Rotation 4: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano

This week my rotation was at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, which is about 17 miles from Dallas. The drive takes anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour during rush hour traffic. I worked with the food service Director, Mary Spicer and Chef, Gary Vorstenbosch. The food service is room service style and all the food is made to order for patients. It is called Five-Star Dining and it won the Ivy Award in 2008. The Ivy Award is given annually by Restaurants and Institutions Magazine to a select group of restaurants, hotels, and noncommercial food operators that exemplify the highest standards of excellence in food service.

My main assignment for the week was to interview at least 40 patients about their satisfaction with the temperature and quality of the food. The patients varied in age (20-89), type of diet, and duration of stay. Some patients have been there for three months or more for pregnancy complications or long term illness, these people had a lot to say about the food because they've tried everything on the menu. It was really fun spending about two hours a day talking with patients. I learned a lot and was able to point out problems and recommend changes for the menu.

Throughout the week I followed random food service staff around doing many different things. I prepared and delivered floor stocks, set up for caterings and cleaned up after them, assisted on tray line and in the call center, delivered trays to patients, made sandwiches, served on the cafeteria line during lunch, flipped cheeseburgers, dropped french fries in grease, garnished desserts, ate yummy food, had lots of great conversations, and put food orders away in dry storage and in the freezer...again.

Chef Gary is Dutch and grew up in The Netherlands. He recognized that I am also Dutch from my last name. After talking with him, I definitely hope I make it there some day to explore my heritage and get a pair of wooden shoes.

It's a small world...Mary Spicer is a friend and colleague of my boss from Saint Clare's Hospital back in Weston, Wisconsin. In the middle of having a nice chat with her about her history and accomplishments, which is amazing--she is famous in the food service world, I randomly asked her if she knew Dale Evert. It was so funny, she was completely surprised.

To sum up the week, it was very busy, fun, interesting, and motivating....minus the rush hour traffic and crazy drivers. I was thrilled to be invited to join a couple other interns on Friday night at the mall to drool over expensive shoes and clothes. We also checked out the food court, which also just happens to have beer :) Great way to end the week.