Make sure hospital stay doesn’t leave you sicker

Going to the hospital isn’t supposed to make you sicker. But for an alarmingly high number of Americans, it does.

Medical errors occur during as many as one of every three hospital stays, and about 7 percent of those patients die or are permanently harmed as a result, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs.

Health-care facilities bear the bulk of the responsibility for preventing hospital-acquired infections, medication mix-ups and other errors by adhering to evidence-based best practices.

The federal government has stepped up its efforts to prevent errors by refusing to reimburse hospitals for the extra costs associated with certain hospital-acquired conditions and by making public individual hospitals’ rates of these conditions. In addition, the Obama administration announced this month it is working with hospitals and private insurers on a new initiative that aims to cut preventable medical errors by 40 percent over the next three years.

There are also things patients can do to reduce their risk of being the victim a medical error. Here are a few tips from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, as well as local and national patient safety groups:

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A New Night Club

The Bar Man, Chicago
richunger@promotingnightclubs.com

Is there really a need for your casual dining, your sports bar, your neighborhood bar,  your ultra lounge, your beach bar, your nightclub, your on the water bar? For your information, America is overbuilt with food and beverage, as well as beverage only establishments

"Whomever rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only

human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."

What are you going to bring to the bar, serve at the table that nobody else is? Owners and managers use this word "ideas", it's not about "ideas" you need specific, planned, step by step, addressing every single "a to z" part of packing your bar. You don't wait till the last week before your planned "night" to all of a sudden hang a computer generated flyer, post it on your face book page and then hope and cope with whomever shows up. When you do wise up to the fact that there is, as I have said for 40 years, a "method to the promotion madness".

"Venus" By Shocking Blue

I saw a staff meeting where the owner/general manager did not use any leadership skills, any take charge techniques. The meeting turned into more of a social gathering, than a serious sit down addressing all of the issues this food/beverage operation is facing. So instead of taking on a serious tone, it turned into a laugh fest. Nothing accomplished, a total waste of time. and you wonder why you have no consistency in your day to day format?

Now a new concept of a Latin Night Club on Oahu. Sounds a bit far fetched.

Roasted Radish and Potato Salad (and the Mother's Day Giveaway Winners!)

Do you love radishes as much as I do? One of my favorite ways to serve them for company is an idea I got from Ina Garten ages ago: stems on,  with a dish of sea salt, accompanied by a baguette with herb butter. Sheer heaven. Or how about a toasted slice of grain bread, slathered with some unsalted butter and topped with some sliced radishes and sea salt? Perfect on a summer's day. When I lived in Michigan, my garden was chock full of radishes. I used to yank them out of the ground, rinse them off with a garden hose and eat them then and there. Now I have to buy them at the farmer's market or Fresh Market. 

The other day I was blog-crawling and came across a couple marvelous radish recipes from Cathy at Noble Pig. One was for a radish tart and the other for a roasted radish and potato salad. I decided to try the salad first and if I loved it, the tart would follow shortly after. One thing I loved about this recipe was Cathy used the radish greens...which usually find their way into the trash at my house. They're gritty little things and take a lot of rinsing, but it's well worth the effort. Radish greens have a slightly bitter taste, but then so does arugula and I love that. If you don't like arugula, you just might not like radish greens. Then go ahead and use any greens you want. But please rinse a couple off and try them first.

Now as far as the roasted radishes are concerned, I could kick myself! It just never occurred to me to roast radishes. I did some serious re-thinking on the subject after I came across an article HERE. So I thought: I roast every other veggie, why not radishes? As it turns out, they taste rather like very mild turnips. The texture, surprisingly, was like a potato. And when the radish greens are mixed in (while the potatoes and radishes are still warm, please) and then dressed with this simple vinaigrette, you're going to be astounded. It was fabulous. You'll be making this over and over this summer. And if you're lucky enough to have radishes in your garden, be sure to roast them and try them with other dishes. What a find this recipe is. Thank you Cathy!                                                                          

Roasted Radish and Potato Salad

From Cuisine at Home via Noble Pig

Ingredients:
1 lb. radishes, trimmed and quartered (reserve greens)
1 lb new potatoes, quartered
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:
Preheat oven to 425^o F with a large baking sheet inside.

Toss radishes, potatoes, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper in a large bowl to coat.  Transfer mixture to hot baking sheet in oven.  Roast until golden, 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through roasting. 

In the meantime, wash radish greens in several changes of cold water and spin dry.  For the vinaigrette whisk together vinegar, 3 Tablespoons oil, Dijon, parsley and dill in a bowl until combined; season with salt and pepper.  Stir radish greens into roasted radishes and potatoes and add vinaigrette.

And now for the winners of the Mother's Day Giveaway!
Congratulations to:

Susan from Savoring Time in the Kitchen  (Heidi's book)

Joanne from Eats Well With Others (Heidi's book)
Barbara from Barbara Bakes (Kim's book)
T.W. Barritt from Culinary Types (Kim's book)

Please email me at bsmithw@gmail.com and give me your addresses so I can get them into the mail to you ASAP!

Smoking ban could expand

Smokers could no longer light up legally in any part of the municipal park system under a proposal city officials are considering.

