Grr.

[rivka]

In a main hallway of the hospital where I work, there's a health promotion office. They have run some nice mini-programs - seated massage days, smoking cessation, exercise classes, an indoor walking trail they've laid out through the hospital - and they have a big display window that they use for educational displays on stroke symptoms, childhood asthma, et cetera.

It's a nice place, so imagine my shock when I walked by the display window today and saw a new poster: "Appearance matters! Don't let yours be ruined by imperfections." Accompanied, of course, by a picture of a thin white woman looking into a mirror. There was also a list of things that could "ruin" your appearance - sun spots, spider veins, rosacea - and some glowing words about plastic surgery.

I hesitated for a moment, and then walked into the office. As soon as I opened my mouth, I realized that I should've taken a few minutes to plan out what to say. After a little bit of stumbling, I came up with this:

Me: "This is a health promotion office, right?"
Health Promotion Woman: "Yes...?"
Me: "I was concerned about the poster in the window that doesn't seem to have any other purpose except to cause body image problems."
HPW: "You mean the..."
Me: "The 'appearance matters' one.
HPW: "Well, that's from our plastic surgery department. It's not meant to say that appearance is more important than who you are on the inside, it's just that some people are looking to make changes to their appearance..."
Me: "It's one thing to provide information to people who are interested in plastic surgery, but the poster actually tries to create body image dissatisfaction. It tells people to worry more about how they look."
HPW: "..."
Me: "I wanted to express my concern."
HPW: "I'll pass that on to them."

Afterwards, I realized that I should have challenged her "I'll pass that on to them." If her job is to promote healthy behaviors to patients, visitors, and staff, then she is ultimately responsible for unhealthy propaganda posted in her window.

I think I'll wait a few days, and then send a letter if the poster is still being displayed.

Grr.

Comments

[elusis.livejournal.com]

It seems particularly anachronistic to display ANY kind of plastic surgery propaganda in a health promotion office. I suppose one for breast reconstruction post-mastectomy might impact mental health, but otherwise...

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Um. Yeah.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I suppose one for breast reconstruction post-mastectomy might impact mental health, but otherwise...

I know that there are plastic surgery charities that send doctors to impoverished places in the developing world to do things like facial reconstructions for disfiguring burns, or cleft lip and palate corrections. I would have been delighted to see a poster highlighting something like that.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Is the hospital associated with anything like that?

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

Plastic surgery for reconstruction after a disfiguring auto accident is another good use for plastic surgery -- that has almost nothing to do with that poster.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Yes, excellent, let's display that. But the whole "fix surface blemishes that annoy you because they deviate from the ideal" thing? Not. Health.