WakeMed Cary Hospital
One Step at a Time
WakeMed Cary gained interest in the Red Apple project in August of 2008. Led by foodservice director Gail Douglas, the team at the Cary hospital took their time to make sure all the necessary steps were in place to receive the Red Apple. “As dietitian and foodservice director, I want to make sure that there is a healthy balance of choices and sometimes it just takes a while to get there” says Douglas. One of the new offerings in the cafeteria is a line of frozen, pre-packaged vegetarian meals from Plant Pure, a local NC company. “We wanted to provide something consistent, which tastes good and gives those working third shift an option when looking for a late meal” says Douglas.
Aside from the cafeteria changes, Douglas has worked with her team and hospital administration to bolster the presence of the wellness program titled Campaign TLC (icon pictured), standing for Teaching Lifestyle Choices. The TLC program places a strong focus on education and promotes healthy choices such as a “salads done right” poster in the cafeteria or Stairway to Health messages that encourage physical activity. In the future, the team will implement a “Health Check Station” in the cafeteria where employees can monitor progress on their health goals and speak with a dietitian about making improvements. Keep up the great work WakeMed Cary, you are a shining example of hospital excellence.
Maria Parham Medical Center
Henderson’s Healthy Highlight
Maria Parham Medical Center has plenty to be proud of. Upon receiving Red Apple status, the hospital, in partnership with Sodexo, has made some significant strides to provide employees with ample opportunities to improve their health. Building off of the hospitals H.O.W (Healthy Options that Work) wellness program, Sodexo began to offer H.O.W meal deals for employees. “Plenty of our [Sodexo] recipes already meet NCPP’s nutrition criteria so we decided to offer them at a discount as part of the wellness program” says Pat Baldauf, Food and Nutrition Services Director.
In addition to earning wellness points for purchasing the H.O.W meal deal, employees can earn additional points for meeting wellness goals, participating in a steps program and from other healthy behaviors. The cafeteria staff is heavily involved in the new wellness initiatives as well. “We’ve made lot’s of good changes and many of them included our own [foodservice] staff” says Baldauf. As you can see, the hospital is implementing wellness on many levels and the leadership is evident from both foodservices and hospital administration. This type of inter-hospital partnership is key to the success of creating a healthier food environment! Congratulations Maria Parham, keep up the great work!
Lenoir Memorial Hospital, Inc.
Going from Good to Great
The team at Lenoir Memorial Hospital noticed that a lot of what the Red Apple project was recommending, they were already doing! After taking the online assessment the team noticed that they needed to make very few changes to become a Red Apple. In doing so, the cafeteria team worked with the REACH (Results with Exercise and Changing Habits) program to see how they could incorporate wellness into the cafeteria. They decided that offering a daily plate special as part of the wellness program was the way to go. Employees can earn wellness points in exchange for cash incentives for participating in the REACH program and the cafeteria has become a go-to place to help promote REACH activities.
Employees at LMH have several tailored opportunities to learn how to make healthy eating and living a natural part of the day. Employees are given access to group support, one-on-one counseling sessions with dietitians and consultations with employees at the hospital’s onsite Minges Wellness Center. To keep things fun and exciting, the cafeteria’s action cooking station has become a popular and highly anticipated part of wellness education and delicious eating at LMH! In the future, the team looks to come up with additional creative messages and campaigns to raise employee participation in wellness. Help us congratulate LMH and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors!
Carolinas Medical Center- Lincoln
New Location = New Opportunities!
Greg Dribielbis and Nancy Satterwhite are working in tandem to make great things happen at CMC- Lincoln. As the hospital prepares to move into a new location, both Greg and Nancy see the huge opportunity to make the new facility a place where being healthy is easy. Along with others at the hospital, Greg and Nancy decided that it was perfect timing to create and formalize a wellness committee to strengthen worksite wellness efforts at the hospital. For example, once the new cafeteria is open the committee will place an electronic menu board in the cafeteria and place the wellness icon “Al the Alligator” to promote healthy options. The menu board will highlight healthy options in green and the less healthy, higher calorie foods in red. This is a great example of making wellness a daily part of foodservice operations.
Along with the changes in the new facility, CMC-Lincoln is doing great things to encourage and educate employees to make better choices. They have implemented a frequent customer meal card where the purchase of 10 healthy options gives you an additional one for free. They have also implemented a pedometer incentive program where employees can earn up to $100 per quarter for meeting walking and aerobic activity goals. Along with the monetary reward, employees also receive free fruit from the cafeteria for meeting goals.
