With new standards in hospital foodservice making waves in the healthcare community, questions continue to arise for how exactly hospitals can find viable and affordable ways to provide healthy, organic hospital foodservice options to patients in order to keep up with demands and impact their surrounding communities. Luckily, a number of hospitals around the country are taking the lead and offering a brilliantly simple solution – on-site greenhouses and community gardens. There are many benefits involved with utilizing this unique and hands-on approach to hospital foodservice beyond just yielding healthy and organic herbs and produce, below are a few that might be able to convince you to make the switch.
Variety
Patients depend on hospital foodservice programs to help them heal from within, by ensuring they receive well-balanced meals that contain all the vitamins and nutrients they need, but even more so, hospital foodservice programs can dramatically influence a patient’s overall satisfaction – which directly links to their health. Something as easy as offering a vast variety of fresh, healthy, and organic produce and herbs for your hospital foodservice teams to create delicious meals from can go a long way in significantly improving the health of patients both in your hospitals and throughout your community. Growing food on-site ensures that your patients are able to enjoy not only more nutritionally dense meals to aid in their health and recovery, but also better tasting food that they love. Having a variety of healthy, organic ingredients at your disposal will allow your hospital to expand its menus and reach patients on an entirely new level.
Cost
One of the best reasons for hospitals to opt for on-site greenhouses and gardens, aside from healthier and happier patients, is the limitless potential supply of fresh ingredients throughout the year, that will greatly reduce the costs associated with the purchase of lesser quality ingredients and food waste. As farm-to-table dining becomes increasingly popular in many American homes, the idea of essentially having farm-fresh ingredients available at all times without paying additional costs for “better” food shipments is a win-win for everyone. Patients enjoy better food at virtually no cost to you, which results inevitably in less food waste and better health, saving you even more money.
Education
One of the major reasons hospitals are being encouraged to get more involved in their local communities is to educate people on better nutrition, health, and wellness practices that will allow them to make better choices at home, reducing the need for extensive medical care in the future. Risks of illnesses, related to poor diet, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more, have only continued to increase in recent years. By stepping in with educational programs and classes that feature real demonstrations, and hands-on involvement, from members of the community, hospitals can effectively intercept many of these problems before they occur and eliminate very real threats that currently exist everywhere.
Healthy, organic hospital foodservice is not impossible. It requires a willingness to make the change. Be an unrelenting force for positive change in your community by creating a plan for your own sustainable local food source today. Call 629.777.8989 or fill in the free consultation form in the sidebar to learn more about how our software can positively impact the lives of the patients and visitors you service every day.