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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

ROOM SERVICE NOW
UNDERWAY AT THE BELLEVUE HOSPITAL
 

March 24, 2003

 Members of The Bellevue Hospital’s Dietary Department display one of the new patient food room service menus.

 From left to right are, Julia Boner, Shelly Canode, Christine Robinson, Rosann Hasselbach, Bethany Pridemore, Department Manager Dennis Gnage, Licensed & Registered Dietician Patti Clark, and Pat Gardner.

            The immediate surroundings may not remind you of a posh hotel, but The Bellevue Hospital now has one thing in common with even the fanciest of hotels - room service.

            To See a Copy of the New Room Service Menu, Click Here.  (A Note: Because of the graphics used - this is a very large file and will take some time to download.  We are working to decrease the amount of time it takes to download.)

            As of Feb. 17, 2003, patients at The Bellevue Hospital started using an innovative new concept of ordering all of their meals from a menu. The meals are guaranteed to arrive in 30 minutes or less, hot and made to order.

            “The idea was really formed in late 2000,” says Dennis Gnage, Dietary Department director at The Bellevue Hospital, “At that time, my staff and I began to research the room service idea, attending programs and trade shows and visiting other hospitals offering room service. After many months of research and planning, we went live with the new program in February, and so far, the patients seem very happy with the new service.”

            Prior to February, patients at The Bellevue Hospital used a paper menu to circle their breakfast, lunch and dinner choices, sometimes filling out their choices 24-hours in advance. “One of the main problems with the old food service was that the patient may have filled out their meal choices prior to having surgery or a procedure performed, then, following that procedure, they did not really feel like eating, or their appetite changed,” continued Gnage. “As a result, food service was an area of concern on our patient satisfaction surveys. This was especially true of our new moms in our Family Birthing Center, because they weren’t really sick and once they gave birth, they wanted a regular, hot meal. Our old paper menu was geared toward those who were sick or recovering from being sick.”

            That all changed in February when the Dietary Department revised the menu to update the portions, food choice offerings, hours of service, and patient education.

“One of the most important reasons we had for changing our food ordering system was the prospect of helping our patients recover faster,” added Gnage. “If you don’t feel well, you are much more likely to eat if you are offered foods that you like. This concept ties in with our “We Care” program, where we, as a hospital family, look for ways to improve customer services and satisfaction.”

            “We now use a laminated, tri-fold menu that shows all of the breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack choices...just like a menu in a restaurant,” added Gnage. “It is the same menu used for all meals, but the choices have been expanded, breakfast is offered all day, and sandwiches, salads, and entrees are now offered for lunch and dinner.”

            The new menu has also been structured for special diet concerns, including “heart symbols” designating “heart healthy choices,” and a listing of the number of carbohydrates contained in each meal choice. The “heart healthy” symbols designate those choices low in sodium, fat, cholesterol, and caffeine.

            Breakfast choices range from cereals and fruit to pancakes and omelets. Lunch choices offer items such as specialty salads, hot and cold sandwiches, spaghetti, fish, and meatloaf, while dinner choices include chicken parmigiana, pork chops, and beef stroganoff. A specially designed children’s menu is also available, containing “kid friendly” choices such as macaroni and cheese, cheese pizza, chicken fingers, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Patients call an in-house room service telephone number and order their food anytime between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. daily. Patients can now order when they are hungry, need to take medication, or after tests, therapy services, and/or procedures have been completed.

            “Our staff also knows the dietary restrictions or special diets each patient has and assists with their orders,” added Gnage. “Our registered and licensed dietician also visits patients and helps to educate them about their food choices.”

            “This is a real plus for the patient,” added Gnage. “Our patients get to eat according to their schedule, not ours. We are finding that very little food is being wasted because of this service: they are eating what they order. And, for our diabetic patients, this system works well because they can control when they eat based on their personal pattern of receiving insulin. We find this is becoming an important educational tool for the newly diagnosed diabetics.

            Continued Gnage, “We are also finding that the nurses have more time to spend with the patients because they are not being pulled away to help the patient order their food or bring trays into the room. Dietary Department personnel take the orders over the phone and deliver the trays. Our staff also monitors who has eaten and who has not, informing the nurses when someone has not yet called in their order. The nurses can then follow-up to make sure the patients are getting the proper nourishment.”

            “This new service also benefits our physical therapy department. Previously, when all meals were served at the same time, the therapists would have to wait for the patients to finish their meal before performing therapy. Now, if one patient is eating, they can check on their next patient and work with them because chances are that not all the patients are eating at the same time.”

            TBH staff members are available to help patients order their meals in cases where the patient may be unable to talk on the phone, or does not speak English. A menu in Spanish is also being printed and will soon be available.

            Currently, the room service option is only available to patients. Family members and visitors still use the cafeteria during business hours, and vending machines are available in the cafeteria 24-hours a day.

            For additional information on the new room service program at The Bellevue Hospital, contact Dennis Gnage, Dietary Department manager, at (419) 483-4040, Ext. 4452.

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The Bellevue Hospital, 1400 W. Main Street - P O Box 8004, Bellevue, Ohio  44811-8004    419-483-4040
Last modified: 11/11/04