If hospital food is a joke, why aren't we laughing?

Americana

To be fair, I've never had bad hospital food. I've never even seen it, that is not until I visited the VA Hospital in Long Beach, California.

In the interests of complete disclosure I have eaten plenty of hospital food, but never in a VA hospital. I've eaten it while a patient in civilian hospitals as well as military hospitals. I was stationed for a time at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii where I was a patient for a week with my second bout of malaria. My first hospital stay with malaria was in an Army field hospital in Vietnam where I contracted it, and the food wasn't too bad even there.

I can't speak to the food served at other VA hospitals, but my expectations aren't very high. The food being served at the Long Beach VA Hospital is prepared at the one in West Los Angeles and trucked to Long Beach. The kitchens at the Long Beach VA hospital are closed for lack of sufficient funds in the federal budget. Congress could allocate more or the President could rearrange his priorities, but they have more important matters on their minds.

I wasn't aware of the problem at the Long Beach VA facility even though I had helped my VFW post serve pizza and barbecue to the patients on several occasions. However, our food delivery was delayed this past weekend and we were distributing pizza at the same time that the hospital staff were serving the patients their regular meals. The food they were serving looked like soggy noodles slathered in canned tomato sauce accompanied by government surplus green beans. Reheating everything with steam had congealed it all into a pasty mass. Inasmuch as we first taste our food with our eyes, I was not impressed. I suspect that neither were the patients. They pushed their plates aside to make room for the pizza and salad we were delivering.

Many of the patients were fortunate to have visitors and friends bringing in outside food. Even the fare from McDonald's looked far more nutritious than that served by the hospital. Sadly, not all patients have visitors to bring them relief from the poor food service let alone the hours, days, weeks, and months of tedium while laid up in the hospital.

You can help. Write to your representatives in Washington. If you are the member of a community service organization, propose that it adopt the nearest VA Hospital and visit as frequently as possible. Veterans as well as active duty military are especially welcome because they can relate well with the patients. Even if you are not a veteran or a member of a group, you will be welcome as an individual who cares. Talk to the hospital staff beforehand to learn the rules and ask to be directed to those with the greatest need.

Trust me, you will be rewarded...