Nebraska hospital cafeteria still battling flood damage

KEARNEY, Neb. — It will be months before CHI Health Good Samaritan re-opens its cafeteria after the Aug. 9 flood, but the damage could have been worse, Jan Hankey, the hospital’s director of nutrition services, said.

As water smashed windows and poured into the Central Cafe dining room that night, doors between the dining room and the kitchen area held tight, keeping out tables and chairs that were swirling off the floor during the sudden 4-inch deluge.

Last week, Hankey surveyed the big-windowed cafeteria that had opened less than two years ago. The tables and chairs are gone. Kitchen equipment sits drying under the high ceiling. Back in the kitchen, counters and food stations have been removed, too.

“We had to take out drywall up to a height of 7 feet. All the furniture was destroyed. Overall, 183 doors absorbed moisture and started to swell, so we’ll be getting new ones,” Hankey said. Insurance losses are still being compiled. The re-opening is unlikely until after the holidays.

“The cafeteria has been such a sense of community, and the employees miss that. They can’t touch base with each other,” Hankey said.
Since the flood, the hospital has been preparing patient meals in its old kitchen and in the two kitchens at Richard Young Hospital, a Catholic Health Initiatives psychiatric hospital at 1755 Prairie View Place.