Patients at Herrin Hospital have more of a choice when placing their breakfast, lunch and dinner orders. And,they also have the option of eating when they’re ready, not on a schedule with everyone else in the hospital. It's called “Custom Cuisine Room Service.”
Kathy Cox Heinze, manager, food and nutrition services at the hospital, said she’s excited to see the service implemented.
“This service allows the patient, a family member, friend or hospital staff to order for them, by phoning the dietary center,” said Heinze.
Heinze said the dietary center operator has information on file of each patient and is able to tell who has not ordered a meal, who is having a procedure, receiving insulin, diet changes, etc. “The call center will be able to order trays to send after procedures or between regular meal times,” said Heinze. “If the patient hasn’t ordered a meal a house tray will be sent.” She said this prevents a patient from falling through the cracks and not receiving a meal.
The new service offers a wider variety of food items to choose from, such as soups; salads; cold and hot entrees; steamed vegetables; pasta (create your own penne or fettuccini with marinara, meat sauce or alfredo); grilled items from BLTs to turkey clubs; frozen treats; puddings and gelatins and several items from the bake shop; including cake, pie, cookies, brownies and rice krispie treats.
Patients can customize their sandwich by choosing the type of bread, cheese and extras they want.
A special children’s menu offers nutritional meals with names that appeal to youngsters. For example – Makin’ Waves (milk), Island Breezes (juice), Fruity Treasures (fruits), Beach Bowls (cereals), Ship-Wrecked Yummies (yogurts) and Sunrise Surprises (hot breakfast).
“Our goal is to improve patient satisfaction,” said Heinze, “while at the same time it improves food quality and patient intake, which eliminates food waste.”
The call center will be open from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.
Menus are located in patient rooms and they still have the option of circling food items if they do not wish to use the call center.
Nutrition assistants are available to pass snacks to patients between 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
As part of the new dining experience at the hospital the cafeteria added a new lunch line in early September. Monday through Friday a specialty item is offered to hospital staff and guests, such as omelets made to order. The regular lunch line is also offered for those who like the traditional lunches.
“All of the food is still prepared here,” said Heinze.
Doug Degen, representative for Sterling Services Group, L.C., the company that offers the food service, recently spent several days at the hospital to train staff and get the program up and running.
He said the new lunch line had been extremely well received. “It’s a reasonably priced, value added meal,” he said. Degan said the program offered in the cafeteria was the first stage in the custom cuisine dining.
“This style of service not only improves food quality and patient intake, but it also streamlines workflows. It’s an exciting method of service that many hospitals are moving toward.”
Heinze said Herrin Hospital is proud to be a part of this innovative meal delivery system.
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