Don't laugh; the menus are changing for the better
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By Terri Yablonsky Stat
Special to the Tribune
November 12, 2006
If being sick is the worst part
of being in the hospital, then having to eat the food there might well
be a close second. At least, that's the reputation, but that is
beginning to change.
Swedish Covenant Hospital recently started offering organic fruits and
vegetables and tallgrass-fed beef on patient menus and in the cafeteria
as part of its campaign to make "home" cooking part of the hospital
experience.
"We viewed the introduction of more organic foods
as part of a broad program aimed at providing a homelike atmosphere
during a stay at our hospital," said Maria Simmons, manager of patient
food service and chairwoman of the nutrition action committee at
Swedish Covenant Hospital. "It's also a natural extension of our
cultural-foods menu."
Nationally, the health-care industry has
developed a powerful hunger for natural foods, according to a spokesman
for Connecticut-based United Natural Foods, a leading distributor of
natural foods, including organic produce.
"We have seen
exponential growth in the food-service channel for the past three
years, and health care is no exception," said Shawn Dean, food-service
sales manager for the company. "United Natural Foods has seen the
number of hospital accounts grow tenfold over the past three years;
most of that growth has occurred in the past year."
As of early
June at Swedish Covenant, all stewed and ground beef used in patient
meals is pure grass-fed beef, without growth hormones or antibiotics.
Tallgrass-fed beef, from the Tallgrass Beef Co. owned by journalist
Bill Kurtis, is used to make Salisbury steak, the hospital's signature
Swedish meatballs, meatloaf, spaghetti sauce and beef stew.
Simmons and her team researched ways to create more homelike foods from
scratch, she said, and that involved more organic products.
"It's a little bit more expensive, but we feel it's worth it by
providing the health benefits of tallgrass-fed beef," which is high in
omega-3 fatty acids and low in saturated fat. The hospital can offer
these foods more affordably through partnerships with Chicago's Green
City Market and the Tallgrass Beef Co.
Donald Timm, 80, of Park
Ridge periodically is an inpatient at Swedish Covenant. "The food is
always very good," he said. "The portions are much too big, but the
greens are very nice and sweet. The tallgrass-fed beef is good, and
they prepare it nicely."
The hospital, located in one of the
most diverse areas of Chicago, has offered a Korean menu for more than
a year, featuring dishes made from scratch in the hospital kitchen.
Freshly prepared Latino-influenced menu items were launched last fall,
and an Indian Halal menu will be offered in 2007.
"We want to
blow those stereotypes of coming to the hospital and not having the
comforts of home," said Gillian Cappiello, who oversees
patient-centered initiatives for Swedish Covenant. "There are health
benefits to these foods too. We were finding that some of the
prepackaged ethnic foods were not healthy or tasty to patients. If
patients are not eating well, they are not going to get well."
Simmons attended organic fairs in the city and met with Goodness
Greeness on Chicago's South Side. "They were interested in getting into
institutional food service, and we were looking for a vendor of organic
fruits and vegetables," she said. They are the distributor of Swedish
Covenant's tallgrass beef and most of its organic produce. "From there
our program expanded to dairy items, and now we're using organic flours
to bake our bread," she said.
Patient response has been
overwhelmingly favorable, in particular to tallgrass-fed beef, Simmons
said. Survey cards on patient trays tout the health benefits of the
menu items. "People think they should receive healthy food in a
hospital," Simmons said.
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in
Park Ridge also has begun to introduce organic and more nutrient-dense
products into its menus, said Pam Ohm-Pitock, director of food and
nutrition services. The idea follows the lead of the hospital's new
environmentally friendly patient area and recycling program.
"When you think of green and environment, you think of the philosophy
of care too," Ohm-Pitock said. The hospital has converted to
trans-fat-free oils and now offers minimally processed Odwalla juices
and bars; Stonyfield yogurt; Activia yogurt; fair-trade coffee;
whole-wheat-crust pizzas; and whole-grain products, such as cereals.
Hormone-free milk is next.
If they keep this up, hospital food service might have to start requiring reservations.
