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These are the sounds of a busy production kitchen, a large-scale food preparation and cooking area usually found in places like restaurants, hotels and resorts, but not hospitals, or at least not in all hospitals, and not in Peace Arch Hospital, where visitors to its kitchen will likely hear an industrial-scale version of this familiar sound.
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But that's all about to change as the hospitals foundation launches a major campaign to help replace tasteless reheated meals with freshly prepared chef approved dishes. The aim no less is to bring hospitality back to healthcare cuisine and improve patient outcomes through the ancient art of food as medicine. For us we're trying to put healing back in food. We want
food to be part of the solution. Our hospitality is that we are going to help heal you.
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This is the power to heal. In this series of podcasts, we'll focus on the many innovative ways PeaceArch Hospital, located in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, has been an integral part of its community. We'll take you behind the scenes of the hospital's dynamic fundraising arm and talk to those who are instrumental in creating new initiatives to help this important healthcare facility grow and evolve along with the town it serves.
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Peace Arch, like many of its healthcare counterparts, switched over a number of years ago to a prepared and retherm model, where frozen meals are purchased from suppliers and then reheated on site. These retherm kitchen conversions with their walk-in cold rooms and rows of reheating carts were the end result of budget cuts and a general trend towards outsourcing in the name of greater efficiency.
While the Retherm process may have satisfied number crunchers, it resulted in anything but satisfaction for patients presented with bland, tasteless food at meal times. Not surprisingly, many Retherm meal trays are returned with their contents largely untouched, resulting in a significant amount of food waste.
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In recent years, aging retherm equipment has started breaking down and repairs are costly. At the same time, there's been a growing awareness that nutritious and tasty food freshly prepared on site is an essential part of a patient's well-being and healing. That's why the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation has launched an ambitious $5 million two-year campaign to raise funds for a full production kitchen where everything is cooked from scratch
and individual patient nutritional needs, whether dietary or cultural, can be met. Here to take us through what the Foundation is calling no less than a revolution in hospital food is Chef Matthew Richmond, Food Operations Manager with Fraser Health, and Chef Steven Courtney of Peace Arch Hospital. Both are part of the team reimagining the hospital's new production kitchen. Joining them is Amy O'Leary, Director of Philanthropy with the hospital's foundation,
Our three guests spoke with the Power to Heal host Lance Peverly, a journalist and former editor of the Peacearch News and a longtime resident of the White Rock, South Surrey area. Chef Matthew, I understand you had a chance to review the kind of food the Peacearch Hospital serves from the perspective of a hospital bed. Can you tell us what happened and what inspiration you took away from this experience? Yeah, it was about...
About 10 years ago, I was a patient for about two weeks in hospital and I did experience the retherm process of food. It really left me feeling as though there's a lot more needing to be done. You're in the hospital for a particular reason. Your whole life is put on hold. You've lost really all control. Everything stops. I didn't feel like the food was, I knew what I was getting and I knew why I was getting it, but that was really the end of it. I didn't have any connection to it. That was something that I felt.
It was just, it was there to serve a singular purpose. It was a clinical purpose and that was it. I'm a chef and you know, food is my life from a nutritional manager and healthy food is my life as well. So, you know, I, I absolutely love everything there is about food. And you know, when, know, when you're looking from a culinary and hospitality standpoint, food really has a lot more to it than just the nourishing part. It has to make you feel secure.
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enjoyable. You're eating it as a human being. it's when it's only fitting that one dimension that you that kind of gets lost. And, you know, there's there's there's that sense of dignity that is really kind of lacking when you get the food. It's it's not a dignified experience to you as a person. It's treating you for the need that you're there, which is really what people want to get away from is the reason why they're there. And that really left me with a feeling of, you know, this
There's opportunities here to make change. There's opportunities to bring that dignity and that sense of hospitality, if you will, into the healthcare environment. Well, I have to say, when one thinks of all the key areas of a hospital, the kitchen doesn't typically spring to mind. I'm talking for the average person, but I'm guessing you would argue it should. It should, absolutely. In hospitality, we refer to the kitchen as the heart of the house. It's where hospitality stems from. It's the backstage.
