FASHION FILES: BAN ON CROCS
Like millions of other kids around the world my daughter has a pair of trendy and stylish Crocs. I swear she would wear those hot pink rubbery clogs everywhere if I’d let her. When it comes to comfort Crocs are hard to beat, which is why I was not surprised to learn that they are very popular amongst nurses.
Unfortunately, when it comes to footwear, comfort isn’t winning out over safety at various Pittsburgh area hospitals. In fact, some clinics have banned their medical staff from wearing Crocs all together. One hospital in particular has deemed the shoes “inappropriate footwear” for any staff member who deals with patients.
The reason: the fashionable holes that ventilate the shoes (and in which you can add plastic decorative accessories) apparently pose a safety hazard, according to infection control managers.
Supervisors who have banned the shoes say there is a chance a syringe could fall into one of the Crocs’ holes and injure a medical professional. Managers say the shoes’ holes are large enough to pose a threat to health care staff members who wear them.
Does it sound reasonable to you? It doesn’t to the hundreds of nurses who voiced their displeasure with the ban; most called it ridiculous.
“I mean, I can get a needle stuck in my arm or my leg,” one Pittsburgh nurse said. “I work 12-hour shifts, and I’m constantly on my feet.”
NOT SO WILD ABOUT HARRY
It seems not everyone is wild about Harry… Harry Potter that is.
Who could possibly have anything against the fictional boy wizard? How about 78-year-old (and very much alive) Harry Potter?
The living, breathing Florida resident happens to share his name with the extremely popular literary character. And according to Potter, whenever a new Harry Potter book or movie premieres he gets swamped with calls from TV networks and is practically trampled by children seeking autographs.
“When Harry talks to the kids, they’ll ask about the owl and he’ll say, ‘Oh, he came by and brought the mail,'” Potter’s wife Jan recently told news reporters. “Then, when they’re done, the mothers come on and say thank you for talking to the kids. He gets a big kick out of it.”
Especially since he looks nothing like the fictional Potter.
“The kids look at you, give you the once-over,” Potter said. “They can’t relate the one in the book to the one they see here. I guess I could buy me a pair of Harry Potter glasses.”