Saying goodbye to my DIET soda?

Yesterday was it. I'm quitting Diet Pepsi.

I'm doing this in support of our "Soda Free Summer" campaign, and also in light of some new information about what sweet sodas actually do to you...and by "you", I mean "me."

First, you may have heard recently on the news about Santa Clara County's ongoing effort to convince more families to go soda-free this summer. What you may not know is that the VMC Foundation is the fiscal agent of this campaign, working with Kaiser, our public health department and the Bay Area Nutrition and Physical Activity Collaborative.

The plan is simple: Educate folks about how sodas fuel the raging childhood obesity epidemic, can lead to diabetes and oh-by-the-way, have no nutritional value. A 20-oz bottle of Coke has 17 teaspoons of sugar! As Santa Clara County Board President Ken Yeager said on the news earlier this week, "It's like opening your mouth and spooning in 17 teaspoons of sugar. Nobody in their right mind is going to do that."

No, of course they wouldn't (but they do). "But Chris," I hear you saying, "You said you were giving up DIET sodas...they have no calories and no sugar!"

A Fair point. HOWEVER...it turns out that diet sodas have their own problems, beyond not really knowing what the artificial sweeteners do long-term. "When you drink that much ultra-sweet soda," explains Dr. Rami Keisari, VMC pediatrician, "it seems your body gets used to and craves more sweets...and not just desserts, but also starches. They can make it very hard to lose weight."

Now THAT is a problem I understand! And I know it's true for me - I practically live on carbohydrates, and I can't seem to stop.

So I'm putting down the diet sodas, which I've guzzled since High School. I'll let you know if it helps me lose weight, and if you care to come along with me on this journey, let me know if it works for you. Together, let's make it a SODA-FREE SUMMER!

Our report to the community...VMC 2.0!

Welcome to VMC 2.0 – the most comprehensive and best-looking publication the VMC Foundation has ever produced.

We’re not just proud of this report, of course…we’re proud of the men and women of Valley Medical Center who spend their lives saving ours every day. We’re proud of the innovations that make VMC a world-class medical center, and probably the finest public hospital in the state.

We’re proud of the fact that, after nine consecutive years of budget cuts, we’re still able to serve our community…and those same nine years have seen the patient population grow and grow.

…but you, alert “Wilderside” reader, already know that.

What you may not know is the value proposition that VMC provides the taxpayers of Santa Clara County – but you will when you see page 33. You may not have seen the breath-taking renderings of our “new VMC” that’s being built as we speak – but you will if you look at 44.

And you may not know what VMC is doing to prepare for health care reform…so please, take a few moments to peruse VMC 2.0. I think you’ll find it a beautiful and educational publication. Let’s face it: Not all the media attention VMC has received this year has been positive…and to be frank, not all has been accurate. This report, in part, helps tell the full story.

A huge thanks to The Health Trust and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal for assistance in getting VMC 2.0 released, and to PRx Inc. for making it look so beautiful.

As always, if you have questions about what you’re reading, call me any time at 408-885-5299. If what you learn has you considering a donation to support our work, well then we’ve done our job! Thanks so much.

"Pedaling what they preach"...

Leah Toeniskoetter is not just a board member of the VMC Foundation, and not just the most recent Chair Emeritus...she's also a die-hard cyclist.

How die-hard? She rides her tires off every year in one of the world's most treacherous bike races: The Death Ride.

Leah does this to raise much-needed money for the VMC Foundation's "Turning Wheels for Kids" program, which provides new bikes to children in low-income families. This is great for their health, their self-esteem and their sense of independence.

Leah's energy is catching: She now has a huge team of "Death Riders", and if you want to hear more from this young dynamic leader on why she does it, she just appeared on Carl Guardino's CEO Show on KLIV Radio, along with Sunpower CEO Tom Werner. Check it out here, and if you would, join me in supporting Leah's efforts!

The man they call “Sweden’s Christopher Reeve” visited Valley Medical Center today. Claes Hulting, M.D.(find him on Facebook) is consulting with the Palo Alto VA, about his dream of 20+ years ago to build the world’s greatest spinal cord injury rehabilitation center.

Many say he’s done it, and predictably, it took a combination of private donations and new thinking. Dr. Hutling was injured in 1984, and his doctors immediately told him he should not follow through with his marriage (planned for two weeks later) because he’d just be a vegetable. Shocking and outrageous, yes, but it set him on a path to create Spinalis.

Spinalis is his amazing rehab center in Sweden which looks more like a Silicon Valley tech company. Bright colors, elliptical corridors, a huge central kitchen, tables that bolt to the ceiling (great for users of wheelchairs), and a vibrant atmosphere that makes you think you’re in Google’s café rather than a hospital. “I wanted a Studio 54 feel”, he told VMC’s assembled physicians this morning.

That “feel” begat media coverage, more grant funding, and allowed him to spread his methodology of healing – summed up best by Iggy Pop’s immortal “Lust for Life”. “As time goes by,” Dr. Hulting told us, “I’m less interested in the body and more interested in the mind” as it relates to life beyond a spinal cord injury.