environment where we, you know, put our foot forward in that non-personal interaction sense to create an experience for somebody through flavors and aromas and presentation. you know, it's a place that everyone should feel is special to them and that they have the ability to come and see what's going on or to be excited and proud of what's happening in the kitchen because everything that comes out of there should really
you know, put a different foot forward of what our clinical team is doing. We're providing food first and foremost for the person's needs clinically. Yes, of course we are. That is, that's paramount to that. All of our amazing clinical partners are working on tirelessly. But once we know that aspect in food services, it should stay as a backstage and we know why we've prepared the food. We've made it so that it accommodates that need. But after that, we should be
stepping into the realm of taking care of the person and taking care of their needs as an individual. I was surprised to discover how meals are actually prepared in many hospitals these days, including currently at Peacearch. Chef Stephen, take our listeners for a walk through the kitchen of our community hospital. What would they see, hear and smell, or perhaps not see, and smell? So the kitchen here at Peacearch Hospital is what we call a retherm kitchen. What that means is like you would go to the grocery store and buy a
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a prepared lasagna or a shepherd's pie, we would do the same. We use a little more sophisticated method than a microwave, but essentially it's the same process. We would buy in pre-prepared food. Is this just microwaving food then to heat it up? We would portion it up, plate it all onto plates, put it into a retherm oven, which is a burlodge oven that puts it through a specific cooking cycle.
to make sure that the food not only is hot, but safe to eat. And that's the extent of it. So there honestly are no sounds. There's no smells. There's no fresh cooking. There's no laughter. When you walk into the kitchen, there's a cooler room where all the food service workers are bundled up in coats and wearing toques and trying to stay warm as they plate up all the food in a temperature controlled environment so that we maintain
food safety, but at the same time, we really aren't adding flavor or we're not adding personality or care or love to the meals because we just can't really affect it because it's already prepared. It's already cooked. It's already there for us. I have heard hospital meals compared to airline food and I'm wondering how it got this reputation. Why did so many hospitals switch to this method of food service? I think the initial thought
was that it was at the time very, very difficult to find skilled cooks to take care of the food. mean, as chefs, we have egos. We want to work for the top restaurants. We want to cook for fine dining. We want to be in the hotels or casinos. So there was a lack of skill wanting to work in the health care setting. So I mean, someone came up with the idea that, okay, well, let's treat it like an airline. It's exactly what it is. Let's bring in this process.
We know it works in that environment, so let's try it in our environment. And I mean, I'm not going to be the only one to say that it really hasn't gone very well. And I know Chef Matt feels that we can do better. Well, I saw an interesting word in the Foundation's campaign literature for the planned production kitchen, hospitality. Chef Stephen, put the hospital in hospitality for our listeners. What does it mean in this context? For us, we're trying to put healing back in food. We want
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food to be part of the solution. It's not only medications, it's not only surgeries, it's not only all these clinical processes, but if we are able to put a fantastic plate in front of someone, if they open up that lid and get beautiful aromas, bright colors, and they look at it and go, I know exactly what that is. I'm excited to eat it. I chose to eat it. And now I feel better because not only do I have the right nutrients,
but I'm full, I'm happy, I'm warm. You know, when you're sitting there laying in bed and you're sick, what do you want? You want a chicken noodle soup or you want something that is going to make you feel comfort. And that always makes you feel better. Our hospitality is that we are going to help heal you.
Peace Arch Hospital serves a combined total of almost 1,300 meals daily to its patients and long-term care residents, and yet up to half of the food served on retherm meal trays is returned uneaten. This pattern is repeated across Canada, resulting in an annual food waste of $45 million for Canadian hospitals. But behind these numbers lies a real human cost.
Just under half of patients arriving to hospital do so in a malnourished condition and they stay in medical beds 53 % longer. And those patients or family members wishing for mealtime alternatives are out of luck. There are no systems in place for individuals to select their own meal preferences in hospitals with retherm kitchens. Okay.
I'd like to bring Amy O'Leary into the conversation. She's the director of philanthropy with the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation. Amy, I imagine there's lots of competitions for the foundation's dollars. There must always be equipment that needs replacing or research that needs funding. So why a new kitchen and why now? Yeah, this is a really important project. You you said earlier that you don't always think of food when you think of healthcare, but actually it's really an integral part of somebody's healing journey.
