Hospital food gets personal

From omelets and seasonal melon at breakfast to rib eye steak for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert, patients at Odessa Regional Medical Center are getting a different perspective on hospital food.

The hospital’s two-year-old room service program allows them to choose from a menu with six pages of food items. They’re able to order whatever they want from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

“We try to make it so there’s something for everyone to enjoy,” Mary Yee, hospital dietary director, said. “We have some people who eat breakfast at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, and some who eat steak in the morning.”

Yee takes pride in the results of a survey by Press Ganey Associates.

The survey rated the hospital in the top 1 percent nationally in patient food satisfaction, Odessa Regional director of community relations Jacqui Gore said.

Chef David Scaglione and catering coordinator Jeremy Bedford, who both previously cooked at Midland Country Club, get much of the credit for the success. They said they’re trying to bring country club quality food to the hospital.

And patient satisfaction means a great deal to the chefs, Scaglione said.

“It’s a good feeling that we’re doing a job well done,” he said.

Knowing where he’s worked before, people are often surprised to find out Bedford now works in a hospital, he said.

“People say, ‘You work at the hospital? They have chefs over there?’ ” he said. “But we have the best food in Odessa.”

It’s hard to find patients to argue with that statement.

“They’re great,” Chaynatte Bledsoe said. “They get you what you want. It’s seasoned real good.”

Bledsoe, who delivered daughter Ser’rajaya Bellinger Tuesday, was about to enjoy her “special” dinner of lobster tail that each patient and a guest get once during their stay. They can also choose marinated chicken breast, jumbo fried shrimp, broiled steak or chicken fried steak.

“I was like , ‘Wow!’ It’s different,” she said.

Room service is not yet available in Odessa Regional’s east campus. Yee said the building that was once Alliance Hospital would likely get the service once a planned bridge between the east and west buildings is complete.

Assistant dietary director Scott Williams, who ran food services at Alliance, said the patients on his side are looking forward to the choices.

“By the time they’re ready to get out, they’re ready to go get a hamburger someplace,” he said.

Not only do patients enjoy the food, but staff members get to eat it too.

Neonatal intensive care unit director Dr. Sanjay Patel, a strict vegetarian, said the chefs cook to meet his needs. Instead of going home to eat, he’s able to stay at the hospital and spend more time with patients.

“We do have so many Indian doctors,” he said. “They cook for us individually every day.”

Christine Lujan delivers the food to patient rooms. She said the food is like homemade.

“Everything on the menu is excellent,” she said. “Everything.”