>Hi Arly,
>
>5 Million in formula per year?  Yikes!  When one considers that a can of 32
>oz of formula costs the company about 27 cents to make, thats a lot of
>formula!  I think someone figured that at retail prices, each bo. fed baby
>consumes about $3 worth of formula tops.  Think about it; one bo of glucose
>water, and 6-12 bo. of formula during a typical stay.  If you have 3000
>births per year, and even if you paid .50 per bottle of formula (it's less
>than that, even in the grocery store, I'm sure), you would only be paying
>$18,000/year for formula if you bought it at the Jewel here in Wheaton.  I
>think there is more to this scenario than that.  Has your hospital been doing
>any building lately?  Architectural plans?  Lots of goodies for the docs?
> Hmmm....
>
>I'm concerned because I don't think that most administrations that say "we
>can't afford to pay for the formula" even look realistically at how much it
>would cost the hospital if they had to pay for it, even at top retail prices!
> It wouldn't be that much!
>
>Cheaper than hamburger that the moms are fed, that's for sure.....
>
>Jan B.

Hi Jan:  I never stopped to think about it before.  I'm not sure how many
births, but I ought to be able to look it up without too much problem.
Now, this covers a large percentage of the births in Utah (our corporation
owns several hospitals along the Wasatch Front, where 86.7% of Utah's
births occur).  And, of course, most babies are formula fed in our
hospitals. :-(  The number of births in our corporation therefore will be a
great deal more than 3,000.  Even the middle-sized hospital where I work
has 2,000/year, and several of our hospitals in Salt Lake/Ogden area are
bigger.

But it never occurred to me before to question this figure.   And yes, the
hospital I work in is revamping the maternity wing...

Arly Helm

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