TOWNSHEND — Staff members of the Grace Cottage Hospital will sign a Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge, and the public is invited to celebrate the signing on Tuesday, June 5, at 11 a.m.
Grace Cottage Hospital will join more than 225 health care facilities in the United States who, by signing the pledge, have agreed to adopt practices that improve the health of patients and communities through nutrition, while also protecting the environment.
The pledge-signing ceremony will take place in the Garden of Grace if weather permits and in the Dining/Community Room in the case of inclement weather. Healthy refreshments will be served.
Roger Allbee, a former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and Grace Cottage Hospital Board Member, will talk about Grace Cottage's dietary department and the importance of local foods. Community members and hospital employees will celebrate the dietary department's work in helping to create a more local and sustainable food system.
The pledge has been created by Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition of hospitals and health care systems.
“One of the steps we are taking as part of this pledge includes increasing our offering of fruits and vegetables,” said Denise Choleva, Dietary Department manager at Grace Cottage Hospital. “We already have a large salad bar for patients and employees, so it's been lots of fun to mix and match what we offer every day. We're also working with farmers in our area to increase the use of locally-produced foods, and we're cutting down on food and packaging waste as much as possible. We want Grace Cottage Hospital to be a model of healthy eating.”
Grace Cottage is a 19-bed Critical Access Hospital, founded in 1949. Outpatient services include family practice; pediatrics; psychiatry; lab; diagnostic imaging; physical, occupational, and speech rehabilitation services; a Community Wellness Center; and a full-service retail pharmacy.
For more information, go to www.gracecottage.org. For more information about Health Care Without Harm, go to www.hcwh.org.