Presence taking look at hospital food with grant – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

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Food-service worker Jala Payton places a salad on a tray while preparing a meal Friday at Presence Covenant Medical Center in Urbana.

URBANA — Ground turkey can be a lower-sodium choice than ground beef, but when it comes to which burger visitors choose in the cafeterias at Presence Covenant and Presence United Samaritans medical centers, beef wins.

Maybe people choose the beef hamburger out of habit because they’ve never tried a turkey burger, said Kevin Steffes, the regional director of food and nutrition for both hospitals.

Presence Health views each meal eaten in its hospitals as an opportunity to promote a healthful food choice and cut sodium, Steffes said, and Covenant and United Samaritans are about to step it up with the help of a $20,000 grant.

The hospitals will use the money from the Illinois Health and Hospital Association to develop and put into practice some strategies to cut sodium on behalf of their patients, staffs and communities.

Excess sodium can lead to high blood stress and raise the risk for heart disease and stroke. Nearly all Americans are consuming way too much sodium because most of it is comes from processed and restaurant food, rather than the salt shaker.

That’s having a marked effect on kids and adults. Nearly nine in 10 kids in the U.S. eat more sodium than they should, and one in six kids has actually a raised blood-stress level, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Steffes said the two Presence hospitals will be focusing largely on cutting the sodium in cafeteria food, along with bringing in healthier vending machine choices and offering some community education events revolving around making healthier food selections. Several hospital patients are already on therapeutic diets, and foods prepared for patients, such as soups and gravies, are already low-sodium versions, he said.

The hospital cafeterias, which serve three meals a day on weekdays and lunch on weekends, currently have a salad bar, grill station, grab-and-go items and a “comfort food” station with such items as macaroni and cheese, chicken Parmesan and pot roast, he said.

Plans are to make changes in some of the recipes, offering, for example, a more healthful version of chicken Parmesan. And while cafeteria patrons will still be able to order a beef hamburger, he said, they’ll also see some pointers directing them to the healthiest food choices.

Same goes for vending-machine food, which “is a challenge,” Steffes said.

The vending supplier has actually been asked to include more healthful items in the mix, he said, and while such items as fried chips will still be available, visitors will likely see some information by vending machines about what the healthiest selections are.

Carle Foundation Hospital has actually been revising cafeteria and patient food items over the past year, focusing on both lower-sodium and lower-fat items, according to Clinical Nutrition Coordinator Carol Shriver.

Some Brand-new items in the cafeteria have included Mediterranean garlic chicken and coconut curry chicken with jasmine rice, she said, and the meatloaf got a health makeover with a turkey-beef mix.

Burgers and fries are still available at Carle’s cafeteria, too, and, “we do still offer grill options for patients as well,” she said.

People on regular diets can order those burgers and fries, she said, and the reality is that for people who aren’t feeling well, sometimes comfort food is what’s appealing.

“Our main goal is to make sure people heal well and feel better and can get out of here,” she said.

Some Presence hospitals’ plans to help promote lower sodium and healthier living include:

— A lunch-and-learn collection for hospital staff and the public to talk to dieticians about hidden-sodium sources, with one coming up July 13 that will also includes invitations to patients who screened higher than normal for blood-stress readings.

— Small farmers markets at both hospitals June 10 with dieticians on hand providing information.

— Taking another look at the physical environment of the hospital — for example, how easy is it to use stairs — and reinvigorating it.

Pass (on) the salt

2,300 mg
The maximum sodium limit advised per day; U.S. Dietary Guidelines say it should be less than that.

3,400 mg
How much sodium most consume in a day.

2,200 mg
The amount of sodium that could be hiding in a turkey sandwich and a cup of soup alone, with each slice of bread ranging from 80-230 mg.