Fletcher Allen, a Vermont university hospital and medical center, serves all of
Vermont and the northern New York region. Located in Burlington, Fletcher Allen is a regional, academic healthcare center and teaching hospital in alliance with the University of Vermont.
Fletcher Allen Opens New Sustainable Harvest Cafe - Announces Congressional Funding for Nutrition Center
F O R R E L E A S E: Immediate (May 11, 2009)
C O N T A C T:
Kim O’Leary
Marketing and Communications
802-847-2886
BURLINGTON VT – Fletcher Allen today hosted a ribbon-cutting and open house for the new Harvest Café on the organization’s medical center campus in Burlington. The Café aims to be the most sustainable health care food service in the country, with the goal of producing little to no waste, and recycling or composting everything.
Congressman Peter Welch was on hand for the celebration to announce a federal grant of $143,000, which he and Senator Patrick Leahy secured for the development of the “Center for Nutrition and Healthy Food Systems” at Fletcher Allen, which will act as an educational entity between health care and the New England food system, fostering partnerships with local farmers and educating other health care institutions in Vermont regarding how to build a sustainable food service.
“With the launch of the Harvest Café, Fletcher Allen is taking a lead not only in Vermont but throughout the country in integrating fresh, regional food with patient care. This initiative will promote healthy eating choices, support Vermont farms and create a national model for other health care centers to follow,” Congressman Welch said. “I was pleased that Senator Leahy and I could secure federal funding for this valuable project.
”Senator Leahy, who was unable to attend the event, echoed Congressman Welch’s sentiments. “Once again, Vermont is taking the lead on environmental, agricultural and health issues. From its use of sustainable building materials, locally grown organic food, and even Vermont’s cold winter air in its refrigeration system, Fletcher Allen Health Care’s Harvest Café is a model that other institutions will follow for decades to come. I was proud to work with Congressman Welch to obtain funding for this innovative and exciting project.”
“We are very pleased that our congressional partners have secured this funding to support our Center, which aims to be a national model for healthy and sustainable food systems,” said Melinda Estes, M.D., President and CEO of Fletcher Allen. “The goals of the Center are in keeping with Fletcher Allen’s ongoing commitment to building a healthy community.”
About the Harvest Café
The open house event also featured samples from the new Harvest Café menu, which will incorporate fresh, organic and local fare, such as local squash and soy milk, locally-raised ground beef, chicken and turkey raised without non-therapeutic antibiotics and arsenical compounds, lots of vegetarian choices, and organic fair trade coffee. The event included tours of the renovated facility, which now boasts a full fruit bar and salad bar, flatbread and panini stations.
Construction of the Harvest Café was in keeping with the sustainability philosophy. The organization donated two truck loads of equipment and material to the Lucas James Williams Memorial Youth Fund in Bakersfield, Vermont, which provides summer lunch and after-school food programs to Vermont youth. Fletcher Allen also reduced construction waste by reusing ceiling tiles in other parts of the hospital, and choosing sustainable building materials – such as Marmoleum (linseed) flooring in the dining area - when possible.
The Harvest Café is also reducing its energy consumption by choosing equipment that has higher energy ratings, and building a "free cooling" walk-in refrigerator that pulls in cold air from the outdoors during the colder months. This “Freeaire” system is the first of its kind in any Vermont hospital.
About Fletcher Allen’s Nutrition Services Program
Only the third hospital in the country to sign on to the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge, Fletcher Allen is purchasing local foods, offering organic or fair-trade products, increasing our offering of fruit, vegetables and other nutritionally dense foods, eliminating deep-fried foods from our menus and reducing antibiotics in our food supply. In addition, we have developed strong relationships with the local farming community, including production planning with several farms, a garden onsite, and bee-keeping in the spring of 2009. We are also a proud member of the Vermont Fresh Network.
About Fletcher Allen
Fletcher Allen Health Care, together with our partners at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, is Vermont’s academic medical center. Our mission is to improve the health of the people in the communities we serve by integrating patient care, education and research in a caring environment. Fletcher Allen serves as a regional referral center -- providing advanced care to approximately one million people in Vermont and northern New York -- and as a community hospital for approximately 150,000 residents in Chittenden and Grand Isle counties. With more than 30 patient care sites and 100 outreach clinics, programs and services throughout the region, Fletcher Allen is committed to being a national model for the delivery of high-quality academic health care for a rural region. For more information about Fletcher Allen, visit our Web site at www.fletcherallen.org.
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