Bladen County Hospital
No Resources Yet No Excuses
Bladen County Hospital has one of the most tremendous success story to date. The team (pictured with healthy eating wellness icon) at the small community hospital in Elizabethtown, NC got involved with the Red Apple project in early 2009 and has not looked back since. Knowing that there were no monetary resources available to make the project a success, the team came up with several creative ways to complete all the necessary guidelines in becoming a Red Apple facility. “We knew that it was going to be a challenge but we also knew it was going to be worth it!” says Tabandeh Zand, clinical dietitian and wellness team member at the hospital. “We figured out what we had to do and we just did it…our lack of resources and small size is no excuse.” says Zand.
Working with food distributor US Foods, the team realigned the menu to make sure that they provided nutrition information on all the foods served in the cafeteria. Along with menu changes, the team has made very simple changes to some of the most popular dishes to make them healthier such as switching out heavy calorie sauces, creams, butter and cheeses for low-fat, healthier alternatives. Along with cafeteria changes, several employees are participating in a “Know Your Numbers” campaign to encourage knowledge and maintenance of biometric health levels such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels, weight and other indicators of health. Employees are rewarded with lower insurance premiums by meeting their health goals and as a result “we have seen fruit, salads, veggies water and healthy choices revenues go up...why, because people want the incentive!” says the team at Bladen. In the future, the team plans to continue active communication with employees through monthly lunch ‘n learns and cafeteria promotions that support the “Know Your Numbers” campaign. The work at Bladen County Hospital goes to show that any hospital, no matter the size or resource level, can make the become a healthy, affordable place to dine. Go Bladen!
Transylvania Regional Hospital
Small Hospital with a Mountain-high Story
Tucked away in beautiful Brevard, NC, Transylvania Hospital has definitely made its mark in making healthy lifestyles a natural goal for its employees and community members. Along with the changes made to achieve Red Apple status, Transylvania has stretched its healthy food arm out into the greater mountain community. Each month, Chef Greg Gorgone and clinical dietitian Amanda Fisher host “Dessert with the Doc”, a workshop on how to create a flavorful, nutritional balance in meal planning and preparation. In the sessions, attendees receive gift certificates that can be redeemed in the hospital cafeteria in exchange for a delicious, healthy meal. The workshop has become so popular that it has a long waiting list of folks looking to make lifestyle changes!
Nicholas Sullivan, staff member at NC Prevention Partners recently visited Transylvania and had the treat of eating the Super Food Salad containing blueberries, strawberries, mandarin oranges, fresh tomatoes, broccoli, peppers and a homemade garlic cilantro vinaigrette- DELICIOUS!
According to Will Ecker, Foodservice Director at Transylvania, “we want to make it as easy and fun as possible for people to eat healthy…the Super Food Salad is always a big hit”. Will and the team have worked to make healthy eating a no-brainer by creating a grill menu which lists the cheaper, healthier alternatives all on the same side so customers can easily make better choices. Customers also have the option of purchasing a bundled vegetarian blue plate special for $3.89. Transylvania’s great work is taking the Red Apple project to new heights, literally!
Highsmith-Rainey Specialty Hospital
Bringing Fayetteville a Taste of Something New
Barbara White, Nutrition and Foodservice Director at Highsmith-Rainey Hospital in Fayettevile, NC knew that getting the Red Apple would be no easy task. “Being a small, self-operated hospitals gives us challenges that can be overwhelming at times...but the Red Apple is something we WILL make happen”.
Highsmith-Rainey celebrated Red Apple status on Monday, April 19th and the day was a blast. They rolled out a new menu of healthy options and had nutrition information readily available for customers. In conjunction with sister hospital Cape Fear Valley Medical Center, the two hospitals have created a beautiful healthy eating Red Apple icon to identify great food options throughout the cafeteria. Along with the icon, the marketing department at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center has created posters with beautiful photos of fresh food and messages like “Crisp and Succulent”, “Crunchy and Cool”, “Flavorful and Robust”- all to educate and encourage customers to make better choices. These awesome materials have caught the attention of many at Highsmith-Rainey.
In the future, Highsmith-Rainey hopes to do even more in promoting healthy options. They will eventually tie healthy purchases to an employee wellness rewards program where employees will earn points for the number of healthy meals purchased in the cafeteria.
