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The Advocate Sherman Hospital in the city of Elgin, Ill. (43.6% Latino) is the only hospital in the area that is offering the community healthier options, and now they are also taking a step forward to educate the community about the health risks of drinking sugary beverages. Since 2015, Advocate Sherman Hospital joined all hospitals in the Advocate Health Care system to offer healthier drinks in their hospitals giving patients, visitors and employees more low-sugar or no-sugar options.
As part of the efforts to reduce consumption of sugary beverages like soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks, community outreach efforts to educate the public on the amount of sugar in beverages have also taken effect. People like Luis Villalobos, a nursing assistant with Advocate Sherman Hospital have reached out to educate kids and parents at community events about the amounts of sugar in popular drinks.
Tonya Lucchetti-Hudson, director of public affairs and marketing for the hospital explained to the Chicago Tribune that they are proud to be a part of the growing trend of more than 20 other U.S. health systems and hospitals offering healthier beverage options.
Latino kids often consume more sweet drinks, studies show, and lowering the consumption of these drinks may help lower these life-threatening health risks.
Joan Kanute, the executive director of service excellence and population health explained that the Advocate Health Care Hospitals should always lead the way and be the role model because many people don’t realize the amount of sugar they consume in sports drinks and other drinks that are marketed to be “healthy” drinks.
A Mountain Dew can contain up to 77 grams of sugar, and other popular drinks like this consumed on a daily basis, have been linked to higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
Kanute also works as a dietitian and encourages everyone to see the healthy choice as the easy choice and to hydrate without the extra sugar by drinking water daily.
By The Numbers
1
Supermarket
for every Latino neighborhood, compared to 3 for every non-Latino neighborhood
