Celebrating Healthcare Food Service Workers Week!
Did you know that on average, our Food Services team manages the washing of 2.2 million dishes and manages the inventory of food/supplies for more than 200,000 meals each year? This is all done while maintaining the kitchen and dish room to the highest standards of cleanliness.
Every year, Healthcare Foodservice Workers Week takes place the first full week of October. Our food service team here at St. Mary’s plays a critical role in the day-to-day operations of our hospital and are essential in the care we provide to our patients and community.
At St. Mary’s, our Food Service team consists of 24 members who not only prepare healthy meals for patients of all dietary and health needs (including tube feeding products), but are an integral part of a patient’s recovery. There are many moving pieces that the team oversees such as:
- Purchasing/receiving food service supplies and maintaining all inventory. This also includes finding appropriate substitutions when supplies are in shortages or unavailable.
- Tray ticket creation which takes into account any dietary restrictions and therapeutic diets for all patients.
- Preparing meals with care and safe food handling practices.
- Transporting meals from the kitchen to all patient floors.
- Washing all dishes used at each meal.
- Keeping the food service areas sanitized and clean.
The commitment this team has to the highest level of detail leads to our most important initiative: keeping our patients healthy and safe.
“The Food Service team is doing incredible and extremely important work to support our patients,” says Suzy, Director, Corporate Services. “No matter the challenge that this team is faced with – space shortages, floods, dish room closure and more - they are always finding ways to ensure that the impact to our patients and their families are as minimal as possible.”
This year, the team took on a massive project that has truly been years in the making and the impact was significant for the department and the organization: the dish room renovation. The renovation took about three months to complete and consisted of a new floor and dish machine. During this closure, the team maintained service for our patients by implementing new procedures, which included longer transportation routes and manual hand washing of dishes. The team celebrated the project completion with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, September 26th, and will work towards returning to normal procedures over the next few weeks.
“I am so proud to be able to support and lead such a hard-working team,” says Stephanie, Supervisor, Patient Food Services. “While working in a fast-paced and physical role, they remain positive, friendly and continue making the environment fun. During staffing, equipment, and supply challenges, we must quickly pivot. Each and every time, the team showcases just how flexible, supportive, and resilient they are. Their role within SMGH’s patient care is critical and their contributions are very motivating.”
Thank you to each and every single one of our Food Service team members for everything you do in supporting exceptional, equitable care for our patients and community.
Throughout the week, please take a moment to give a very special thank you to our team in Food Services.