Making Meals and Magic

When Fairfield Inn first opened their doors to our patients last May, the QCH food service team made do with the hotel’s modest space and domestic appliances and adapted their menu to meet their limitations.

When we doubled the patient capacity this year, the original modifications to the kitchen could no longer meet the demand – it changed the capacity of what the food services team could deliver.

Our Site Project Manager, Planning and Facilities, Shawn Leblanc, and Food and Clinical Nutrition Manager, Caralan Dams, and members of their teams redesigned the existing space from a hotel continental breakfast bar to a working, professional kitchen that would allow the team to function safely and efficiently.

A commercial oven came in to replace the domestic stove, and they installed a new ventilation system to address the requirements for its safe exhaust.

Industrial fridges and freezers came next, and then proper dish machines that would handle hospital-level sanitation required plumbing and electrical work. They also incorporated new sinks and work surfaces into the redesigned workspace.

Considering that work of this scale normally takes years of planning, it was truly an extraordinary example of teamwork and dedication that allowed such a transformation in about eight weeks. Best of all, QCH Food Services can reuse the purchased equipment at the hospital after the pandemic.

Now that that kitchen is fully outfitted, the patients of Fairfield can enjoy the same exceptional menu that our Food Services team is known for at the hospital.

"Pre-COVID planning and setting up a kitchen with food services would have taken several years. We did it twice in one year. It’s amazing what you can do. I have an incredible team that is looking at solutions and problem solving every day." - Food and Clinical Nutrition Manager, Caralan Dams.

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After