Plow to Plate: The Community Hospital as Change Agent

Abstract

At New Milford Hospital, an 85-bed community hospital in New Milford, Connecticut, the goal of changing attitudes about food has become a reality. Just six years ago, New Milford’s food services struggled with chronic and serious complaints from both patients and staff about unappetizing, poor-quality food. Their vendor was unresponsive to demands for improvement, even to resolve public health code violations. Food service staff were demoralized, and surveys by Press Ganey, a national patient satisfaction survey organization, ranked the hospital at a low 30th percentile among the nation’s health care institutions.