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IQALUIT
Hospital food has a bad reputation, but Qikiqtani General Hospital is about to join other Canadian hospitals working to show their meals can be as good as those at a decent restaurant.

The new system to import frozen food from Ottawa and reheat it on a trolley impressed legislators attending a Sept. 24 taste testing event at the hospital.

"I didn't think it was hospital food at all," Rankin Inlet North MLA Tagak Curley said. "Highly recommended."

"The food was great, definitely," said Quttiktuq MLA Ron Elliott.

Taste is important, but other factors played into the decision to change the way QGH feeds its patients. "What our challenge has been is that, among those, we have two diabetics, one pureed diet, one obstetrics diet, one renal diet, and you have all these things to prepare from scratch," said clinical dietician Christina Rooney. "It makes it complicated to offer them a choice within their diet."

Reviewing the hospital's food supply system over the past year, staff identified six goals that will be met by the new system, which feeds about a dozen patients on an average day, not including staff and community members who buy food from the hospital cafeteria. Staff said hospital food should meet patients' medical needs, be safe, consistently include country food, be of excellent quality with excellent taste, have variety and model healthy food choices.

To meet these goals, the hospital is taking over food services from Qikiqtaaluk Logistics, and will bring north food prepared and frozen by the specialists at Healthcare Food Services in Ottawa. Meals, which will be planned to meet dietary requirements for patients, will be reheated in a rethermalization cart while en route to patients. The 12-tray trolley is two-sided to allow cold foods on one side, and hot food on the other.

"It looks like a better way to provide service; possibly a cost savings," said Elliott. "They're going to have healthier diets, and when you're in the hospital, that's what you want. They're low sodium, and if people require additional seasoning, they'll have the ability to add it."

"We want our patients to want to eat what we offer them," clinical dietician Christina Rooney said, adding the new system will give diet planners more than 50 meal options. "No one wants to eat the same thing every day, and when it comes to food, everyone prefers to have a choice."

Legislators were pleased to see the changes, although none mentioned any specific complaints about past service.

"It's good to see a new food menu," Curley said. "It's fresh as well as a variety of choices. Having country food, halibut from Pangnirtung - great stuff."

"There's always a concern about country food being served, so it's nice that we'll actually have country food in the diet," Elliott said.

Calling the new system more patient-focused, Rooney said patients will be given a card to choose their meal options for the day. Dieticians will offer advice for those who need help.

By taking over the food preparation, deputy minister of Health Peter Ma said the government will save money and increase Inuit employment because more people will be needed to prepare country food.

The hospital's kitchen will be closed for a number of months during upcoming renovations, and the cart will be used to maintain service for patients staying at the hospital during that time, Rooney said. She told legislators the hospital hopes to eventually have a country food eating area similar to those found at boarding homes.

Now that the government is taking over food services, she added, the hospital's cafeteria offerings will also be modified to ensure meals meet the health standards expected to match the messages in other government programs.

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