A retired senior Northern Health Authority official is convinced hospital food would be different if top managers ate the same food that鈥檚 served in their facilities.
鈥淩ather than health system executives feeding themselves the best catered food available at their meetings while they talk about 鈥榪uality patient-centred care,鈥� it should be a legal requirement that all of their snacks and catered lunches come directly from the local hospital exactly as it is fed to patients,鈥� wrote former chief medical health officer David Bowering in a social media post.
He says reliance on what he termed 鈥渃orporate food鈥� continues to increase and that healthy, fresh food is increasingly 鈥渂ecoming a distant memory.鈥�
鈥淭he better the hospital food gets, the better their own publicly-funded free lunches will taste. It鈥檚 called feedback,鈥� Bowering says of what health executives could be eating.
Adding to his comments in a subsequent interview, Bowering says Northern Health, like other large organizations, is increasingly relying on large food-providing corporations because of cost.
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鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing is more and more decisions being made by people who are more distant now from the consequences,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hey are also increasingly risk-averse,鈥� he says of large organizations such as Northern Health preferring mass-produced processed-food.
Locally-sourced food through local growers and suppliers throughout the region, however, would add to food freshness, quality and healthier options, Bowering adds.
He does acknowledge the challenges of providing food through the wide variety of Northern Health鈥檚 facilities located across a large swath of the province.
However, he says it鈥檚 not impossible 鈥� on Haida Gwaii, Northern Health patients are offered fresh-caught fish.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 needed is a long-term vision,鈥� says Bowering of an effort to marry local food with that provided by large corporations.
In response, Northern Health鈥檚 Eryn Collins says that when the authority鈥檚 executives do meet in its various facilities, their food is catered directly from the kitchens at those facilities.
鈥淪o they are eating what鈥檚 on the menu,鈥� she says.
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Collins describes health care facility food services as complex and challenging in that patient meals can depend upon individual dietary requirements tied to their individual medical conditions.
鈥淎t Mills Memorial Hospital [in Terrace], for instance, meals are prepared from scratch in their kitchens,鈥� says Collins.
鈥淭here are a variety of items prepared for each meal,鈥� she says in adding Northern Health does use food that鈥檚 been frozen.
And while Northern Health does strive to meet a provincially-mandated target that 30 per cent of the food prepared is sourced locally, Collins says the definition of 鈥榣ocal鈥� can be interpreted as food from within B.C.
鈥淲e do have challenges due to the size of the region,鈥� she notes.
Still, most recent reports indicate Northern Health鈥檚 food is now 19 per cent local, up from a previous level of 16 per cent.
鈥淲e continue to look at ways to improve within the challenges and constraints we have,鈥� says Collins.
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