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

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

That is very strange. I have rosacea, and plastic surgery was never mentioned as any kind of treatment. (I would imagine that the rosacea would return, anyway.) There's an antibiotic ointment that is applied to the face to treat rosacea, plus you have to stay out of the sun, wear hats, and try to avoid any triggers. Plastic surgery isn't going to fix a recurring problem.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I have rosacea too. The deal with plastic surgery is that sometimes you can wind up with little vein-like red lines on your face that don't go away with treatment. Those can be removed surgically... but why?

[dafna]

Especially when makeup is so much cheaper. :)