TowerScope Volume 15, Issue Nr. 12, December 1978

              SAINT JOSEPH HOSPITAL, DENVER, COLORADO
VOLUME 15, NUMBER 12, DECEMBER, 1978
Was
Grandma
Right?
G,
OPERATING ROOM STAFF MEMBERS CAREFULLY, BUT QUICKLY TAKE AN OPEN
HEART PATIENT FROM SURGERY TO THE CORONARY CARE UNIT FOR CON-
STANT POST-SURGERY MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE. (SEE INTENSIVE
CARE UNIT-CORONARY CARE UNIT PHOTO FEATURE ON PAGE 4 )
randma may have qualified as
an expert on good eating, but when it
came to "safe" eating, she often played
a chancy game. Which is about the
best that could be expected from
anyone who had little but hearsay to
guide her. Listed below are some
common beliefs about food safety that
were handed down to us. Are they
valid? Or merely old wives' tales? In
trying to decide, don't underestimate
Grandma. She wasn't always wrong.
TRUE OR FALSE?
1. Ptomaine poisoning is another
name for food poisoning.
2.  "Salting" uncooked meat helps
keep it from spoiling.
3.  The green patches found on
potatoes could be poisonous.
4. Refrigerated leftovers are always
safe to eat.
5.  Hot foods should be cooled at
room temperature before they are put
in the refrigerator.
6.  Uncooked ground meat should
not be kept, even under refrigeration,
more than two days before use.
7. Damaged or dented cans of food
should be rejected.
8.  Rhubarb leaves are poisonous.
9. Tin and aluminum cooking uten-
sils can spoil the foods cooked in them.
10. In cooking, it's safer to use water
from the cold water tap than from the
hot water tap.
11. Cherries and milk are poisonous
when eaten together.
12. It's not necessary to throw away
eggs that come to you cracked.
13.  Oysters caught in any month
without the letter "R" in it should not
be eaten.
14.  Food stored in an open can
becomes poisonous.
15.  There's a good chance you
might get trichinosis from eating pork.
16. Food on which mold has formed
is poisonous.
17.  Poultry should be stuffed just
prior to cooking, and never ahead of
time.
18. Raw cucumbers should never be
eaten without salt.
19.  Unsafe foods can always be
clearly identified by either the way they
look or smell.
20.  A tiny taste of contaminated
food can't hurt you.
PLEASE SEE PAGE 2
Drop
by DropS
he Blook Bank reports
Management Services is leading the
employee blood donor contest with 20
percent participation as of Nov. 30.
You still have until Jan. 20 to donate.
Following are additional department
percentages for blood donations:
Pharmacy, Central Services - 18
percent; Personnel, Accounting and
Payroll, Financial Services - 11 per-
cent; Laboratory -11 percent; Surgery
- 9 percent; Emergency Room, Minor
Surgery, Employee Health, Out-
patient - 8 percent; 5 Center - 7
percent; Admissions, Information and
Switchboard - 7 percent.
10 North/10 South - 6 percent;
Delivery Room - 6 percent; Communi-
ty Relations, Medical Education,
Education - 6 percent; Administration -
6 percent; 7 North - 5 percent; 8 North
- 5 percent; 9 North - 5 percent; .
Physical Therapy - 5 percent; Medical
Records - 5 percent; Cafeteria - 4
percent; Recovery Room,
Anesthesiology - 4 percent; ICU-CCU
- 4 percent; 3 South - 3 percent; X-ray -
3 percent; Intensive Care Nursery - 3
percent.
N
I ursing administration, staff
development - 3 percent; Nuclear
Medicine, Radiation Therapy, Ultra-
Sound, C.V. Lab, specials, CAT scan,
EKG, EEG, Research, PSRO and GI
Lab - 2 percent; interns and residents -
1 percent; Environmental Services -1
percent; and staff physicians - 2
donors.