The Kettering Health Culinary Care team has refreshed the patient menu for all our medical centers, from the food we serve to an easier-to-use menu format.
During the height of the pandemic, we had to adjust the food we serve our patients due to staffing and supply shortages. The team decided it was time to bring the focus back to fresh foods, with more items made in-house from scratch and more options for customized meals and seasonal dishes.
The Culinary Care team is adjusting to the new menu, and they’re excited by all of the the choices and healthy options for patients. In their view, they’re not just delivering meals to patients, they’re giving them a positive, nourishing meal experience. Lashelle Rice, a cook and baker at Kettering Health Hamilton said, “We’re doing it for our community, our family.”
Sous Chef Jeffory Pearce at Kettering Health Hamilton listed off some of the house-made items: soups, marinara sauce, the desserts and bakery items, the gravy—anything with a “K” by it on the menu is made from scratch.
Deed Hall, Laura Walters, and Brad Morgan all work at Kettering Health Main Campus and serve as key decision-makers for the Culinary Care team. They sat down last year to begin planning the new menu.
Hospitals are notorious for bland food, and they wanted to provide patients with something not only nutritious, but flavorful. They also wanted to give patients a choice (they know that food may be the only decision patients get to make while they are in the hospital). They worked with dietitians to make sure proposed menu items would work across the dietary needs of the patients. Another key point was the physical menu: They wanted it structured so that patients would be able to see all of the choices they can make.
“We were focused on food people would continue to eat after they leave,” Brad said. “How can we build a nutritious foundation that they can eat when they get home?” Laura hoped that these menu items would inspire patients to continue a healthy diet after they are discharged.
Favorites like the roast beef hot shot are back on the menu, with other popular items like a revamped salmon stir fry and all-new house-made cheesecake.
Eileen and Cynthia are both nutrition services ambassadors at Kettering Health Miamisburg. They take food orders and deliver the meals. Eileen said, “Patients are happy with the new food. They really like it.”
“They have more options, more variety,” added Cynthia. Cynthia and Eileen said top favorites are comfort foods like pasta, the beef hot shot, and biscuits and gravy.