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Across Canada, about 45 % of admitted patients to hospital are arriving already malnourished. So it's incredibly important for health outcomes that patients, when they come into the hospital, are eating the food that's being served. They really need to eat in order to heal and get better and go home faster. So it's a really important project just for that part, just length of stay, better health outcomes, reducing readmissions later.
In the hospital kitchen itself, the equipment is aging. It is now at end of life and a significant investment is required just to maintain the status quo of the kitchen and the facilities and the food services we're providing now. So as it stands, there's a large investment that needs to be made just to continue food services. And so we're really proud of the partnership with Fraser Health, just a spearhead. You know, we don't want at the foundation just to replace aging equipment to maintain the system that we have.
We really wanna be part of creating something new and something better and something that's going to improve the quality of stay, the healthcare that people are receiving and really improve those health outcomes for our patients, their families and our whole community. I've talked to lots of patients that food is a real burden when their loved ones are in the hospital. There's a lot of stress when somebody is not well in your family, they're in the hospital, they're not doing well, just that.
part of it is incredibly stressful for families. And then when you add to that, that they don't like the food, there's some pressure for the family members to provide food that they will eat, then they feel like, I can't be beside my loved one. I need to be at home preparing food that I can bring in for them. So it's that piece as well is supporting the patient families when they're trying to provide that comfort to their own loved ones. And then I want to add too that we also have 300 long-term care patients
They live at Peacearch Hospital, this is their home, and they eat the hospital food every single day, three times a day. So those patients also, it's really gonna impact not just acute care patients that are in for a shorter length of stay, but those long-term care patients that call Peacearch their home. Is Peacearch the first hospital foundation in Western Canada to drive a campaign like this? We are the first foundation in Western Canada really spearheading this project. So we're pretty proud of-
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Do you think the Foundation's leadership will inspire more conversions back to full production models in other parts of BC or even further across Canada? I do. Peaceheart Hospital Foundation has always prided itself on being a trailblazer in the community and this is just another example. There are other hospitals across Canada and even in BC that are reclaiming the production kitchen model, but what makes us unique is that we're spearheading this project and funding it.
So we recognize the important role that nutritious and comforting food plays in healing. And just like other critical elements of healthcare, we're making the investment to bring the best in healthcare and health outcomes to our patients and their families at PeaceArch.
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Chef Matthew, two things stood out for me while I was preparing for this interview. One, that a startling number of patients arrive at Peace Arch Hospital suffering from malnutrition. And two, many of the rethurned meal trays are returned uneaten and barely touched. Can you tell us more about both issues and how freshly prepared food could turn this problem around? No, absolutely. mean, those statistics are quite shocking. I mean, when somebody is definitely in need of nutritional...
intervention, no matter where they are, whether they're outpatient, or they're admitted patient, or so on, really it's coming down to their choice and assessing the needs. mean, at the root core of hospitality is needs assessment. Your individuals are coming into a hospitality-based environment because they have a need of some kind that needs to be addressed. Hospitals are no different. In fact, it's almost magnified by a hundred times for the needs of people that are
in a hospital, when people lose, as I mentioned earlier, when they lose control, they're not hungry, they're sick, they're on edge, they're stressed out. There's so many little factors that go into it that prevent somebody from eating and not finishing what's on their tray, which adds up to an enormous amount of food waste, which is something that we definitely don't want either. But really it's about getting the nutrition into
our patients and our residents, the quality. mean, quality is just, it's huge. And the ability to customize, the ability to have choice, the ability to really cater to the individual as a person, all help out. I I give an example, if you're given a chicken broth and it's here at your chicken broth and it's a base powder chicken broth in a bowl versus a beautiful reduced
six, seven hour cooked bone broth or chicken consomme styles. Both are the same, but one of them you're gonna take a sip of and think, you this is boring and it's like a bag of bouillon, or you're gonna taste all those vegetables and that warmth and that comfort and that relaxation, which is gonna really kind of soothe the person and get them more relaxed, which is gonna help them to eat more and want to eat more. And choice, of course.
