For Long Island patients, hospital meals fit for Thanksgiving

And you thought your Thanksgiving Day guests were tough to cook for.

As Long Island’s hospital systems prepare to serve turkey, potatoes and other Thanksgiving favorites Thursday to thousands of patients, chefs and cooks must also customize the traditional meal to accommodate dietary restrictions.

And for the second year, there are also COVID-19 protocols making hospital food service different from an at-home feast.

Doctor's orders.

Still, Northwell Health, Stony Brook and Catholic Health — among the Island’s biggest hospital systems, and each serving freshly made food — have been prepping, baking and cooking all week, taking steps to make the meal feel homey, even if a patient can’t be at home.

"Let’s face it. Being in the hospital during a holiday can be extremely depressing for some people. And so we take a look at that and say, how can we make their day better?" said Arthur Bretton, assistant vice president of corporate food services for Catholic Health, which serves food at five hospitals on Long Island.

At Northwell Health, the Thanksgiving meal is overseen by a Michelin-star chef who worked for 14 years as executive chef at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan and also at other upscale eateries.

"It’s basically a feast like in any other restaurant," said Chef Bruno Tison of his Northwell menu, which includes mashed and sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beans, dinner rolls, cranberry relish and freshly made gravy.

It’s a departure from the slop served at the hospitals of yesteryear.

"In the past, hospitals have been notorious for basically buying the frozen loin of turkey," Tison said. "You know, those awful frozen turkey breasts in a net that you roast and slice and look like nothing?"

These turkeys — to feed more than 5,000 patients, Northwell needs about 250 birds — are free-range from a farm in New Jersey, he said.

As at other hospitals, dietitians work with the kitchen staff to customize meals based on medical needs.

A renal diet? No Brussels sprouts due to high potassium.

Low-sodium? No-sodium? The feast is tweaked accordingly.

Liquid diet?

"We use the same food. It’s practically homemade, and then it is being puréed, and so then the flavor is much better, and it’s actually edible — because some of the other food is not edible," said Sven Gierlinger, Northwell's senior vice president and chief experience officer, contrasting his fare with hospital systems that order from industrial kitchens.

Christina Adduci, clinical nutrition manager for Catholic Health, said the menu — roasted turkey with gravy, cornbread stuffing, sauteed string beans, mashed and sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauces — was planned so the majority of patients can partake without a modification.

"If they’re on a heart-healthy diet, or they’re on a consistent carbohydrate diet, they have a history of diabetes, they would still be able to get this Thanksgiving meal," she said.

Jim Kellenberger — executive chef at Stony Brook University Hospital who's also worked as a hotel chef on the Las Vegas strip, including at the Rio, MGM Grand and Hilton — spoke earlier this week as kitchen staff began work on Thursday’s big meal: carved turkey breast, homemade stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans with roasted garlic and gravy, and for dessert, apple or pumpkin pie.

"Some of the pies started production today," Kellenberger said Monday, adding, "We’ve started to prep up the turkeys, getting them panned and ready to fire in the oven tomorrow."

Shannon Cressy, food service director for Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, noted there’s an additional wrinkle for service to COVID-19 patients — whether diagnosed or test-pending: no china or silverware, with food kept warm, typically with a cover.

"We have to send things up in disposable plates, disposable dishware, and we try to provide the same quality of service when it comes to temperature and quality of food," Cressy said, "and the struggles are, when we don’t have a heated plate and a heated cover to put this food on, it requires our staff to be a little bit more diligent with doing what we can, for speed of service, and the method in which we get it there."

Although visiting restrictions have been loosened since last year — when the pandemic’s second wave led hospitals to bar visitors under most circumstances — there are still limits. At Northwell’s and Stony Brook’s hospitals, patients are allowed only two visitors, total, per day. And while there’s no daily visitor cap at Catholic Health, a maximum of two are permitted at a time for each patient, said system spokesman Timothy Kelchner.

That’s all in contrast to previous, non-pandemic years, when the only limit, typically, was how many visitors a hospital room could hold.

So hospitals are seeking to connect patients with friends and family who can’t be in the room — such as because of capacity caps due to COVID, travel restrictions or mandatory isolation.

At Stony Brook, for example, camera-equipped devices are provided with a range of technology installed, such as Zoom and FaceTime, said Roseanna Ryan, director of patient advocacy.

"In the event that they wanted to FaceTime a larger group of people, we have some iPads that allow patients, if they don’t have one themselves, to connect with their families if they’re eating dinner, let’s say, at home with a larger portion of the family, so they can FaceTime with each other, and partake in the celebration."

But signs of the pandemic are never far away: Once each patient is finished connecting with loved ones, the devices are disinfected with a germicidal wipe.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.