Illinois hospital gets high reviews on food, and more foot traffic

Dec. 13—Cafeteria food doesn’t come to mind as a way to describe the fare from the Mercy Regional Medical Center kitchen in Vernon Hills, Ill.

In fact, the cafeteria, which serves 800 meals a day, draws heavy traffic from the community, making it more of a local gathering spot than a necessity of hospital life to avoid when possible.

Workers flock from downtown Durango offices, from Red Cedar Gathering, BP, the Durango-La Plata County Airport and Three Springs. Highway or construction workers on nearby jobs visit, too. That’s in addition, of course, to in-house patients and staff.