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is paramount to it. We don't want to be told, this is what you're eating. is what you have. When people have options, it gives them that sense of control. And when the options behind it have quality, then that's where you have that equation. It's perfect for people to say, even though I'm not feeling well, even though I'm uncomfortable and my whole life is put on hold right now as an admitted individual, I still have the ability to be served with dignity. And that makes me
more prone to wanting to eat the food. Well, I'm wondering if you might inspire people to cook a little better for themselves once they get home, once the patients return. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think there's a huge, huge opportunity for people who have specific issues that have a dietary intervention, if you will, where they're not familiar with cooking, they're not familiar with cooking for themselves and how to, you know, have a sustainable, comfortable and confident life in being able to cook. And that's one of the things that
we really want to look at is having chefs and dieticians around. It gives us an opportunity to really look at that progression into outpatient and saying, you know, are there classes we can do? Is there ability to educate the community more on their specific needs? If you're, let's say you're put onto a low sodium diet or a heart-friendly or Mediterranean style diet, well, there's ways to make that enjoyable through
teaching people the variety of flavors they can have through spices and citruses and things like that in order to liven up the palate. And it's not feeling like a clinical, mania to meal for their health. They're able to incorporate it into their lifestyle. So that in turn has a great effect. And I think you've hit a nail on the head is a lot of people just unfortunately don't know how to cook at home. It's easier to order skip or Uber or whatever than it is to go and buy some vegetables. And we all know the cost is
very, very high, but there's so many ways around that through education that can work to help the community and people who are requiring specific diets for their overall health. Chef Stephen, maybe you can talk about it a bit, but I know that right now when patients are found to be malnourished, there's some kind of program where they're provided boost. And I know you've made a great improvement there. Can you just talk about that a little bit?
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Fraser Health was trying to promote an initiative called the One Day Counts. And what the initiative was is that as people come in and they're malnourished, we'll provide them with boost or insure twice a day so that we can just pump them full of nutrients, minerals, and try and fix the malnourished problem. The issue is, one, the beverages can be quite large. So the amount there is difficult to drink. They don't...
necessarily taste good and they're often left at room temperature so the whole consistency and everything changes. So they weren't drinking them. So one thing we tried to develop when I first started these projects was a fresh made protein smoothie with natural ingredients that we had in-house already in our kitchens that we can provide to our residents where
It's a small little four ounce shot, but it provides them over six grams of protein. And we've come up with some really fun flavors. We've got a cardamom and mango smoothie. We have a chocolate and date smoothie, and we have a vanilla and banana, and they've been a big hit. And again, we're now fixing that nutritional problem that we were seeing when people first come to the acute care settings.
I remember I discovered Boost when my father was in palliative care at Peace Arch Hospital. And after the first few meals of Boost, he grew tired of it fast. And I would love for him to have had that opportunity to have the good tasting meal replacements. This is also a really good example of the partnership between the dietitian teams as well, and our chefs on site.
So Stephen, maybe you can talk a little bit about that, because that part is really inspiring as well, how you're working together. The partnership has been fantastic because in the past, everyone thinks of the dieticians as the food police, where they're the ones that say, can and can't eat this and I'm not allowed to do it. But in actuality, the dieticians want people to eat. They want to give them food that, yes, is nutritious, but they're also foodies themselves.
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They love food, they love nutrition, they want to eat. They go out to restaurants themselves, right? So the partnership between us and them has been really beneficial because we're able to see what difficulties are being felt in the kitchens, whether it's texture modification, whether it's okay we're missing a mineral or a nutrient. Well, chefs like myself and Matt are able to actually...
bring in different processes from our experience and inject it into hospital cooking and really change the whole outlook of the food. And part of it is with stuff like the smoothies or as Chef Matt said is the bone broth. We've developed an absolutely amazing bone broth where if someone's on a liquid diet and this is what they can eat, well, I can guarantee you they are going to feel absolutely spectacular after they have a nice
big bowl of this broth. Other areas that we've helped with is with texture modification, we have to provide minced and pureed products. Now, when you're modifying those products, a good example is a pasta. Well, if I'm taking a mac and cheese and I'm putting it in a food processor and blending it up to a different consistency, well, it's going to be completely gummy and it's going to look like glue and be thick. Well, there's other products out there that Chef Matt and I know of that
will automatically come modified. So for instance, couscous is the perfect example. I can use couscous as a mince product. I can serve it with any sauce I want. I can make a beautiful bolognese. I can do an Alfredo. I can do a cheese sauce. And we're not blending it whatsoever. It's the perfect texture. It's the perfect consistency. And now we've provided someone with a meal that is put together in the proper way. And ultimately, that's what we're able to do.
