Have It Your Way - at the Providence VA

Starting with breakfast, inpatient Veterans will be able to call the kitchen’s call center directly and order their meals. They will be able to order when they want (between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.) and what they want. Call center staff will assist the Veterans in making choices that are consistent with their diet restrictions if necessary. Breakfast options will be available all day.

Mental Health patients will also choose from menus but will complete the menu a day in advance and be served at scheduled times.

Call center staff will go up to the floor to assist any veterans who’ve had trouble making menu choices or using the phone.

Meals will be delivered within 45 minutes of the order being received as all food is cooked fresh to order. However, many meals will be served in half the time, unless it is peak mealtime.

If the veteran is asleep or not in the room when the meal is delivered, the nutrition ambassador will leave a “Sorry I missed you” card and the veteran will call down for a fresh meal, rather than have to eat a meal that has been sitting getting cold.

On Monday and Tuesday, nutrition department staff will be on the nursing stations, passing out menus to inpatient Veterans and talking to staff about the process.

Diets have been clarified to allow more choice for the Veterans. Call Center staff will tally nutrients in live time as the order is being taken. Essentially, a diabetic will choose the carbs they want at each meal instead of a menu that determines for them (example, they can give up their dessert to have a dinner roll if they choose, or vice versa). Or someone with a potassium restriction may be able to choose a slice of tomato on a sandwich as long as the daily tally does not exceed the ordered restriction.

We anticipate less food waste (they are not getting food they don’t want), and improved satisfaction (they eat when and what they want and it is cooked to order).