Dietitian Gives Doctors a Taste of Food They Prescribe for Patients

A number of doctors at UCI Medical Center in Orange are getting a taste of their own medicine, so to speak, by being fed food they prescribe for patients.

“I’m not sure all the doctors know what we prepare, what it looks like or how it tastes,” said dietitian Kelly Cordill. “We’re particularly interested in introducing residents and medical students to the hospital food so they’ll know what they’re ordering for patients.”

In the first of four lunches, doctors were fed a low-calorie meal of lasagna, bread, fruit and nonfat milk.

The second meal included two meat balls and rice.

Dr. Steve Washburn, a resident orthopedic surgeon from Huntington Beach, after eating the slim pickings on his plate, noted “It’s not spectacular, but it’s OK.”

Other luncheons will include a pediatric meal of a hot dog and chocolate milk and another will include a puree for patients who can’t chew and have to be fed through a tube. Washburn said he would show up for the puree meal, but would not commit himself on whether he would eat it.

“This will give doctors a chance to experience what it means to eat through a tube,” said Cordill. “Dietitians have to taste and experience all the food in their training and we want doctors to know the same thing. We also want them to come to us if they have questions about diets they prescribe.”

Dr. Kenneth Waxman, an attending general surgeon, said the program “is an intelligent thing to do.”

Anaheim resident Kenneth Tyler, 75, will be curbside today watching the 10th annual Antique and Classic Car Parade as it passes through Santa Ana and he wanted folks to know that if they think prices on new cars are high, they ought to know what older cars cost. “I had a 1925 Model T that cost $660 new and now it’s worth $10,000 old,” he said.

Tuffy Titan, Cal State Fullerton’s mascot elephant who is the school’s answer to San Diego’s chicken, needs a new body. Sharon Bowman, 21, of Fullerton, who earlier was selected for the role over a number of candidates and was the first female named, dropped out of the school and gave up the role, but university spokesman Mark Landon said auditions will be held in early September to fill the vacancy. “We’ll be looking for someone wild and crazy,” he said.

Van France, who created the University of Disneyland to introduce new employees to the fun park, was reminiscing the other day at the annual meeting of the Anaheim Museum and told the assembled group that when the park opened in 1955, “a big day was 3,000 customers.” Today, said a Disneyland spokesman, “40,000 is a big day.”

Acknowledgments--Helen Lyons, Stina Wolf and Evelin Alleman, each with 14,000 volunteer hours, were among 200 members honored by the South Coast Medical Center Auxiliary. . .