Hospital staff partake of breakfast goodness

During a busy morning, it's easy to let breakfast fall low on your list of priorities, but taking just a few minutes to have something to eat can really make a difference to your day. Medical practitioners and administrators at the Bustamante Hospital for Children in St Andrew all confirmed this fact, during Nestle's #ShareBreakfast

Goodness campaign stop at the hospital.

According to Rachel Nembhard, dietician at the children's hospital, breakfast helps to keep persons more focused throughout the day. "Breakfast provides the body with fuel after an overnight fast. That's where its name originates, breaking the fast. Without breakfast, you are effectively running on empty. However, skipping breakfast happens to all of us, it's like trying to start the car without gas," Nembhard said.

As a leading nutrition and wellness company, NestlÈ continues to embrace its responsibility to provide information that consumers need to make healthier lifestyles. The Bustamante Children's Hospital was chosen to be a part of NestlÈ's #ShareBreakfastGoodness because, as health practitioners, NestlÈ is ensuring that they assist in reducing the risks of developing diabetes, hypertension, obesity and other non-communicable diseases.

Anthony Wood, chief executive officer at the Bustamante Hospital for Children, was pleased with the partnership Nestle had undertaken with the institution. "Every single staff here appreciates this gesture. It is an excellent partnership because it is important for us to understand the importance and the benefits of having breakfast. The response has been good, as it encourages our staff to practise a healthy lifestyle," Wood said.

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Breakfast is the most important meal, acknowledged Denese Dacres-Reeves, but it was unfortunate that, depending on what her work morning entailed, she far too often ended up forgetting to eat. "I pack breakfast and take it to work, but when I get here and start working I completely forget, until I feel really hungry and realise that I have not eaten," she said.

Shawna Kidd, corporate communications and consumer services manager at Nestle, said the initiative highlighted the importance of making breakfast a part of everyone's daily routine. "Eating a healthy breakfast every day militates against diseases and illnesses. The Nestle team offers guidance on how to adjust your lifestyle with good food, and for you to have a good life," Kidd said.

All staff members, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and administrative staff, learnt about quick, easy and delicious ways to prepare breakfast meals using Nestle products. They were also given free health checks and nutrition education information.

Meanwhile, each participant also received a #ShareBreakfastGoodness box filled with Nestle products to be used to nourish themselves and their families.

keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com