Patients who experience difficulty swallowing, such as some elderly people or those suffering from strokes or Alzheimer's disease, are often prescribed a diet of pureed foods. And when properly prepared, a pureed meal can provide safe, easy to consume nutrition that meets dietary needs. But food prepared and presented this way is lacking one key ingredient, visual appeal.
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Patients who have eaten recognizable food all their lives now find themselves with a plate of unappealing scoops of an unknown nature in front of them. But as our guests explain, there's a way to make pureed meals more visually pleasing for both patients and the family members who may be assisting them at meal time. And this solution will come directly in the near future from the production kitchen at Peace Arch Hospital.
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I'm intrigued by something I heard recently, molded food. I know it may sound funny at first, but it's a serious response to making mealtimes more enjoyable for people who can't eat solid foods. Can you tell us more about how food is molded, and is it something that can be produced in new production kitchen? Yeah, that's very close to my heart. I guess kind of just backtracking on that a little bit too, is that things like shaped garais,
that are made in-house by the culinary team. Really, when we get into that texture modified realm, it is really that partnership of dieticians and chefs. And just to preface this a little bit before I speak about that particular process, we rely on dieticians to provide us the information and their expertise is so immense on providing safe, therapeutic food. And as Chef Stephen has said, they're foodies. Dieticians love food. That's why they got into it.
When you bridge that with chefs and, know, chefs always view things from a efficiency measure, number one, and quality and taste and presentation. So it is a perfect partnership for patients to have this. And when we talk about the texture modified, especially the shape purees, is we really want to make sure that any residents or patients that are on the texture modified are getting something that is presented to them.
that is recognizable as well that tastes the same as what the regular textures are getting. So many times you see purees going out that they're cooked iced chicken and it's unacceptable. We shouldn't be doing that. If you have knives in an oven and seasoning in a blender, you shouldn't be having to do that. Also with the shaped purees, a lot of individuals that are on a shaped puree, for example, are sometimes cognitively impaired. And when you give them that four scoops of here's brown, here's orange, here's green,
Well, that could be a myriad of different things. What is this? But when something goes out that looks like what it's supposed to through shaping the puree into a beautiful plate, they're able to recognize it. The other side of it too is family members are able to see that as well too. And they're able to recognize that my loved one is being taken care of. I can actually recognize what this person's have, what my loved one is having. I don't have to ask questions. I can see, wow, that's a pork chop.
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Let's say to spaghetti, we can do spaghetti and have a look like spaghetti. This is definitely the direction in which therapeutic meals are going and kind of rounding the top of the off a little bit. This is really kind of what leads us into all of these things coming together in the partnership with dietitians and chefs. we're not just wanting to put a new kitchen to piece art, we're actually creating an entirely new cuisine.
And it's, we like to refer to it as healthcare cuisine. It's this bridging of quality, flavor, presentation with the therapeutic requirements so that our patients and residents are getting the absolute best that we can offer them at any time, which is going to have less waste, which is going to have higher food intakes just through the quality of service and flavor and presentation.
The food would be so much more than just fuel. It's like medicine for the soul. We've had dieticians taste them and the dieticians actually take them for their lunch. It's a pretty cool thing to see. It's like, I'm taking this for my lunch. When you can change that narrative in somebody's mind that this is a pureed meal and I want to go in for another bite of this. I'm amazed at this. This is delicious. Now it's not a pureed meal anymore. You're relating that to an individual's experience. It's amazing. I'm looking at this as quality now.
It's not just scoops on a plate anymore. You're tasting it going, oh my gosh, that tastes like roasted chicken with time. Like this is incredible. And when you're going in and you don't have to have a curried meal, but you're excited to eat that curried meal, that is the biggest part of this of the partnerships of dietitians and chefs is and really this whole thing is changing how we think about food. You changing that clinical meal. You should want to eat that clinical meal.
