Power Players 2017: Hospital’s health journey

The 25-bed critical access Hudson Hospital signed the Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) pledge in 2010, and the institution has been excelling ever since in meeting and exceeding the goals set by that commitment, from local sourcing and the serving of healthful menus to waste reduction and recycling/composting.

“I see this as something that’s more a journey than a destination,” explains Jean Weiler, director of nutrition services, noting that two years before the HFHC pledge was signed by the hospital, her department eliminated deep fryers.

“As part of that we also made the decision that we would not purchase food that had been deep fried by someone else that we would then bake off,” she adds. “This totally eliminated deep frying and that was one of our first steps.”

The next step was eliminating bottled water, followed by the creation in 2012 of a community garden on some adjoining land Hudson owns. The garden now makes plots available to community members and employees, and the nutrition department also works a few.

“We are then able to use that food in our kitchen for both patients and our café customers,” Weiler says. It’s not a huge amount, she admits, only about $500 worth annually, based on how much the product the garden produces would cost if purchased from outside.

The garden also serves as a destination for preconsumer waste—some two tons a year—that can be composted. Waste is also reduced by using only china and no disposables on patient trays, while china is the first choice in the café. For employees who want takeout, there is the option of purchasing a reusable Greenbox, which can be returned after each meal for a voucher for another one.

“The first year [of the Greenbox program], we reduced our disposables by 15 percent,” Weiler says proudly, “and we’ve continued to go down gradually another two to three percent each year since as new people come on board and buy into that program.”

In addition to the community garden, another source of local produce during the growing season is Threshing Table Farm, a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) grower for which Hudson serves as a drop-off point.

As news of the hospital’s community garden and CSA activities spread across the community, Weiler found herself approached one day by a pair of youngsters involved with local 4-H activities.

“What they wanted to talk about is the hospital possibly purchasing live animals from the 4-H animal auction for community use,” Weiler recalls. “So in 2012 we started attending the county fair and initially bought a steer and a hog.”

The purchase of a pair of animals has continued annually since. “That has been another step in developing our relationship with the community,” Weiler offers.

The animals are processed by a local firm, which adds another layer of local support to the initiative.

The 4-H purchases also prompted several local farms to make inquiries about forming supplier relationships, and as a result Hudson is now able to purchase “almost all of our beef and our pork and our poultry from local farms,” Weiler notes proudly. That includes grass-fed beef, free-range turkey and antibiotic-free chicken.

All the local purchase activity has allowed Hudson to exceed the Healthy Food in Health Care threshold of 20 percent of the food budget devoted to local purchases. It’s currently at 22 percent, but Weiler doesn’t want to set any further goals, preferring instead to just add to the total as opportunities arise. For instance, she recently initiated a relationship with a nearby aquaponics firm, Urban Organics, that produces greens grown by using water enriched with nutrients from fish waste. Down the line, the firm could also be a source of fish like tilapia that is cultivated in the aquaponics system.

One category where local purchases are fairly easy is daily products, given Wisconsin’s extensive dairy industry.

The retail café menu disdains the cycle approach in favor of monthly menus that incorporate new items based on customer feedback.

“Things that are popular we certainly serve over and over again, but we try and add a couple new items every single month that people haven’t had before,” Welier explains. Recent menu additions include a fresh herb and citrus salmon and a zucchini lasagna.

The café also has a build-your-own platform where customized sandwiches can be made on fresh bread from a local bakery. To promote nutrition, the salad bar is half price each Wednesday, and each week also brings a Veggie Twist item that features a “vegetable made in an entirely different way,” as Weiler explains it. Examples of recent Veggie Twists include smoked paprika cauliflower and chili roasted carrots.

Sweetened beverages joined deep-fried foods and bottled water on the elimination list in 2014.

“That is not an easy thing to do,” Weiler admits, “so we started a grassroots movement with employees from various department committed to work on it, and then I went to our senior team and talked about the evidence-based information there is around sweetened beverages.”

She must have done a good job because “our CEO became one of the strongest advocates of this,” Weiler recalls proudly, “and that really makes a difference.”

The move was also marketed as “we’re not eliminating, we’re replacing,” with the sweetened beverages swapped out for sparkling waters and infused waters flavored with various fruits.