Staff at Limerick hospital awarded for serving a feast of wellness

THE catering team at St Camillus' Hospital in Limerick is celebrating after its commitment to creating healthy menus for staff and visitors won top honours at a national ceremony.

In total, 21 healthcare facilities across Ireland, providing healthier meals for almost 18,000 health service employees, were honoured at the Happy Heart Healthy Eating Awards for their commitment to healthy food choices.

The Happy Heart Healthy Eating Awards have been running for over 25 years, and are a joint initiative of the Irish Heart Foundation and the HSE. 

At the awards ceremony, which took place at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin, Emma Balmaine, ceo of the Irish Heart Foundation congratulated the winners. 

“The Happy Heart Healthy Eating Award programme has been the flagship of our health promotion initiatives for several decades now which we have been able to develop with support from the HSE. It provides a comprehensive range of individual and environmental approaches to promote healthier choices and behaviours. 

“Healthcare workplaces are ideal settings to promote healthy eating because many people eat one if not two meals per day at work. 

"The World Health Organisation identifies the workplace as one of the best places to positively influence people’s cardiovascular risk through encouraging and promoting healthy eating and other healthy behaviours," she said.

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With the number of people eating outside of the home on the rise, healthcare sites across Limerick city and county which prepare hot food for staff and visitors are encouraged to get involved in the awards programme and increase the healthy offerings on their menus.

The criteria for the awards include limiting the availability of foods and drinks high in saturated fat, salt and sugar, monitoring portion sizes and promoting the availability of high-fibre foods, healthier counter display and vending machine contents.

“Our staff in the HSE are our most valuable resource – supporting their health and wellbeing in the workplace is a key priority for us in the Health Services,” said Sarah O’Brien, national lead for the Healthy Eating Active Living programme in the HSE.

“Creating a healthier food environment and providing healthier options at mealtimes supports our staff to make the healthy choice the easy choice. The awards recognise the hard work and dedication to quality improvement and those sites that are committed to prioritising the development of environments that support healthy eating,” she added.

To find out more about the awards, and how to get involved, click here.