goes beyond basic state and federal regulatory waste management requirements. Sacred Heart devotes considerable resources to the Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle).
For example, reduction nozzles have been refitted on faucets to save energy and reduce water consumption. The hospital donates more than 8,000 pounds of leftover food to the St. Francis Food Pantry each year. And chemical waste reclamation is their primary method of disposal, reducing the cost of purchasing additional reagents. The hospital reclaims over 500 gallons of solvents annually. Through recycling, hazardous waste transportation and incineration is reduced by 50 percent.
I’m hopeful this is the way of the future. When hospitals, schools, nursing homes, restaurants and grocery stores begin buying local, everyone benefits.
Wendy Gabriel is the founder of My Green Side.org, a columnist for Examiner.com and a weekly on-air contributor to The Christopher Gabriel Program. You can listen to her Wednesdays on AM970 WDAY where she talks about Simple Tips for Green Living.
photo credit: Sappymoosetree
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I really wish the hospital my mom had been in recently had this type of commitment to food for their patients. After open heart surgery she was fed food like Uncrustables (I’m not making this up) and burgers that looked like hockey pucks. I was astonished that the types of foods that lead to heart disease were given to her immediately after her surgery.
It’s great that Sacred Heart is taking the lead and creating a blueprint that other institutions can follow.
It’s amazing to me that hospitals and school cafeterias are two of the places you can find the most unhealthy food. It’s so refreshing to hear of someone who’s trying to change this. Great article!
“Sacred Heart pledged to spend $200,000 a year on healthy, local food.”
I totally applaud Sacred Heart for being a pioneer in bringing good, local, sustainably farmed food to their patients. I hope some other hospitals will sit up, pay attention and start a trend. After all, what could be more important than having fresh, healthy, appetizing food to serve to those who are sick?
It’s so great to see Sacred Heart leading the way in healthy, local food at their hospital. It amazes me that hospitals often feed their patients unhealthy – even unsafe food. Keep up the great work!