Healthy living encouraged

Last fall, St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, Minn., became the first hospital in the state to make the decision to eliminate the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages from all of its properties.

Soon after, Grand Itasca Hospital in Grand Rapids, Minn., followed suit and became the second hospital in the state to also halt the selling of soda and other beverages sweetened with sugar.

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The two hospitals have joined a still small but growing national trend among healthcare organizations to do their part in combatting the country’s obesity epidemic and the many chronic conditions associated with it, such as diabetes.

Over a year ago, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Mass., launched an overall employee wellness program at their organization that kicked off with a similar plan as St. Luke’s and Grand Itasca, called the “Stop. Rethink your drink” campaign. Susan Oldrid, Saint Anne’s vice president for mission and community partnerships, said the program encourages employees to stay away from soda and sugary drinks, as well as living a healthier lifestyle overall.

St. Luke’s transition to a sugar-sweetened beverage-free zone was complete by November, said Mark Branovan, the hospital's director of hospitality services. This meant that employees, patients and visitors could no longer purchase sugary soda, sports drinks and juices at their locations – everything sold on campus is now zero-calorie or sugar-sweetened beverage-free, he said.

This doesn’t mean, however, that people cannot bring in their own beverages containing sugar. “We just no longer sell those beverages in our cafeteria or vending machines,” he said.

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Branovan explained that stopping the sale of sugary beverages is just one way the healthcare organization can promote the community to lead a healthier lifestyle.

“I think the primary reason was very similar to when our organization made a commitment to remove tobacco from campus. Bottom line is, as a rural hospital, we are a healthcare organization trying to help people not get sick and have them get better,” he said. “Sugar-sweetened beverages don’t help people get better, and in many cases, it’s contrary to that.”

St. Luke’s has room service delivery for its patients, so in redesigning the patient’s menus to no longer include sugar-sweetened beverages, Branovan said the hospital used the opportunity to completely overhaul the entire menu – including more healthier items and the items that are most popular with patients, and removing the unpopular or more unhealthy options.

“Drinking regular soda or other sugary drinks are the norm for many patients, so it’s often a no-brainer to them when we point out that these drinks only contain empty calories,” said Stacy Colich, a clinical dietitian in nutrition department at St. Luke’s. “Water or calorie-free beverages save someone 200-250 calories per bottle or can, and those who regularly drink sweetened beverages and switch to unsweetened could lose a pound to a half of a pound in weight loss in one week.”

Colich said when she is helping patients with their weight-loss efforts, cutting out sugary-beverages is usually the first step.

“Most people say they could probably switch to unsweetened beverages. The indirect and long-term outcomes are always positive because people really see improvements in their health; they experience weight loss and in those with diabetes, their blood sugar levels improve,” she said.

Both Branovan and Colich believe that eliminating sugary beverages and bringing in more healthy food for both employees and patients will become increasingly more common all over the country in years to come, and so far, for the most part, employees and patients have been very receptive to the change at the hospital.

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