Children’s Clinic Officially Renamed Krispy Kreme Challenge Clinic
Handing over a big chunk of money to a hospital often earns donors naming rights to clinics and centers. That’s why there’s a Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital and a Priscilla and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. The University of North Carolina hospital system has followed suit, but with a name change that some feel conflicts with providing patient care.
The former N.C. Children’s Specialty Clinic officially became the Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic last week, according to a press release from UNC Health Care, which is affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
To be clear, the hospital isn’t affiliated with the Krispy Kreme Corporation, but instead the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a race of sorts that bills itself as a “test of physical fitness and gastrointestinal fortitude.” Challengers run 2.5 miles, consume 12 doughnuts, and then run another 2.5 miles, all within one hour. And yes, vomiting often occurs after running with a belly full of 2,400 calories of fried dough, not to mention 120 grams of sugar.
Founded by North Carolina State undergraduates in 2004, the Krispy Kreme Challenge has been sending proceeds from the race to the hospital since 2006. To date, they’ve raised $1 million and have pledged to raise an additional $1 million by 2020. Krispy Kreme doesn’t fund the event, but it is listed as a sponsor.
Although a runner might be able to burn off the deluge of calories consumed during the race, encouraging the average kid to chow down on doughnuts could place them on the path to childhood obesity. Doctors have lambasted university officials for promoting junk food in a facility designed to keep kids healthy, calling it “free advertising” for the sugary treats.
“Peddling sugar to children, particularly when we have an epidemic of pediatric obesity and metabolic syndrome, is a flagrant conflict of interest,” Robert Lustig told MedPage Today.
Although you might be hard-pressed to find another children’s hospital with junk food in its name, plenty of fast-food options are available inside hospitals across the country. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Chick-fil-A pepper hospital halls as alternatives to cafeteria food in 14 states. The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine found that in some hospitals, staff are compelled to “make every reasonable effort to increase the sales” in these restaurants, or that the hospitals receive more money when the chains thrive.
But that’s beginning to change. The Cleveland Clinic, known as the No. 1 hospital for heart disease in the country, shut down its McDonald’s in September, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles recently rid itself of the fast-food joint as well.
Hospital officials at UNC say the name change does not mean they will begin pumping kids full of donuts. A spokersperson told Gawker that the criticism is overblown and that linking the Krispy Kreme title to corporate sponsorship is an “erroneous assumption.”
“Regardless of the criticism, we are proud to honor [the Krispy Kreme Challenge organizers] and grateful for their commitment to help sick children in their community,” a spokesperson confirmed.
Related stories on TakePart:
• You're Going to Need a New Lame Joke: Hospital Food Isn't Awful Anymore
• Here’s What Happened When a Guy in Amsterdam Quit Sugar for a Month
Original article from TakePart
