Hospital food goes healthful

Programs plate up fresher ingredients, more options

— Leave your thoughts of horrid hospital food at the door.

Sparks Regional Medical Center is jazzing up its menu for patients, filling it with fresh food offerings that meet the many dietary restrictions faced by hospital patients.

The hospital made its “Great Living Menu” available to patients in early January, dubbing the program “Conscious Cuisine.” The meals are low sodium and heart healthful and keep carbohydrates in check.

Food with color, flavor and zing is now standard, said Amanda Corrigan, senior director of food service for Sparks Health System andSummit Medical Center.

Corrigan works for Atlanta-based Morrison Healthcare Food Services, which operates in approximately 450 hospitals in 41 states, including nine contracts in Arkansas. Morrison Healthcare is a division of Morrison Management Specialists.

The Sparks Health System includes the 492-bed Sparks Regional Medical Center on Towson Avenue and Summit Medical Center in Van Buren with a 102-bed acute-care hospital. The system serves 350,000 people within a 12-county area near Fort Smith, including portions of Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The Conscious Cuisine program kicks off at Summit Medical Center early thismonth.

In March, Sparks’ new Fit Program will provide calorie counts and dietary information for select cafeteria food choices. The customer can easily mix and match selections, tailoring his meal to his desired health goals.

‘A BAD RAP’

“Hospital food typically gets a bad rap and we’re trying to change that,” Corrigan said.

Patients are visited in their rooms by catering associates who provide meal options and can help patients adjust their orders to fit their tastes. The associates carry phones so patients can call and alter their order if they have achange of heart.

“It’s just like service in a restaurant,” Corrigan said. “We’ll get them whatever they need.”

Corrigan said the cost of the meals served at Sparks is included in patient day charge. She said the new program is reducing costs at the hospital by about 10 cents a meal or 30 cents a day.

Maulik Joshi, senior vice president at the American Hospital Association, said the trend toward better and healthier food choices for patients and workers is something he’s hearing more about.

Joshi said hospitals nationally are trying to offer better eating options for their workers and improve patient satisfaction by making food more healthful and appealing.

In 2011, there were 5,742 hospitals operating in the United States, according to the hospital association. Those hospitals had 924,333 workers and admitted more than 36.6 million patients in 2011.

ACROSS THE COUNTRY

As of October, the Partnership for a Healthier America has teamed up with 155 hospitals across the country. The hospitals pledge to provide more healthful food options for patients and on-site cafeterias.

The Partnership for a Healthier America was founded in 2010 as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with the goal of solving the childhood obesity crisis. First lady Michelle Obama is the group’s honorary chairman.

Paul Cunningham, executive vice president of the Arkansas Hospital Association, said he’s not surprised some of the state’s 105 hospitals are looking at healthful food options for their patients and staff and implementing programs to improve patient satisfaction.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock is starting a room service food model for patients this week, said Mike Campbell, director of nutrition services. The hospital’s former menu had two entree selections per meal, while the new one will feature a chef’s special and another dozen or so choices.

Patients will give their orders to a “patient ambassador” about two hours before the food is served. Under the former system, meals were ordered a day before.

‘ENSURE THEY ENJOY’

“We will focus on improving their dining experience and ensure they enjoy the foods they receive,” Campbell said.

At Sparks, ingredients are key in the new program, with chefs using fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, cage-free eggs, and poultry raised without the routine use of antibiotics. Fresh produce is provided through an agreement with Houston-based FreshPoint, North America’s largest fresh produce distributor.

Tessa Bell, production manager, and Rudy Vasquez, souschef, with Morrison Healthcare Food Services, are the prime architects of the meals at Sparks.

Bell said the chance to work with a new menu has been a joy and the fresh creations bring a sense of pride to the cooking team. If a meal impresses the patient, he can get the recipe to prepare the dish at home.

Choice is also a big part of the Sparks program.

For example, dinner choices on a Monday included deepdish lasagna, sauteed squash and roasted peppers, and strawberry shortcake, or Greek chicken salad, topped with feta, olives and tomatoes, beef vegetable soup, and strawberry shortcake. If the day’s choices don’t appeal, patients can order from the Always Available Menu, a mix of soups, salads, sandwiches and pizza.

“We found a way to make it delicious and healthy,” Corrigan said.

Business, Pages 61 on 02/03/2013

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