Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Friday, July 25, 2008
Terry Rindfleisch: Delicious hospital food when you want it? You bet
It’s not your mother’s hospital food anymore.
At Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center, the food is not only delicious, but as a patient you can order whatever you want from the menu whenever you are hungry.
During the past year, Gundersen Lutheran has offered “room service” for patients to improve food quality, variety, delivery and satisfaction but also to reduce waste. Francis-can Skemp also is developing a service.
A while ago, four Tribune staffers, along with Chris Stauffer of Gundersen Lutheran, sampled beef tenderloin tips with gravy, Swedish meatballs and potato crusted cod, among the menu items. We also tried the desserts, from apple crisp to baked cherry cheesecake.
The food was so good that Chris Zobin of our staff remarked that people would want to be hospitalized just for the food.
Under the former hospital food system, patients marked their food choices from a limited menu the night before and that’s what they ate the next day, said Mark Hutson, Gundersen Lutheran’s director of nutrition services.
“It was pretty structured, and the nursing staff would bring the food when they got around to it,” Hutson said.
Sometimes the food was cold, or patients weren’t always able to finish their meals due to interruptions, he said. “For those patients hospitalized for several days, they grew tired of the same food, because we ran a five-day menu selection,” Hutson said.
Much food was wasted because patients only ate what they liked, he said. “We’ve realized cost savings because we’re serving less food, there is less waste and people eat what they order,” Hutson said. “Before, many people felt there was too much food when they didn’t feel like eating.”
Katie Dempsey, who oversees room service, said she wanted to offer the kind of room service offered at a hotel.
Patients can order from a menu of 22 entrees and sandwiches for lunch and dinner along with side orders of their choice. For breakfast, there are omelettes, cereal, pancakes or eggs. Dietary aides, instead of nurses, deliver the meals.
“It’s been more than a two-year process to get the room service concept set up, with a new and separate kitchen and a restaurant-style menu,” Hutson said.
The goal is to get that meal to the patient within 45 minutes, Dempsey said. Patients on special diets have limitations — if they try to order something they can’t have, the computer will reject the menu, she said.
“Patients like the control they have to eat when they want, as often as they want,” Dempsey said. “The response from patients has been overwhelming. I think when the food is good and delivered hot, patients also feel better.”
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