'Room Service' Brings Meals
To Patients at Gifford Hospital

Gifford patient Helen Thresher received her lunch from Gifford Medical Center's newly-instituted room service program. Thresher enjoyed chicken breast saut‚ed with apple and maple onion marmalade. (Herald / Calabro)

Chef Ed Striebe’s first introduction to Gifford Medical Center was as a consultant. Then a New England Culinary Institute instructor, Striebe witnessed an elderly patient decline her food because it didn't seem appealing and she wasn’t hungry at the time the food was being served.

Now Striebe is Gifford's Hospitality and Food Services manager, trying to make sure that this scenario doesn't repeat itself. He's seen the cafeteria and kitchen through major renovation, started buying local produce—and last week he realized the dream of bringing room service to Gifford inpatients.

From seven different menus—varied for dietary need—hospitalized patients can now order what they want when they want it between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. The menus that include such entrées as meatloaf with mushroom sauce; grilled salmon with wilted spinach, tomato and fresh herbs; New York strip steak grilled to ones liking with lemon and olive oil. Or how about pork tenderloin with Dijon tarragon sauce; chicken breast with sautéed apples and maple onion marmalade; and tofu eggplant and spinach curry?

The first room service order last week came from another older woman, recalled Striebe on Tuesday. "I’m ordering my food now, because I’m going to be out of therapy at noon," the patient told him.

"We were delivering the meal as she was returning from therapy," Striebe said. And this patient was very happy to receive her meal.

Much like room service in a hotel, patients staying in Gifford’s Howell Pavilion medical/surgical inpatient unit, Transitional Care rehabilitation unit and Birthing Center place their meal order by phone. The meals are made fresh by chef Pauline Barrett and delivered to patients’ rooms in artful displays topped with silver domes.

"We’re giving people what they want, when they want it, as long as they can (medically) have it," Striebe said. "We can tailor the food to their likes. It’s done truly a la carte."

Well Supervised

A "menu host" helps those who are unable to order on their own due to illness, and checks and balances are in place to assure patients are eating. And as of Monday, Gifford began serving nursing home residents from a steam table right in the Menig Home.

Menig resident Jim Hunt of Randolph said Monday’s lunch was the best meal he’d had since coming to the nursing home.

Hunt’s wife Marilyn, a Gifford dietitian for 35 years, joined him for lunch on Monday.

"I thought it was excellent and it was nice and warm. I was impressed. I was really, really happy," Marilyn Hunt said. "His tray looked a lot more attractive. I was just so pleased."

One goal is that the smell of the food will entice residents to eat. As Jim Hunt found, it also is hotter when served right in the nursing home versus being sent up from the kitchen on tall carts filled with many trays.

Menus for hospitalized patients include choices for heart patients (low salt, low fat), diabetes patients, a no salt option and even two liquid menus—full liquids and clear liquids. Each menu has a vegetarian option; even the liquid menus include a fresh-made vegetable broth.

"I’m so excited to be able to help people with food, to serve people good food to help with their recovery. It’s really, really satisfying," Striebe said. "Executive chef Steve Morgan and all the kitchen staff have worked extremely hard incorporating this style of service into the already busy kitchen."

"I do think patients are eating more. And they’re getting their food when it’s hot," Howell Pavilion unit coordinator and nurse’s aide Shannon Ballou added. "I have heard patients rave about the food. One person thanked me profusely for how well I cooked the chicken."