Serving up fresh, local food.

The days of accepting homemade food donations to serve nursing home residents at meals are long gone. Many facilities see today's regulations as mandating how food is to be prepared and served to residents. But locally grown garden produce and fresh fruit in season are standard fare at Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community in Waverly, Iowa, thanks to a local food-buying program and state-of-the-art kitchen.

In 1999, residents began requesting homegrown tomatoes, which are, of course, more flavorful than tomatoes that have traveled across the country to sit in a distributor's warehouse. Considering that we serve meals to 200 residents each day, finding enough fresh tomatoes can be a challenging task. As a certified dietary manager and vice-president of support services at Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community, I contacted the director of a local hospital that used fresh homegrown produce in its operation and procured a list of growers. We began to buy from some of the producers we contacted--mostly tomatoes and sweet corn.

We wanted to be able to serve our whole community the same fresh product at the same time, not serve one unit tomatoes on Tuesday and then wait until the next week to serve them to another unit. The major obstacle we faced was finding growers who could provide the volume we needed. We were buying from a lot of different growers, so it was hard to keep track of them and what they produced. At the time, a new kitchen was under construction, and we were preparing meals in a two-bedroom house that had been adapted to meet safe food-handling codes.

In February 2000, Kamyar Enshayan, PhD, who had started the Local Food Project at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in 1997, came to talk to us about participating in the program, which puts local restaurants, hospitals, and other participating organizations in touch with local farmers and food processors who sell fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. We became a part of the project that summer. The UNI project provides a weekly list of local farmers and vendors selling fresh produce, as well as the purchase price. We began using the program like any other food supplier, but in the process we got to know a lot of growers, some of which we still use exclusively. Last year, 25% of our food budget was spent on locally produced products.

I try to buy as many locally grown fruits and vegetables as I can in season. Already in the months of June and July we have had asparagus, strawberries, black raspberries, salad greens, tomatoes, beets, cabbage, and sweet corn, all of which are home grown within a 20-mile radius of Bartels.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

I also buy large quantities of beef and pork locally, something I couldn't do before moving into our new kitchen in 2001. The kitchen is three times larger than the previous one and includes a 2,800-cubic-foot walk-in freezer, perfect for storing the 1,000-plus pounds of beef we buy from a local farmer.

We are looking at purchasing locally raised chickens, and we have found a farmer who can supply the quantity needed. We will be freezing excess produce we buy this summer, especially sweet corn, which will be such a treat in January 2007! We have also signed the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge sponsored by Health Care Without Harm.

When Bartels first opened in 1954, residents dined in the basement, and the cooking was done in the house's original private family kitchen on the first floor. Today, residents enjoy cheerful dining areas, and menu choices include a breakfast buffet, a salad bar, and a choice of entrees. We take pride in offering residents more choices and presenting meals in an attractive manner. Pizza has become a popular item, along with old standbys like sweet corn and roast beef with mashed potatoes. We especially enjoy hosting special theme meals, such as a luau, a Cinco de Mayo celebration, and Italian or German cuisine.

Meals are planned by the three certified dietary managers--Gina Rasmussen, Chef Tracy Wilson, and myself. The menus are approved for nutritional components by Ollie Peterson, RD, LD, our consultant dietitian. Our certified dietary managers are a great team who work closely with our cooks to plan some interesting menus. We don't want our meals to be boring, but as much like homemade as possible. As certified dietary managers, we have the knowledge and creativity to come up with some fun and different meal ideas, such as a Scottish Robert Burns supper. We are not sure we will be able to do a true Burns supper, however--the meal may have to be modified to accommodate the taste of our residents, who are mainly German, not Scottish!

Our goal is to create a pleasurable dining experience for everyone from the Bartels community so that they'll look forward to eating and socializing with others. It's a big part of maintaining health and can be the most enjoyable part of the day. Our census stays steady, and some of it is attributed to the reputation of our food service.

Dietary managers can start offering more locally grown food simply by going to farmers' markets. Ask if farmers could provide the facility with their products; many farmers would prefer to take their entire product to one location instead of setting up at several farmers' markets. Growers also like that facilities are a steady market. If a farmers' market is not handy, dietary managers can also call their local extension office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the names of growers, attend meetings of the Dietary Managers Association, and network with others who are buying locally. Call the Dietary Managers Association for the names of certified dietary managers who are buying locally.

Managers can buy their meat from local meat processors, specifying exactly what they want. They will be assured that the beef they are getting is coming from locally raised cattle. These meat lockers must have their products inspected by federal or state offices. If a restaurant in your area advertises that they get something locally, ask who their contact is. I found our fresh asparagus vendor on a street corner. He had a sign on his truck that read "Fresh Asparagus." I stopped and asked if he could supply us with enough asparagus to meet our needs. He could, and we have been using him ever since.

Food can be the best or worst PR a facility can have. In our case it is the best. We have a reputation of serving great food, mostly because we do buy locally. Our beef comes from a farmer who lives about 5 miles from Bartels. Our milk comes from a family dairy that is 20 miles away. We publicize that we buy from local farmers, and we have been featured in our town newspaper and the larger papers near us, as well as in the Des Moines Register. I have written articles and done presentations on what we do to keep our residents well fed with the freshest foods available.

Most importantly, though, the residents love the food. Our skilled nursing unit surveys residents after they have discharged to home, and the food receives very high marks. On our past two state surveys, we have had no food complaints from the resident interviews. One survey team said that having no food complaints was something they had never experienced. And our response from the community has been great--they understand that Bartels is committed to supporting local farmers and the community.

Robin Gaines, CDM, CFPP, is Vice-President of Support Services at Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community. She also serves as the chair of the Certifying Board for Dietary Managers. For more information, phone [phone] or visit www.bartelscommunity.org. For more information on the Certifying Board for Dietary Managers, phone [phone] or visit www.dmaonline.org. To send your comments to the author and editors, please e-mail [e-mail].

BY ROBIN GAINES, CDM, CFPP

A collaboration of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging and Nursing Homes/Long Term Care Management Not-for-Profit Report, appearing in every issue of Nursing Homes magazine, addresses issues of particular interest to long-term care's not-for-profit sector. It provides nonprofit aging service providers with an additional information resource. Topics have been identified in collaboration with the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Nursing Homes welcomes comments and suggestions for future coverage.