Healthy Food in Health Care Campaign
Show Providence St. Peter Hospital that your community wants healthy, local, organic food in the cafeteria and patient meals. Help us reach our goal of having 500 community members sign on in support of this campaign.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Show Providence St. Peter Hospital that your community wants healthy, local, organic food in the cafeteria and patient meals.
Help us reach our goal of having 500 community members sign on in support of this campaign.
Please sign up here and let us know that you have downloaded and printed the Healthy Food in Hospitals Support Packet. You can download your copy of the packet here. We need to demonstrate broad support in the community for organic food in hospitals, please circulate the letter of support to at least 10 friends, family members or neighbors to sign as well then mail it back to us by Friday July 31st.
Download the Support Packet Here
Mail the completed letter of support to:
Anna Davis
Washington Toxics Coalition
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N Suite 540
Seattle, WA 98103
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
As
part of the national Health Care Without Harm campaign, Washington Toxics Coalition is working with
Washington hospitals to carry healthier foods, free of chemical pesticides,
hormones, and antibiotics.
When we go to the hospital, we have many things on our mind—at the top of that list is our reason for being there— be it a birth, an illness, or a surgery. The last thing we should need to worry about is whether the hospital is exposing us to chemicals that can harm our health.
Unfortunately, many of our region’s hospitals expose us to health risks by serving food that contains pesticides, artificial hormones, and antibiotics.
Vulnerable populations like infants, children, new mothers, and immunocompromised patients are particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of these chemicals. Hospitals and other health care systems should be modeling health and good nutrition, not providing their patients with food that can cause harm.
WTC is working with Health Care Without Harm’s (HCWH) national campaign to urge hospitals and health care systems to procure healthy food.
In collaboration with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Washington State Nurses Association, WTC will ask hospitals to begin adopting food procurement models advocated by the Green Guide to Health Care. WTC hopes to increase market opportunities for Washington’s sustainable farmers, keeping our food safe, and our dollars local.
At present, ten regional hospitals have signed the “Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge” – a commitment to providing food that is locally grown, nutritious, and sustainable as part of their food service. While signing these pledges is a terrific first step, there is much work to be done for these commitments to be fully realized.
WTC is running a multi-faceted campaign to support these institutions in fulfilling their pledges. Our activities include:
- Connecting hospital chefs and food service directors with more sustainable food producers to increase their organic food offerings as well as their sustainable meat, poultry, and seafood purchasing;
- Reinforcing their commitments by educating their food service departments on the hazards of purchasing conventional foods;
- Working with local farmers and suppliers to create new market incentives for healthy farming practices;
- Using our existing relationships with health care professionals to develop credible spokespeople within the institutions; and
- Educating our members and the public on the issue so they’re ready to take action when encouragement is needed.
Additionally, we are approaching other regional hospitals to invite them to join this movement. We believe that by encouraging local hospitals to make the switch, we have the capacity to catalyze national change.
Hospitals are vital partners in the movement to transition our national food chain, promote healthy communities, and stimulate regional food economies. Hospitals have enormous purchasing power, accounting for 17% of the GDP. Their switch to organic and sustainable food is a good choice for their patients and the farmers they support–creating a win/win situation for our local health and economy.
Our work with our region’s hospitals can pave the way for healthier food in other institutions, such as schools, and inspire better eating habits for future generations.
