A retired senior Northern Health Authority official is convinced hospital food would be different if top managers ate the same food thatB次元官网网址檚 served in their facilities.

B次元官网网址淩ather than health system executives feeding themselves the best catered food available at their meetings while they talk about B次元官网网址榪uality patient-centred care,B次元官网网址� it should be a legal requirement that all of their snacks and catered lunches come directly from the local hospital exactly as it is fed to patients,B次元官网网址� wrote former chief medical health officer David Bowering in a social media post.

He says reliance on what he termed B次元官网网址渃orporate foodB次元官网网址� continues to increase and that healthy, fresh food is increasingly B次元官网网址渂ecoming a distant memory.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭he better the hospital food gets, the better their own publicly-funded free lunches will taste. ItB次元官网网址檚 called feedback,B次元官网网址� Bowering says of what health executives could be eating.

Adding to his comments in a subsequent interview, Bowering says Northern Health, like other large organizations, is increasingly relying on large food-providing corporations because of cost.

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B次元官网网址淲hat weB次元官网网址檙e seeing is more and more decisions being made by people who are more distant now from the consequences,B次元官网网址� he said.

B次元官网网址淭hey are also increasingly risk-averse,B次元官网网址� he says of large organizations such as Northern Health preferring mass-produced processed-food.

Locally-sourced food through local growers and suppliers throughout the region, however, would add to food freshness, quality and healthier options, Bowering adds.

He does acknowledge the challenges of providing food through the wide variety of Northern HealthB次元官网网址檚 facilities located across a large swath of the province.

However, he says itB次元官网网址檚 not impossible B次元官网网址� on Haida Gwaii, Northern Health patients are offered fresh-caught fish.

B次元官网网址淲hatB次元官网网址檚 needed is a long-term vision,B次元官网网址� says Bowering of an effort to marry local food with that provided by large corporations.

In response, Northern HealthB次元官网网址檚 Eryn Collins says that when the authorityB次元官网网址檚 executives do meet in its various facilities, their food is catered directly from the kitchens at those facilities.

B次元官网网址淪o they are eating whatB次元官网网址檚 on the menu,B次元官网网址� she says.

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Collins describes health care facility food services as complex and challenging in that patient meals can depend upon individual dietary requirements tied to their individual medical conditions.

B次元官网网址淎t Mills Memorial Hospital [in Terrace], for instance, meals are prepared from scratch in their kitchens,B次元官网网址� says Collins.

B次元官网网址淭here are a variety of items prepared for each meal,B次元官网网址� she says in adding Northern Health does use food thatB次元官网网址檚 been frozen.

And while Northern Health does strive to meet a provincially-mandated target that 30 per cent of the food prepared is sourced locally, Collins says the definition of B次元官网网址榣ocalB次元官网网址� can be interpreted as food from within B.C.

B次元官网网址淲e do have challenges due to the size of the region,B次元官网网址� she notes.

Still, most recent reports indicate Northern HealthB次元官网网址檚 food is now 19 per cent local, up from a previous level of 16 per cent.

B次元官网网址淲e continue to look at ways to improve within the challenges and constraints we have,B次元官网网址� says Collins.

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