New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Even Patients Get a Bite of the Red Apple
Michael Noice, Nutrition and Foodservices Director had a great idea. “Since we are making all these great things happen for employees and customers with the Red Apple project, why leave the patients out?”, thought Noice. Michael then made an effort to provide the same healthy options served in retail on patient menus, identified with the New Hanover red apple logo.
“Patients are the main reason we do what we do and every time they eat, it’s a great time to educate them” says Noice. This a great philosophy to keep knowing that in NC, nearly half a million meals are served in hospital cafeterias each week and that number doesn’t include those served on patient trays. By making healthy choices an option for patients, New Hanover Regional Medical Center is living up to its mission to be a community leader in promoting good health.
Speaking of leadership, employees at New Hanover Regional, employees are inspired by the great wellness success story of Keith Strawn, VP of Human Resources. Keith credits his weight loss and health improvement success to a consistent, steady change in his eating habits and regular workouts. Keith was motivated to “walk the walk” by CEO Jack Barto and has reaped a invaluable heap of benefits because he decided to do so. He references a favorite quote that, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels” when looking to stick to his healthy eating habits. Employees are sure to benefit from the leadership of both Michael and Keith.
(Keith Strawn story adapted from NHRMC Feb-Mar Employee Newsletter, Volume 2 Issue 2)
Wilson Medical Center
Wilson, Where BEEing Healthy is Easy
Wilson Medical Center has plenty to be proud of. As one of the first hospitals visited by NCPP to introduce the Red Apple project, Wilson has made one of the strongest commitments to a healthy food environment in the state. Led by a team of dedicated foodservice employees and dietitians, Wilson took ownership of the project right away. To go along with the Be Healthy wellness program, the team designed a BEE HEALTHY icon of a bee holding a red apple to make it easy for employees to spot healthy options in the cafeteria. “We wanted to do something fun and different” says Shannon Jackson, clinical dietitian at Wilson. “Being healthy is something everyone can do and we want to help them do just that here at Wilson”, says Jackson.
The food at Wilson Medical Center is so delicious that it has gotten praise from Wilson Daily Times Lifestyle Editor Lisa Boykin Batts in her blog, Rather Be Cooking. Batts speaks very highly of Wilson’s cafeteria after an experience of visiting the hospital with a loved one. From the tone of her article entry, the foodservice team at Wilson Medical Center was doing great things even before receiving the Red Apple.
On the day of the Red Apple celebration, Wilson served a delicious grilled chicken entrée topped with a fresh pineapple and strawberry salsa. Employees and customers alike could not get enough of it! Along with healthy food, employees can be frequently found out in front of the hospital getting their exercise on the hospital walking track. On nice Spring days, such as the one when staff member Nicholas Sullivan visited, the track is packed with employees and community members walking and in good, healthy spirits. As the first thing you see driving up to the hospital, the track is a direct reflection of the feeling you get while at Wilson; a small, community hospital where comfort, care and compassion are a few of the main ingredients to their recipe for great work!
Southeastern Regional Medical Center
Following the Leader(s)
Southeastern Regional Medical Center celebrated Red Apple status on April 15th, exactly two years after going 100% tobacco-free. “April 15th is known as tax day for all which can be a high anxiety day for some people…but here at SRMC- we’re claiming April 15th as a day to celebrate” says Joann Anderson, CEO of Southeastern Regional Medical Center.
Anderson conducted an interview with NCPP where she explained the hospitals overall goal and mission to create a healthier workforce and a healthier Robeson county community. In an effort to do so, the administrative team came up with a goal of reducing hospital-wide BMI by 5 percentage points. After evaluating the progress for the first quarter of the program, they saw that hospital employee BMI had actually risen. “We realized that if we wanted employees to make a concerted wellness effort, we needed to set the example”. In doing so, the hospital started a 1 Million Steps competition between five of the hospital’s key administrators, including Anderson. The contest has grown into a very heated race and employees can’t wait to crown the winner!
The celebration day was phenomenal, marked by employees flocked to the massive fruit table to pluck plums, mangos, grapes, oranges, apples and other natural delights and getting a little workout on the Nintendo Wii set-up in the dining area. We applaud Southeastern Regional for their efforts and cheer them on in their BMI reduction quest. Go SRMC!
Say Cheese! (low-fat cheese that is)
Want to see more pictures of all the great work mentioned above? Click here to see photos taken at these hospitals and others from around the state.