Deep in the Heart of AHF

Deanne Carlisle (Portland Medical Center) and Bruce Thomas (Geisinger Medical Center) accepted AHF’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The inaugural national conference of AHF — the Association for Healthcare Foodservice — attracted more than 600 attendees to Austin on June 5-9, all focused on professional development and the goal of building a national association that would combine the best strengths and cultural traditions of its merged, legacy organizations.

The 2010 conference featured general sessions on teambuilding, benchmarking, sustainability program development and the skills necessary to build stronger working relationships with executives and administrators. A wide variety of workshops explored special interest topics.

In the annual business meeting, outgoing president Kris Schroeder pointed to key accomplishments AHF has achieved since its inception last fall: developing strong strategic and membership development plans; laying the groundwork for an effective regional chapter structure (with eight chapters established so far and more to come); and several new initiatives to enhance member services,

The new organization's highest honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award, was presented to Deanne Carlisle and Bruce Thomas, both presidents of their respective associations during the year of the merger negotiations that led to the formation of AHF. The organization's Making a Difference Award, given in honor of longstanding healthcare foodservice supporter John Cabot, was presented to Marie Nelson.

Cedric Junearick, executive chef at Huntsville Hospital, was presented with AHF’s Future Horizons Award.

Partnership in Leadership Awards, recognizing member facilities that exhibit exceptional administrative support of self-operated foodservice, went to Robert Darrah, director of dining services at Legacy Retirement Communities in Lincoln, NE; and to Nancy Geffre, director of nutrition and food services at USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, SD.

AHF Spotlight Award winners included Khaleed Khan, executive director, Alberta Health Services; Annemarie Price, operations manager at Martinsburg VA Medical Center; and Dan Henroid, direct of nutrition and food services at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. (For details on other AHF awards, go to www.healthcarefoodservice.org).

In the group's culinary competition, Gold Medals were awarded to Executive Chef William Read and Director of Nutrition Services Mary Jaskowski from Saint Mary's Health Care in Grand Rapids for their entry, Pecan Goat Cheese, Chicken and Cinnamon Bread Pudding. Silver medal honors went to Nutrition Services Director Deborah Jones and Chef Karea Anderson from St Peter's Hospital in Helena, MT; and the bronze medal went to Director of Nutrition and Food Service Angelo Mojica and Executive Chef Shawn Dolan from UNC Healthcare in Chapel Hill, NC.