Nutrition gets personal: Flight changing program to increase its focus on patients

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Nicole Leidholm
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The 60th Diagnostics and Therapeutic Squadron nutritional medicine flight here will be making changes Oct. 1 to the David Grant USAF Medical Center dining facility hours and inpatient services starting.

The dining facility will no longer be open for dinner and the breakfast and lunch hours will be shortened by 30 minutes.

Breakfast will now be 6 to 8 a.m. and lunch will be 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"The reason that we're changing our dining hall hours is because, as with everybody else in the Air Force, we are downsizing, we're losing manpower and we just cannot continue to do the same types of services that we've always done," said Chief Master Sgt. Monica Botch, 60th MDTS nutritional medicine flight manager. "In nutritional medicine, we are actually staffed for the purpose of inpatients feeding, so closing the meal at dinner time, and modifying the breakfast and lunch hours will allow us to reallocate some of that manpower to our new patient feeding service."

Starting in November, the diet technicians will have more personable, one-on-one care with the patients.

"When patients order their foods, we will be the ones delivering their meals to them," said Senior Airman Garcia Love, 60th MDTS nutritional medicine diet technician. "This will allow us to educate the patients on why they may be restricted to a certain diet and how to follow this modification in their home diets when they are discharged."

With the new changes will allow patients will be able to have more options when it comes to choosing their meals.

"By allowing the patients to choose something they want, it will cut down on unused trays," Garcia said.

Diet technicians will also be assigned to the different units so patients have dedicated staff they can interact with.

"This will allow for more visibility and feedback on how we are doing," Botch said. "They will also be able to ensure the patient gets the proper trays for their diets and the patient can see who made their tray and any complaints that arise can be fixed on the spot."

According to Botch, patients are looking for better food quality and presentation as well as freshly made food.

"Our job at DGMC is to make sure the patient has a great experience during their stay here," Botch said. "Patient care is our first mission and our first priority so that's where we will most effectively utilize our manpower."