"Room service!"
The phrase evokes a scene in a luxurious hotel suite where a smartly dressed server hand-delivers a sumptuous meal on a silver platter.
But room service in a hospital?
That’s exactly what Kaiser Permanente is now offering patients at its Moanalua Medical Center, with dishes made "fresh to order" by the kitchen staff instead of the usual bland, warmed-over fare most people associate with hospital food.
Kaiser offers room service at several of its hospitals nationwide, and Hawaii is one of the first to offer it any time between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. And while patients’ dietary restrictions must be taken into consideration, the menu does list a sensible and tasty group of soups, salads, sandwiches, pizza and entrees, desserts and breakfast items served all day.
(Queen’s Medical Center said it plans to implement a similar program within a year’s time, and Hawaii Pacific Health, which operates Straub and Kapiolani medical centers, is exploring the concept, officials said.)
"The goal of this program is to improve patients’ healthy eating," said Carolyn Caballes, Moanalua Medical Center’s director of food and nutrition services. "It’s also a teaching tool to help them get into the habit of thinking healthy when it comes to food.
"We do monitor patients with special diet requirements, like those with diabetes, and our dietary aides who take their orders make sure they’re ordering properly and learning how to use the menu wisely."
As part of an ongoing renovation at the hospital, a new kitchen was built to accommodate the new room service, which started in August, and the custom-made meals are delivered within 45 minutes of phone orders taken by dietary aides who can assist with selections.
Along with the new kitchen came a new hire in executive chef Steve Fontanilla. The Hawaii-born Navy veteran has more than 30 years of food service, including working as executive chef and restaurant manager for the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, a position he held since October 2007 before taking the Kaiser position.
Fontanilla oversees eight cooks, who respond to a steady stream of orders that come up on computer screens in the kitchen.
"Some of our items we make sure to buy local," Fontanilla said. "We get produce from our Fresh Day Farmers Market here at the hospital every Wednesday and also buy fish locally caught every week. And it’s the same quality food that you get in five-star hotel restaurants."
Since patients are more likely to eat food that they’ve chosen themselves and that’s prepared fresh, it "helps the patients heal faster," Caballes said. "They’re more satisfied with their meals. The quality of the food is better, and they get to choose what and when they want to eat. We see the results when we pick up afterward. Their plates are coming back a lot cleaner."
When he worked at the "Pentagon of the Pacific," Fontanilla cooked for high-profile military and government leaders including U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Coming over to hospital care, the transition was smooth," he said. "It was nothing new. I just have to wear a different uniform."
Easing up on the salt shaker and other seasonings to accommodate low-sodium diets did take some adjustment, though.
"One thing I learned from restaurant cooks is that they can have a heavy hand when it comes to flavor. Even I had to adjust my taste buds and change for low-sodium portions. So I’m always working with Carolyn and the other dietitians, and it’s been a real education.
"That’s a big plus with this job, because it’s not just about the cooking."
Working with the health care food-service consulting firm Don Miller & Associates, Fontanilla and the Kaiser dietitians rejiggered some of the suggested menu items to local tastes.
"For instance, instead of a grilled chicken breast, we developed a Korean barbecue chicken entree using low-sodium shoyu," Fontanilla said. "And the cod became panko-crusted mahimahi. … That’s become one of our more popular entrees. Patients who eat it have said, ‘How come it’s so good?’"
Other menu items that have gotten good feedback include a flavorful somen salad with a diluted dashi to tone down on the sodium intake, miso soup with tofu cubes, and sweet-bread French toast with a low-cholesterol egg wash.
"The dietitians are always checking the taste, portion and nutrition specifications," he said.
"We’ve gotten Steve to read nutrition labels," Caballes said with a laugh. "And we hope patients will learn something after they’ve been released, in that they’ll always be considerate of portion size and the regularity of their meals at home."