If we're calling it that, you should want to eat that texture modified meal when it leaves the kitchen because you're proud of it. It's not just serving that singular purpose. am getting so hungry just talking about all of this food right now. This is amazing. Well, you have to try it. I do. do. I really want to. Now, I understand you both work in the production kitchen at the Ellen Sinclair Kennet Lodge on the Peace Arch Hospital campus. What happens there on a daily basis and are the same things in store for the new hospital or for the new kitchen in the hospital?
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Yes, a lot of testing is happening there. Chef Stephen does a lot of work out of there. And we're also looking at ways to enhance the menu as well, too. There are certain areas that is, let's call it just low hanging fruit, if we will, that we want to say, well, let's make this better. And let's give that opportunity to try this and let's see the outcomes. For example, I touched on diced frozen chicken.
tried pureed cooked as frozen chicken. It's really not that great of an experience. So our team there at Hellenistic Clare Kennan Lodge, they're absolutely incredible group of people that are so eager to see that change that we made some of these adjustments to using roasted chicken thigh. And, you know, at first, you know, the cooks had a lot of questions about it because they've been doing this process for so long. And when they had that ability to change, it's a little, little nerve wracking. But when they got used to it,
You know, they're telling, they're telling us how to fix it now. They're telling us what needs to work. And no matter where a person is working, a cook, bar, pub, fine dining restaurant, hotel, casino, wherever folks want to have a say and they want to have pride in what they do. And it's really giving us an opportunity at Ellensquik and at Lodge with such an amazing culinary and food service team there. they, you know, to really kind of see what's working with them and hearing them out and having them to be a part of this.
this process as well because you're only as good as your last plate is what we used to say in the banquet world. And it's when the team is taking that ownership on and they're the ones telling you this needs to be fixed because we don't want this quality going away. Are you getting this reaction from the residents at the lodge? Have they noticed a difference in the menus? Yes. And to give an example, one of our food service workers, I one of the first days, and I remember telling Chef Stephen this, that she was
physically emotional about quality improvement for her residents. That the residents were saying, is so good, and I want to eat more. you know, for somebody who's been working as a food service worker for so long, we really need to recognize the value and the experience that our food service working team has. They have a knowledge and an intimacy with our residents and their preferences that no paperwork or assessment is going to give us. And when they see
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that the benefit of a quality improvement and they can actually tangibly see what it's done in their residents' lives, you see how connected our teams actually are and how hospitable they are. And then we need to bring that value back with our food service workers is that fire and that spark inside of them. They're doing these types of improvements. I mean, it's not just changing food, it's changing the culture, it's changing how we do things, it's changing how we talk, the words we use. We've always said a few times that,
We need to abolish the word feeding from our vocabulary and put in the words of supportive dining. We're not feeding you. You feed your pets. mean, what a dehumanizing way of referring to it. When we're in our dining room with our residents, we need to be putting that whole hospitality foot forward and treating them with that dignity and respect because that spark of hospitality is in every single one of our food service workers.
Bye!
Now, when it comes to the individual resident having individual preferences, we have different cultures that have different types of food. Are you able to provide choices? There's special diets, there's allergies. How do you deal with all of this? I'm to pass that to Chef Stephen because he's definitely the one to talk about that to. So the easy answer is yes. The fun part about what we're doing now is we are
We are researching many different cultures. We're looking at what demographics are visiting each area, who's staying in this hospital. And we're really able to develop our menus, develop recipes, look for local vendors that are able to provide us with not only local BC products, but at the same time, reflect the diverse population that we have.
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whether it's indigenous seafood or whether we go out and find a South Asian curry from a fantastic local vendor, we're really able to customize those menus and then add those choices onto them so that when someone is sitting in a bed, they're not going to have the size of a menu of as a restaurant. But at the same time, there, if they have the choice of three or four different items and pick something that speaks to them, then again, they're going to want to eat it. They're going to
want to enjoy that meal and they're going to want to compare it to how they eat in their their home life. That's what everyone does is when they go to the hospital they they obviously say well I can do better at home. You know I want them to be able to say that was fantastic that tasted just like home. We obviously won't be able to please everybody but at the same time we want to be able to provide something for everybody.