So here’s the good news: We’ve been operating with the same philosophy for decades at Valley Medical Center, which is partly why we’re a nationally-recognized rehabilitation destination. Better news: VMC’s rehab center is moving in a couple years to the new wing we’re building as a result of 2008’s “Measure A” passing.

The best news: We have an opportunity to incorporate many of the great ideas that Dr. Hulting shared with us today…but like his Spinalis center, the “New VMC Rehab Center” will need private philanthropy and partnership to reach its full potential. The alert reader of this blog will remember that we’re already out in front on patient technology access, and in fact Dr. Steve McKenna simul-cast today’s lecture to the VA Hospital, but there’s so much potential.

So, if you are able and interested in helping create our own “Spinalis” concept right here in Silicon Valley, contact me and let’s talk!

VMC Foundation music video launches internal giving campaign

I am thrilled to announce that the 2010 Give a Booster Shot campaign officially launches today!

Give a Booster Shot is our annual employee giving campaign, and it’s a great way for Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System staff to invest in VMC by making a donation to the VMC Foundation.

To show you that I will do anything to earn the support of hospital employees, we put together a little video to promote the campaign.





This year’s campaign is all about showing your love for VMC and HHS. If you’re an HHS employee (and even if you’re not, but just want a dose of fun), please visit the http://bit.ly/dfq5EF and make your donation today.

Now, let’s just take a step back here…

Yesterday, a Mercury News story said some disparaging things about Valley Medical Center, and while I don’t often get into these kinds of things, I just can’t sit idly by and let it go. Not this time.

Because, you see, the story was based on a consultant’s report that wasn’t discussed or accepted by county officials until AFTER the story was published. The discussion yesterday at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting didn’t make the paper, but I was there.

Some of the findings were called into question, by the consultants themselves, and data sets backing up the claims haven’t been released yet. If you read the Mercury News’ story, you’ll remember they claimed that, based on the report:

- VMC is overstaffed
- VMC spends more on salaries as a % of overall expenses than other hospitals
- Births are declining at VMC

That last stat is true, and is true for the entire nation. Welcome to a recession, in the most expensive place in the nation to live! But, let’s step back and remember the two most basic facts I’ve been telling you for some time now:

- VMC’s budget: Reduced nine years in a row
- VMC’s patient population: Increased nine years in a row

VMC is overstaffed? By what metric? I wish I knew whether the hospitals VMC was being compared to had award-winning spinal cord and brain injury programs, or top-level NICU’s. VMC spends more on salaries than other things? Proudly, the VMC Foundation’s generous donors see that expensive devices like Giraffe Beds for infants and linear accelerators for cancer patients are provided, so the county spends less on equipment when times are tough…and it seems they always are.

County Executive Dr. Jeff Smith pointed out yesterday that the report wasn’t meant to imply that VMC was anything less than fantastic. “VMC’s staff work their butts off every day,” he said, “We’re just trying to find ways to be even better, and even more efficient.”

Again, that part didn’t make the paper. And I hope that more efficiency doesn’t mean doctors spending seven minutes on a patient visit. That’s how it was for me before I got here…when my doctor worked for a for-profit system. I’m proud that my VMC doctor takes time with me, and I know the opposite is one of the major frustrations people site when discussing health care. I’m also proud that the care I get is excellent, and that someone with no job and no coverage can get the exact same quality care.

And I know I’m not alone. Our community is justifiably proud of VMC, and amid efforts to make it even better, I will never forget that.

Capping a political week...

Today our Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren paid a visit to Valley Medical Center, a place she knows more about than I do.

That's because, among other reasons, she helped save it.

Back in the mid-90's, there were some who wanted the County of Santa Clara to get out of the medical center business. Zoe, a county supervisor at the time, said, essentially, "nope - that ain't gonna happen" and fought to keep VMC open and available to everyone.

Today, she came to learn about our Medical Legal Partnership Clinic. The alert reader of this blog knows about how we have attorneys from the SV Law Foundation on hand to help our patients with problems that doctors cannot solve. She was really excited about this innovation, and pledged to help us keep the program going.

She's not the only one impressed by VMC's creativity.

Yesterday, we had a visit from Michael Blake, who does intergovernmental affairs for the White House. Yes, THAT White House. He was also blown away by what he heard from our team of doctors, nurses, and administrators who never stop thinking about how to serve Silicon Valley better than the day before. Big thanks to Supervisor Liz Kniss who made sure Mr. Blake came to see VMC during his whirlwind tour of Silicon Valley.

Both Michael and Zoe also had a lot to say about health care reform, but to keep from getting TOO political, let me just say that not all the good news about it has made the papers, and not all of it is even worked out yet. I'll just quote Congresswoman Lofgren who said, about those on the fringes who oppose ANY reform at all: "We're living on the same planet, but we're breathing different air."

Visits like these certainly demonstrate one thing: VMC has a lot to show off, and many of our programs and ideas can (and should) serve as models for medical centers across the nation. Wanna hear more about what VMC is doing? Visit our website and see what's new!