CARIBOU and FORT KENT — For the past three years, Northern Maine Medical Center (NMMC) has been participating in a grant program called Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH). This year, a key focus of the work will be a continuation of efforts to increase access to healthy foods at worksites.
The hospital’s Nutritional Services department has been making some changes in its cafeteria to improve the health and wellness of employees, volunteers, patients and community members with assistance from Power of Prevention, hosted in Caribou at Cary Medical Center and in Fort Kent at NMMC.
Kim Parent, community outreach coordinator for Power of Prevention, has been working with Robin Damboise, director of human resources, and Gail Marquis, nutritional services supervisor, to implement the changes.
“NMMC is making many great changes in its cafeteria with this focus on healthier hospital foods,” said Parent. “It’s very exciting to see the changes we discussed making being put into place and being sustained. This work is a wonderful opportunity for NMMC to model healthy workplace and environmental changes.”
NMMC offers free drinking water on the dining room tables in the cafeteria during their hours of operation to encourage healthy water intake habits. They also have available reduced-size portions of different foods in the cafeteria, including soups, sandwiches and salads. The facility has switched from buying pre-packed entree meals to making some their entrees from scratch and reducing the amount of sodium in the foods that they are serving.
“As a large employer in the town of Fort Kent, we have the privilege to serve many people in the cafeteria every day. We want to offer healthier food selections, reduced portions, and free drinking water in the cafeteria to meet the needs of all of our employees, volunteers, patients and community members,” said Damboise.
The healthier hospital foods project is supported through funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EMHS and the Partnerships to Improve Community Health.
For more information about the healthier hospital foods project, contact Parent at kimparent@carymed.org or call 540-3659.