There's vegetarians, there's vegans. I'm a pescatarian and I've gotten an allergy to mushrooms. I'm not sure what would happen to me if I went into a hospital, if I would even have a meal prepared for me. Soon you would be fine, Lance. Soon. I'm going to tell you a little story. A friend of mine a couple of years ago in Vancouver, icy day, slipped, her hip and she's only in her fifties and she went in just before Christmas, had the surgery on Christmas day. And when she came out of surgery,
The dinner had already been served. So she had no food at all that day in preparation for surgery and coming out. And when she complained to staff there, somebody tossed her a piece of packaged cheese and said, that's all we've got for you today. And I'm thinking, that can't be it. That can't be the way patients can be treated. And it sounds like you're going so much more above and beyond to find the solution to making patients feel comfortable.
That's very true. And the way this new kitchen is going to be set up is that we will have the ability to provide meals during those off times. Like you said, there's so many things that interrupt a person's meal period, whether it's tests, whether it's surgeries, whether, you know, it's different consultations, there's always something that can get in the way. So to be able to have them come back to their room.
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pick up a menu and go, may I please have this item and we have the ability with this new kitchen setup to be able to cook that for them and bring it right to the room. So not only it's exactly what they want, but it's hot, it's fresh, it's delivered with a smile on the face instead of just dropping a tray on a table or handing someone a package of cheese and saying, this is all I can do. Well, that's not good enough, right? We need to be able to
provide for needs and that's what this whole project gives us the ability to do. Improving hospital food seems like such a worthwhile campaign, but it does seem to be a massive one for the Foundation. Amy, what is your target fundraising goal and what strategies are you using to reach it? Yeah, this is certainly a large campaign for the Foundation, but it's not the biggest we've ever launched. Past campaigns for the ER, the OR and medical imaging departments were all larger in scale.
Our fundraising target is $5 million and we have a number of strategies that we're working on to reach that goal, including engaging with our major donors for ways that they can make a significant impact. We're working with local businesses, community-led fundraising events, and an awareness campaign throughout the entire community. Food, we feel, is truly universal and really resonates with everyone, whether you're a patient or not. The community of White Rock and South Surrey is such a long history of caring for one another.
I know they'll step up to help ensure that Peacearch and its patients have what they need. Any final thoughts from our guests on the power to heal of fresh, nutritious food for Peacearch Hospital's patients? I'll jump in and just say I am from the foundation team, as well as our board and many donors that have already spoken to, are very excited about this. And we are so proud to be working with this incredibly visionary team. We've got Sue Kelly, the regional manager of food operations.
We've got Chef Matt, Chef Steven, we have Melissa, our lead dietician. The exceptional talent and the passion and the vision from this team is so exciting that I feel that PeaceArch has exactly the right people to lead this project. It's been such a pleasure so far to work with this team, to hear all of the amazing ideas that they have, how they wanna make every single day better for every patient and their family.
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the whole community. is so exciting to be part of and I just cannot wait to see it happen because I do think it's going to make the patient experience, people's healthcare journeys better. People will get better faster and their families will have support that they need to get through these really tough times. We would be so thrilled to have the support of our community. If you really are interested in this campaign and want to learn more or help to support it with a gift, please visit us online at www.pah.gov.au.
Well, my thanks to chefs Matthew Richmond and Steve Courtney and to Amy O'Leary from the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation for updating us on this important fundraising campaign. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a little peckish for some reason. Till next time. Thank you.
Power to Heal podcast, presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital foundation and introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region. Since 1988, the foundation has raised over $250 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs.
Their passionate and caring team's number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock South Surrey community. Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, where innovation comes to life in so many ways.
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The simple act of giving is truly transformational. Every dollar we receive is enhancing health care in this community, whether it's supporting our capital infrastructure, the purchase of essential medical equipment, or funding a wellness program like stroke recovery or a children's club to encourage healthy habits and active play. Our wide range of giving options includes monthly donations, an increasingly popular and convenient choice that makes the greatest impact on your community hospital.
You just sign up once and the rest is automatic. And that includes receiving a consolidated tax receipt at the end of the year. But no matter what giving option you choose, it all matters and it all makes a difference.
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Be sure to subscribe to Power to Heal wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Each episode brings you inspiring stories about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation and its innovative approach to supporting better healthcare throughout the White Rock South Surrey community. Thanks for listening.
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