SEARHC’s Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital is now offering patients traditional foods. Through cooperation with the state, the MEH Nutrition team developed a Traditional Foods Policy that incorporates local game, seafood, plants, and berries into the inpatient menu. The hospital will also accept donations from the public, so long as the food is properly handled.
Lexie Smith has been Head Chef at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital’s Island Skillet Cafe & Coffee Bar since July 2016. Island Skillet has begun offering a venison stew every Friday. “We do believe that having comforting lend a hand in the healing process. The hospital is not always the most comforting place, but maybe we can make it feel a little more like home,” she said.
Mt. Edgecume Hospital will receive donations of wild game, fish, plants and aquatic plants. Examples include venison, goat, moose, reindeer or caribou, sheep, whale, seal meat, fish, herring eggs, sourdock, beach greens, berries, fireweed, spruce tips, and fiddleheads. To make a donation or ask questions, contact Smith or General Manager David Alexander via SEARHC dietary office at 966-8470.
- Wild game must be quartered, in roasts, or larger. Any further processing, including grinding, cannot be accepted.
- Fish can only be received whole, gilled and gutted.
- Plants and berries must be in their gathered form, fresh or frozen but not cooked. The hospital cannot accept pickles, fermented items, or jams.
