Hospital Power Players: Metropolitan State Hospital

20. Metropolitan State Hospital, Norwalk, Calif.

Licensed Beds: 1,265
Management: Self-operated
Avg. Daily In-patient Census: 730
Avg. No. In-patient Meals/Day: 2,190
No. of Retail Dining Outlets: 0
Total Annual Retail Sales: $0
Dining/Nutrition Services FTEs: 108

Metropolitan, one of the facilities of California’s public psychiatric hospital network, is currently in the process of transitioning from using the TUCS Reduced Oxygen Packaging (ROP) system to a cook-chill system. It is now cooking three days in advance versus cooking and using ROP to store for up to 30 calendar days. The food is cooked, blast chilled, temporarily stored in the Food Bank Refrigerator, plated on a cold tray line and placed into rethermalization carts. The carts are stored in the dispatch refrigerator and then sent out on refrigerated trucks to the satellite kitchens where they are docked to begin chilling. Typically an hour prior to meal service the carts will go into the rethermalization mode and will reheat up to 262°F for 40 to 50 minutes. After rethermalization the carts go into an equalization mode and then into a holding mode where the trays can be pulled, temped and then served to the patients in the dining rooms.

The California state psychiatric hospital system does not operate retail dining services on its premises.