At the heart of a successful healthcare foodservice operation is the ability to deliver good tasting food quickly and efficiently to its patients. When one valve isn’t working, the entire heart is compromised. When Robin Rush, Director of Nutrition Services at Kingman Regional Medical Center in Kingman, Ariz., noticed her operation’s patient satisfaction scores weren’t beating like they used to, she took a closer look.

“We were in the low 90’s, and then we had dropped in the last year to fluctuating between upper 80’s, low 90’s, which we don’t like to be ever below 90 and so I thought, ‘I think we just need to change it’,” said Rush.

Rush and her team had been using thick, heavy insulated trays to provide meals to their patients. She says the system was becoming obsolete and she wanted to switch to a room service and delivery cart model instead.

“Looking at all the different systems, my favorite one by far was the Cambro. I had seen it at my conferences…I compared them with [other brands] and I loved the Cambro [Meal Delivery Carts]. Those are my favorites. They were so quiet, and I liked the look of them. After I saw presentations, I had all three venders out here and we chose Cambro,” said Rush.

Rush completely revamped her operation, outfitting it with Cambro’s Camwear® Non-Skid Trays with Handles, Camduction,  10 Tray Room Service Cart and Camshelving Premium Series Drying Racks.  After making the change, Rush observed her scores not only stabilized but they increased significantly.

“We love the system; we’re actually trending at the 99^th percentile for patient satisfaction with Press Ganey,” said Rush. “We couldn’t be doing any better.”

Two contributing factors to the steady high scores are likely the modern, attractive presentation and the food consistently being delivered at the right temperatures.

“[The patients] love how the food is hot, attractive—it looks good. Going from an insulated tray to a tray with China on it was huge in itself. It just looks good; it holds the food at the right temperature…our staff loves it. I think from a patient perspective, [the tray setting] just looks beautiful,” said Rush.

Cambro’s Healthcare products aren’t just a pretty face. The heated Camduction bases and insulated domes work silently to keep each plate hot until delivery. This system will maintain hot foods at safe temperatures of 140°F or higher for up to 60 minutes.

“The bases are always ready; you don’t have to sit there and heat them one at a time. That made a huge difference to me when I was showing the staff. They really liked it. It’s so nice because you never, ever run out of bases,” said Rush.

Working behind the scenes: the Camshelving Premium Series Drying Racks. These racks come with a variety of drying cradles to ensure each product is dried safely and correctly.

“The lids and trays and bases, they’re never wet. They come off the dish machine smoothly…it’s just a seamless process where we put it on the drying rack and it’s perfect by the time it gets to the patient tray line,” said Rush.

In addition to being happy with how the products perform, Rush says her experience working with her local Cambro rep further confirmed she had made the right choice.

“It makes all the difference in the world. When I was talking to the [other brand] reps, I’ve been around a long time and those people, they had such a lack of knowledge. I knew more than they did about their systems. [The Cambro rep] was very knowledgeable,” said Rush.  “I was already sold from what I’d seen at my conferences, but it was just the icing on the cake to have a great rep too.”

After receiving her new Cambro products, her local Cambro rep went the extra mile and drove three hours from Phoenix to her facility to observe her staff using the new system and to make sure everything was running as efficiently as it should.

“We have zero regrets with going with Cambro,” said Rush.

Is your healthcare foodservice operation in need of an update? Contact your local Cambro rep to receive an individualized assessment on which Cambro products could help your operation run more efficiently.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ADRIANA DESIDERIO IS THE DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER AT CAMBRO.