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At Chelsea Community Hospital, room service, please

Two food service staff members deliver room service to patients at Chelsea Community Hospital.
Two food service staff members deliver room service to patients at Chelsea Community Hospital.

From omelets with a choice of fillings for breakfast to three kinds of quesadillas for lunch to vegetable, tofu or chicken stir fry for dinner, patient meals at Chelsea Community Hospital (CCH) have become a dining experience.

Gone are the days of the 7:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. schedule without much of a choice in what meal a patient ate while staying at the hospital.

In its place is room service ordered off an extensive menu, prepared to a patient’s liking, and delivered at a time of a patient’s choosing.

The idea of providing room service began about two years ago, when Ron Yonkoski, food service director for CCH, had a vision to provide the enhanced service for patients, says Phil Boham, vice president of development.

Yonkoski wanted to not only enhance a patient’s experience at the hospital but also provide a cost savings.

So after careful thought and lots of planning, last July, the hospital implemented a room service program where patients call and order off a menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner. Plus a snack, if they so choose. The food is included in the cost of their hospital stay.

Switching to a room service menu has accomplished the staff’s goals, Boham says.

Patients call the room service call center and place their order. Their choice is input into a computer.

If there are any dietary restriction, “The computer blocks the things that patients can’t have,” he says.

Within 10 minutes of receiving the call, a patient’s food is en route with a ticket on the tray to ensure that the right meal goes to the correct patient.

“There’s no potential for delivering the wrong food,” he says because each ticket has the patient’s name and birthday on it and the nursing staff is very involved in the whole process.

“It’s a coordinated effort,” he says.

If an elderly patient needs help ordering, the nursing staff will help. Plus, there’s also a dietitian if a consultation is needed.

About three weeks ago, the hospital extended this room service option to family members or visitors. They can buy a $5 voucher for breakfast or a $7 voucher for lunch or dinner and enjoy a meal in the private room with the patient.

Plus, the cafeteria is also open for meals.

“The hospital has always prided itself on the quality of its food,” Boham says, in fact, the food staff holds Sunday brunches for the community and serves from 250-300 people.

In addition, numerous service groups choose the hospital cafeteria for their meetings.

Plus, he says, the hospital has “a great catering department. They’ve provided food for weddings, graduations, anniversaries, private parties, funerals, christenings, you name it.”

The room service project has served up about $125,000 in savings in food costs and has been very well received by patients, Boham says.

The menu lists whether a selection is heart healthy, high in salt and how many carbohydrates are in each serving to assist those seeking to manage high blood pressure or blood sugar levels.

Breakfast items, which include cereals, hot entrees, baked items, fruits and yogurt, are available all day to patients.

Lunch and dinner selections are served from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and include soups, salads, deli sandwiches, grilled items, entrees, side dishes, pizza and both sugar and no sugar desserts.

“We are making the optimum use of the food department,” he says, adding that there’s also a café that serves baked goods, soups, sandwiches, coffees, teas, and cold juices from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

It, too, is manned by staff from the 29-member hospital food service department.

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