Lou Papadoplos (left), LGH senior director of guest
services, and vendor management specialist Katie
Smith display products coming from local vendors
and farmers.
By RYAN ROBINSON
Lancaster
Updated Oct 03, 2008 11:06
For some local farmers and food makers, a trip to the hospital is a good thing.
Lancaster General Hospital has set the goal of spending $800,000 to $1 million more a year on food from within Pennsylvania.
Patients and customers of LGH cafes will be able to chow down on more of their favorite local foods, and fresher fruit and produce than national food suppliers generally deliver.
"We wanted to impact the community through a commitment to buying locally," said Lou Papadoplos, Lancaster General's senior director of guest services.
LGH spends more than $4 million on food each year.
It serves patients 510,000 meals a year in its downtown hospital and more than 87,000 meals at the Women & Babies Hospital in East Hempfield Township.
The food also goes to cafes in those hospitals and the Lancaster General Health Campus in East Hempfield.
Together, the three locations serve more than 1.3 million employees and hospital visitors a year.
Only 10 to 15 percent of the food — everything from produce to packaged products — has come from Pennsylvania suppliers, until now.
The hospital wants to buy 35 percent of its food from within the state, starting this year.
Papadoplos said he hopes the hospital will tap even more local food in coming years.
Based on LGH's move to buying more local foods, the state Department of Agriculture designated the hospital "PA Preferred." LGH is the first hospital in the state with the distinction.
The hospital's commitment to buying locally doesn't end at its pantry.
"We are starting with food but hopefully will be able to move into other areas, too," Papadoplos said, such as landscaping and kitchen equipment purchases.
He said a lot of hospitals are talking about buying more locally to support their communities, but not many have structured a program to accomplish the goal.
LGH made the local buying a requirement in its selection of a new food supplier last year.
Atlanta-based Morrison Healthcare Food Services, a division of Morrison Management Specialists, was chosen in part because it is paying the salary of a local vendor management specialist at Lancaster General Hospital.
That specialist, Katie Smith, connects local food suppliers with the hospital. She discovered Whiff Roasters Coffee of Lititz, which will supply the hospital coffee starting on Friday.
Philly soft pretzels, also produced in Lititz, are now served at a few hospital sites, while Harrisburg-based Hershey's Ice Cream is served throughout the LGH system.
Local bakery products from the Willow Valley Bakery, Achenbach's and Great Harvest Bread Co. will soon be available, Smith said.
Other local vendors include Kegel's Produce, Four Seasons Produce, Kunzler Meats, Herr's Foods, Stroehmann Maier Bakery, Terranetti's Italian Bakery, Turkey Hill Dairy, Big Apple Bagels and Orchard Freeze.
Also, Flowers by Paulette, Clark Food Service Equipment, Singer Food Service Equipment, Tastycake Bakery, Colebrook Bakery and Best of Lancaster County, distributor for Fisher's Homestyle Salads, Edward's Nut & Candy, Dempsey Uniform & Linen.
Smith said a food store going in the new four-story building the hospital is constructing across Duke Street from the hospital is expected to open at the end of December.
That take-out market will also incorporate locally-produced food.
Papadoplos said LGH has not seen a substantial cost increase from switching to more local buying and has not charged more for its food, either.
He said the hospital will give first priority to buying food from within Lancaster County. Next, it will try to check off its list by buying food from Pennsylvania suppliers recognized by the Department of Agriculture's PA Preferred program.
The hospital is still trying to determine if a third area, such as one within a certain radius of the hospital, could also be prioritized over general buying from elsewhere in the country.
Kenny Myers, chief operating officer of Kegel's Produce in Lancaster, said the hospital is now allowing him to supply more local produce, which tastes better because it's fresher.
For example, in season, strawberries will come from local farms, where they are picked when they ripen.
Strawberries from Florida and California are picked before they fully ripen because they have to travel up to three days to get here.
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