"The Ronan Report" provides insight about the activities at the Western Maryland Health System in Cumberland, Maryland, and about the changes taking place in healthcare today from a CEO's perspective.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Nanny Bloomberg?

Mayor Bloomberg of NYC has recently been renamed “Nanny Bloomberg” after beginning the prohibition of large sugary drinks being sold in his city.  Quite honestly, my intention in this blog was to criticize the Mayor for his action and ask, "Doesn’t he have more important things to deal with then to tell us what we can and cannot consume?"  I then remembered about a year ago walking through the health system's atrium dining area and seeing an extremely obese forty-something woman who was a double amputee and nearly blind sitting in a wheelchair pulled up to a table eating the biggest sweet roll  that I have ever seen.   My reaction was if people are not going to help themselves then we are going to have to do our part.  We have since adjusted our menu with much healthier choices and have significantly reduced the number of less healthy options that we make available in our Cafeteria.  So, in a way, I am restricting an individual's choice by limiting those unhealthy options in our facility with the same idea in mind as that of Mayor Bloomberg. 

As a society, we cannot sustain the amount of unhealthy living that is occurring daily.  If individuals are not going to be responsible for their own well being, then we are going to have to help them.  There is a lot more at stake for hospitals in the near future as we will be incentivized to ensure that the population we serve continues on an ever improving wellness track.  In the event that there is a decline in the health of our population, the hospital will be penalized.  So, in closing, I have become what is known in political circles as a "flip-flopper."  I have come 180 degrees in my opinion of Mayor Bloomberg's latest edict in a matter of minutes.

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