Loving with Good Food | HealthyHospitals at the Allendale County Hospital
“Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was very good!” | Genesis 1:31
Hospitals serve as the places we turn to for support in restoring our health. Through the HealthyHospitals program by Abundance for Health, we believe that the food provided in healthcare settings should positively influence our well-being. HealthyHospitals aims to offer patients, their families, and the dedicated staff caring for them nutritious options that exemplify excellence in healing through nutrition, education, and food preparation.
These initiatives not only contribute to a healthier community but also support the sustainability of our vital local rural hospitals. By providing high-quality, nutritious meals, the dietetic and foodservice teams play a crucial role in the hospital's healing mission, making our local dietary teams as essential to patient care as the medical staff. Their efforts directly impact recovery, health outcomes, and the overall experience of patients, staff, and visitors. HealthyHospitals is the place where it all comes together. Let’s get started!
Achieving Optimal Health with HealthyHospitals at ACH
Key Contributions of Dietetic and Foodservice Team Members
Supporting Clinical Care:
- Nutrition as Medicine: The meals we prepare are tailored to meet therapeutic dietary needs, such as low-sodium diets for heart failure patients or texture-modified meals for those with swallowing difficulties. These meals are a prescribed part of treatment, aiding in muscle recovery, wound healing, and immune system support.
- Preventing Malnutrition: Up to 40% of hospitalized patients are malnourished, which can worsen during their stay. Foodservice staff help ensure patients receive nutrient-dense meals to combat malnutrition and improve recovery outcomes.
Improving Patient Outcomes:
- Faster Recovery: Nutritious meals help patients heal faster, reduce complications, and shorten hospital stays.
- Reduced Readmissions: Proper nutrition lowers the risk of readmission, especially for patients with chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
- Enhanced Patient Satisfaction: High-quality, appealing meals provide comfort and dignity, improving the overall patient experience during a vulnerable time.
Educating Patients and Staff:
- Promoting Healthy Eating: By offering plant-predominant, whole-food options, foodservice staff can educate patients and hospital staff about dietary choices that can prevent and manage chronic diseases, leading by example.
- Post-Discharge Support: In 2026, we will begin providing recipe cards, educational materials, and healthy eating tips at discharge, empowering patients to continue making nutritious, healthy lifestyle choices at home.
Impacting the Hospital Community:
- Cafeteria Meals: Foodservice teams ensure that hospital staff, visitors, and families have access to healthy, delicious meals, supporting their well-being and productivity.
- Creating a Positive Environment: By offering visually appealing and flavorful meals, we foster a sense of normalcy and comfort for everyone in the hospital.
Evidence of Impact:
- Studies show that patients who receive enhanced nutrition experience fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, and lower mortality rates.
- Hospitals like Northwell Health and Emory University have demonstrated that improving food quality can significantly boost patient satisfaction and reduce costs.
Providing a complete picture of care, bridging the gap between Science and Service
Our curriculum is unique by pulling together a compilation of leading resources from multiple evidence-based sources like Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Harvard Medical School, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and the Culinary Institute of America to actively provide the most current, comprehensive, balanced, and actionable curriculum for our hospital food services and dietary team. Supporting rural Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) with evidence-based nutrition resources addresses unique challenges such as limited staffing, budget constraints, and high rates of chronic disease in rural populations. We believe it is vital sharing resources from diverse but aligned organizations for hospital teams because it supports leadership in patient safety, builds professional credibility among the dietary team, and translates complex science into actionable culinary practice through multiple evidence-based perspectives and scopes for a well-rounded approach to learning in action.
Classroom Agendas
Our class time works to pool together the best, most accurate information to support patients safety and clinical accuracy. In a field often driven by trends or pseudoscientific theories, we're working to support an evidence-based nutrition (EBN)) approach relying on scientifically vetted data to help mitigate "dietary myths" while supporting improved outcomes. Clinical evidence demonstrates that implementing evidence-based practices can improve patient compliance, reduce length of hospital stays, and lower readmission rates. Our time together will work to bridge between Science and Service, helping our hospital dietary and foodservice teams create meals that are both health-promoting and flavorful, modeling healthy habits for all. We believe hospitals can lead and serve an educational function; by using resources that model plant-predominant defaults, we're creating a "teachable moment" for patients and staff that can support long-term healthy lifestyle choices.
Peer-Reviewed Sources & References
We believe exposure to a range of high-quality materials encourages "elaboration," a learning strategy where staff associate core content with additional knowledge, leading to better long-term retention. Using diverse, practice-based evidence, like the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) Plant-Forward Kitchen, helps bridge the gap between academic nutrition theory and the daily reality of hospital food and dietary service. Using credible, peer-reviewed sources is establishing our hospital team as an authority, earning greater trust from both patients and other healthcare team members across the health system while continuously and openly crediting sources acknowledges our gratitude to original creators and provides a pathway of shared learning and transparency, allowing others to verify claims and participate in informed conversations. We believe that providing evidence-based information is simply an ethical responsibility; it underpins all that we do. Click here, to see HealthyHospitals references.