If enacted in full, the ban would cover all outdoor areas across a system that encompasses about 175 parks and other recreational facilities, including greenways and trails.

Cone Health Foundation recently asked the city parks and recreation commission to make the system “100 percent tobacco free” in line with findings by the Office of the Surgeon General and Centers for Disease Control on the dangers of secondhand smoke.

“We have more than 4,000 acres of beautiful public parks in Greensboro,” said Susan F. Shumaker, foundation president. “Our policies should protect the right to breathe safely and promote using these healthy parks.”

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American Regional- Deep South

We had Friday off this week because of Easter, so American Regional had a shortened menu since we only had one day. We were exploring the Deep South this week and the menu included items such as Watermelon and Watercress Salad, Southern Fried Chicken and Cream Gravy, Fried Green Tomatoes, Slow Cooked Greens, Shrimp Perloo, Vidalia Onion Tart (Can we say YUM???), Peanut Brittle, and Peach Cobbler. There were four groups and each group was to prepare half the menu, with every group making fried chicken.



No one's fried chicken came out perfectly because either the oil was too hot, in some cases, or not hot enough in others. When the oil was too hot, the outside got too dark and the inside wasn't cooked through. In the opposite circumstance, the inside was finished before the outside crisped up and it got very greasy. We didn't use the deep fryer because it would have destroyed the oil, and instead used pans on the stove. This was the difficulty in keeping the oil at the proper temperature. We should have used a candy thermometer to temp the oil before frying.

I, personally, prepared the Peach Cobbler. I'm from Ohio and the Northern version of peach cobbler is much different than the Southern version we prepared. In the Northern version, the peaches are layered in the bottom of a pan after being tossed with sugar, cinnamon, and flour and then topped with a sticky, almost biscuit-like dough that is dropped by spoonfuls on top. In the Southern version, we prepared a pie crust for the top and the bottom that was to be filled with the peach mixture.

Since this was the only dish I was assigned, I decided to make the most of it and make it fabulous. I made individual "pies" and then simmered the rest of the peaches until they were extremely soft. I melted some white chocolate, rum, and heavy cream over a double boiler and then pureed it with the peaches. I strained it through a chinois to make a sauce and added a little lemon juice to round out the flavors. I plated this sauce and then chilled them until time to plate the cobbler so there would be a contrast in temperatures. I made a flavored, very thick whipped cream and piped into mounds and froze them with a small heart of pie dough in the center to place on top of the piping hot cobbler so it would melt over the top. I simmered some additional peaches in a simple syrup and arranged them on top of the plated sauce, placed the hot cobbler on top after dipping the top of it in the peach simple syrup for a shine and extra moisture, and then topped it off with the whipped cream mound. It. Was. Delicious! I'm not a huge peach fan but I could have eaten several of these. Apparently so could everyone else because several of my classmates were disappointed because they didn't even get one bite. I would definitely call that a success.

Not So Good

Club Dancer the blog is definitely falling behind in the hits. We get plenty of routine flyer kind of information but no real contacts. I get what I can but not enough enthusiasm from the potential beneficiaries.

"We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it."

So it is imperative that I look for more people that can use a little free publicity with a little kokua in the process. Of course, some are worried about the eventual cost which is pretty normal in the business nowadays. So they must understand that a blog is not the case, specially a blog that was designed to be Social Media.

I get good kokua from Kapolei Chapter, HBDA, with very good results in the Platinum Horseshoe blog. Perhaps I could visit Kalihi Chapter and see if we could develop a better contact, get them more publicity and run up more hits for Club Dancer.

"Are You Ready?" By Pacific Gas and Electric

Perhaps I can get Parents Without Partners again, they used to be a couple blocks from where I lived. That's on Tuesday, so I have the possibility of getting to Washington Intermediate and then the Belly Dancers at Al Franz Studio on the same trip to town.

Then Sharon Liu may have something going steady in May, I just get routine flyers. I could find a way to get some photos and a few quotes to make a nice write up. And with classes at Arthur Murray it would be a double blessing for all concerned.

I haven't been able to get to Honolulu Club for Greg's Salsa session, but I have to get it in soon. I had the day free Friday but Thursday I spent three hours on a round trip to Aliamanu for nothing. Then I have another, HBDA at Aliamanu for Saturday. I can rest on Sunday.

Town Dancer blog is still leading the pack way out in front of whatever is is second place. I have put my blogging for Town Dancer down to level 3 and they are doing just fine.

Then I have the new one, Baile Mestizo, covering the Latin dances and that is going to take some work. Many places in Waikiki and in town that have live bands, play Latin music. It has always been there.

And ordinary night club dancers make various attempts at dancing what they think is Latin. Of course you also have the ones that are good social Latin dancers too. At any rate the music that the entire crowd enjoys. Now if the band can take a one minute break, (like the old times) it would give the dancers  a little time to take a sip or two from the drinks already on the table.

With Baile Mestizo, we expect to put out more information about the Latin dances and perhaps there will be a night club with that specialty soon.

Happy Easter!

I'd also like to wish a Happy Passover to all my Jewish friends and readers!  

PLEASE  CHECK  OUT  MY  MOTHER'S  DAY  GIVEAWAY HERE! (Winners announced Monday, April 25.)