Fresh n' healthy snacks: not at SF General Hospital

November 10, 7:49 AMSF Fresh Foods ExaminerScott Sachs

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      Eat in the SFGH Emergency Room and experience the above

Recently I had the mixed experience of using the General Hospital emergency room for the first time. After falling and hitting my head on the bathtub, blood spurting all over and nausea and dizziness, I did nothing. I did nothing because I had a doctor's appointment scheduled eight hours later. Rather than the ordeal of the E.R., I opted for seeing my own doctor. At the doctor's, my blood pressure was a low 90 over 60. I probably should have gone straight to the emergency room after hitting my head.

My doctor sent me somewhere else and, after waiting for an hour, was sent to the E.R. There I waited five hours before being seen. During that time I clung to my chair, unwilling to sacrifice my comfort to anyone else in the waiting room. During the ordeal of waiting and feeling ill, I focused on the three vending machines lining one wall. Two vending machines dispensed Pepsi and Coke products, also known as high fructose corn syrup and water. Sandwiched in between the two stood the snack machine: a study in salt, sugar and fats. The irony was not lost of me. Here, at the center of health care treatment for the indigent, Healthy San Francisco's clients (me), drug users, the city's trauma industry and low-income families, was a wealth of unhealthy food.

For five hours I watched employees, mothers trying to bribe their noisy offspring and waiting patients feed their dollar bills to the three machines. Nearby was a rarely used water fountain. Afraid of losing my seat I felt an ever-increasing thirst. It took three hours for me to finally give in and head to the fountain. The drizzle of water was so slight that to drink from it would be considered unsafe - especially in a hospital waiting room. (Although not part of this article, I tried using the restroom but the toilet was clogged, water flowing over the rim.)

My mind kept wondering towards the Mayor of San Francisco and his desire to tax stores selling high-fructose-based drinks and unhealthy snacks. As reported by Mike Aldax for the SF Examiner on September 19th of this year, "... sweetened drinks can be linked to obesity, and since obesity-related illnesses cost The City and state billions of dollars a year, large stores such as Safeway should pay a fee to offset those soaring medical costs, Newsom said." (The full article can be viewed here.) Yet, the main option, nay the only option in that consistently over-crowded room, is that of unhealthy sodas, juices, cookies, candy and chips. Am I missing something? Did my head wound throw me off the train of reality? Is it true? Can there be hypocrisy in politics? What's good for Walgreen's and Safeway isn't good for The City? Why are those machines still dispensing these products? After all, our not-so-future governor can easily set the example by removing these diabetes-causing products NOW.

In all fairness, it's not just General Hospital. Take a good look at Kaiser with their ad campaigns showing healthy living, the word thrive a prominent part of each display ad or television commercial. Mini farmer's markets are featured once weekly at various Kaiser Locations offering healthy and convenient choices. Venture indoors and it’s a different chocolate-dipped banana. Although the main hospital on Geary has a cafeteria selling prepared foods of that certain indeterminate hospital quality, off hours and for many emergency room patients, it's the vending machines that supply snacks and beverages. Although some choices are a cut above General Hospital's, most are not. Across the street, another Kaiser building boasts a restaurant/cafeteria run by Sugar Bowl Bakery. Did you get that name? It isn't Healthy Bowl Cafe, its Sugar Bowl Bakery. They offer many healthy choices but there is no end to the Brownie Bites, pastries and high-fat, stir-fried foods.

In my hand is the bill for that day. After five hours of waiting for someone to look at my still-bleeding head wound, an EKG and an orange to eat, I was delegated to a hallway. My wound wasn't stitched. "Too much time had passed since the incident", I was told. However, it was just enough time to receive a statement for over $1200.

Remember Healthy San Francisco? Health care starts with the foods we eat. Now, please, somebody tell the Mayor.

For part two of this article, click your mouse riiiiiiiiiiiight here.