A recent letter to the editor by local resident Craig Armstrong highlighted a number of issues he felt were of concern at the Lakes District Hospital.
Via his letter, published in the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 edition of Aug. 3, 2011, he questioned the quality of food that is served to patients as well as recent changes made by Northern Health to the nurses break room.
Armstrong said food was frozen food that arrives at the hospital from Vancouver is being served to hospital patients
Michael McMillan, Northern Health's chief operating officer said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 last week that the food served to the patients at the hospital definitely does not arrive at the hospital in a frozen state, ready to be served to patients.
"We are not serving TV dinners to the residents of 亚洲天堂 Lake at the Lakes District Hospital," he said.
He went on to say that some food products do arrive at the hospital kitchen frozen.
These frozen food products are then used in the preparation of meals in the hospital kitchen.
"Some of the supplies come in frozen, just like in anybody鈥檚 home kitchen, but the food is cooked and prepared on site."
Lakes District Hospital site manager Marie Hunter said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 that not all the food brought into the hospital kitchen is frozen.
She said fresh food is also supplied to the kitchen. "Our supplier is currently General Foods," she said.
"What comes in depends on the menu choices for that week."
Hunter also said that frozen fruits for desserts, frozen vegetables, frozen lasagna and items like frozen cabbage rolls are used in the preparation of meals.
"We also get frozen soup once in a while, depending on the menu," she said.
Hunter said most of the food comes in via shipments from the supplier to the hospital, however she said when the menu features fruit platters, the fruit is purchased locally. She went on to say this is typical of most hospital kitchens.
McMillan also addressed the updated layout, resulting in changes to the nurses break room.
He said a lot of work had been put in to the planning and that the decision was not just made on a whim.
He agreed the new space is small, but said there are generally only one or two nurses on a break at any given time.
McMillan said, "The College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia know of the changes and have given their approval. We do try to balance the needs of clients and service delivery with the needs of staff. I believe people understand why the changes have been made. If people are, or are not against the changes, I hope they understand why it has happened."
The new layout features room for educational and clinical resources, space for inter-disciplinary meetings and other support areas for professional practice.
While he said he can't make any comments on the space that was previously available to these services, he can say that the hospital is an older facility with a history of changes that have been made over time.
Hunter said she could not make any comment on the changes to the nurses break room, other than to say, "As with anything all changes take time to get used to."
The space will once again change if the approval for the new Lakes District Hospital is given.
"The layout of the new hospital will be entirely different. The new hospital will be much larger overall. There will be more space for everything. As with any new development you have the option to change any space allocations."
He also said that if problems arise, members of the public or hospital staff are encouraged to contact Lakes District Hospital site manager Marie Hunter, or April Hughes, Northern Health's Health Services Administrator.
