Addressing the Nutrition Gap in Medical Care

The following letter was submitted to The Cape Gazette on January 28 with 52 endorsers. 5 others have been added since original publication making 57 endorsers. The Open Letter was published online with 10 signatures on January 31, but not in a print edition of the paper that we are aware of. Rachel Swick Mavity, writer for the Cape Gazette, followed up with the article above.

We encourage you to make your voice heard regarding the benefits of Plant-Based eating by contacting The Cape Gazette at  newsroom@capegazette.com and/or Jeff Fried at jfried@bbmc.org . 

An Open letter to Beebe Medical Center

We celebrate the news of Beebe Medical Center’s Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence and applaud your current health initiatives to make Sussex County one of the healthiest in the nation.  Despite these accolades, there remains an issue of great concern.

Beebe Medical Center has demonstrated in its treatment of patients that it does not recognize the critical connection between diet and chronic diseases even though it is an established fact that cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and some forms of cancer can be prevented and even reversed by dietary change. 

We are a group of residents of Sussex County Delaware who have discovered what has been known but largely ignored for decades--that diet has a dramatic impact on health. Following Bill Clinton’s example, many of us are choosing to eat a Plant-Based Diet rather than the Standard American Diet of meat, dairy, sugar, white flour and oil.  The results have been phenomenal:  dramatic weight loss, lowered blood pressure and cholesterol, elimination of medications and increased energy.  These extraordinary results are being obtained across the nation as more and more individuals take charge of their own health through dietary change.

We need and support our community hospital and its medical staff and employees. But to make Sussex one of the healthiest counties in the nation, we believe that nutritional education toward dietary change is vital--for patients, for medical staff and for the community. We urge the introduction of intensive and sustained nutritional counseling as an essential component in the hospital’s standard of care.  To this end we advocate hospital-wide nutritional education and support for all medical staff and employees. Ideally, community nutritional education and support would follow.

We realize that dietary change is not easy, but it is vitally important in the achievement and maintenance of good health.  Without such change the efforts of Beebe Medical Center to improve the health of Sussex County residents can never be more than marginally effective.

We stand ready to help Beebe Medical Center bring dietary change and good health to the residents of our extended community.

Sincerely,

Dorothy P. Greet                                                                                      28 January 2013

Co-signers - OPEN LETTER TO BEEBE MEDICAL CENTER

Kathleen Baker, Rehoboth Beach               Ruth M. Barnett, Lewes

Rich Barry, Millsboro                                   Sue Barry, Millsboro

Linda Blumner, Lewes                                  Sue A. Brown, Rehoboth Beach

Brenda Butterfield, Rehoboth Beach           Carmela Coleman, Rehoboth Beach

John V. Coleman, Rehoboth Beach              Mel Dole, Clarksville

Barb Donelan, Lewes                                    Rita M. Zassenhaus Dubow, Millville

Denise Emery, Lewes                                    Janice Erich, Lewes

Bill Fintel, Lewes                                           Sally W. Fintel, Lewes

Bob Gallagher, Lewes                                   June Gallagher, Lewes

Susan Goudy, Rehoboth Beach                     David L. Greer, Lewes

Rachel Grier-Reynolds, Lewes                     Gretchen Hanson, Rehoboth Beach

Patricia Haddock, Georgetown                     Mary Harris, Lewes

Gail Hauswirth, Lewes                                   Diane Issel, Lewes

Cindy Johnson, Rehoboth Beach                   Clarissa Johnson, Lewes

Keith V. Kiernan, Lewes                                Barbee Kiker, Rehoboth Beach

John Kiker, Rehoboth Beach                         Janet Koch, Rehoboth Beach

Gerald A. Lechliter, Lewes                            Leslie Lantz, Clarksville

Polly Magargal, Lewes                                   Chuck Mezger, Lewes

Rob Morgan, Lewes                                       Barbara Mullin, Lewes

Joyce Pepper, Georgetown                             Edith Shanahan, Lewes

Elaine S. Simmerman, Lewes                          Rosanne Smith, Rehoboth Beach

JoAnn Szczepkowski, Rehoboth Beach          Don Szczepkowski, Rehoboth Beach

Judy K. Turner, Rehoboth Beach                   Eileen VanDyke, Long Neck

Thomas F. Warner, Bethany Beach               Philip P. Wheeler, Millsboro

Caryl Ekirch Williams, Lewes                        George B. Williams, Lewes

Kit Zak, Lewes                                                Johanna Barbati, Lewes

Scherrie Barry, Georgetown                           Bill Barry, Georgetown

Jim Henriksen, Lewes                                    Judy Henriksen, Lewes