Did I Have A Good Time?

Lots of folks at work have been asking about my time in Balad (they never read this blog). So I get asked this same question a few times a day.

Hell yes!!!!!

There are some things I miss about JBB.

1. Walking (yes, I miss all the walking) - because it was so easy and good for me. What I don't miss about all the walking was the sweaty underware (when it started getting hot).

2. Regular breakfast. Fresh cut up fruit and smiling faces serving hot food in the hospital DFAC. Food in the hospital cafeteria back here in Las Vegas has changed for the worse (economics). And a small 1/2 cut up pineapple is $1!!!

3. More consistency with my workout program - because there were fewer distractions and it was so easy to get to the daily CrossFit class.

4. No cell phone - yup, fewer distractions, no interruptions, slower paced life has a lot to be desired. On the other hand, now I get to talk to my hubby more than just once a day (so that's a plus for having a cell phone).

5. Mongolian Night at DFAC2. Although I heard that since they opened the new DFAC2 the food has gone way downhill and there is no Mongolian there on Tuesday nights. So I guess I'm not missing anything now.

6. Sunday night Bingo at the Rec Center. In six months of playing I won a total of 4 games. Not great odds, but it was something I looked forward to every week. And I did win a game on my very last Sunday night in JBB. So that was special.

Happy Father's Day

I sent out coloring-book neckties for hospital people to find their inner child and help decorate the DFAC (dining facility) for Sunday. Here are some standouts.

The base DFACs put out a special meal on holidays and provide us with a sheet cake.

Operation Postcard Concluded

Thank you to everyone who contributed a postcard (or more) to our Dining Facility (DFAC) wall in April & May. We loved reading the little notes that were written on the backs of many of them.

Challenges in Deployed Food Service

It's not a glamorous job. We don't 'save' lives, we don't discover new diseases or come up with new surgical techniques. We don't spend hours with patients - in fact, they barely see our faces.

But if we weren't here, everyone would notice. Because feeding patients (and staff) is a necessary job. And we do it every day.

I screen all new patients for nutritional needs; sometimes I need to provide nutrition support - decide on the IV nutrition (aka "TPN") or a tube feeding. I do some diet education as well. All of us try to obtain food preferences from our patients. I also determine how many special Halal meals we need to order (Muslims only eat meat that is considered Halal).

We also order the meals for the CASF (so I have to review the census and projections twice a day to get adequate food but not way too much). We've been watching food preference trends in our staff as well, making adjustments to the hospital dining facility menu (although we are constrained by the pre-set 28 day menu that has some very interesting choices - i.e. not always menus or patterns of food options I would have created).

I've spent some time this deployment trying to improve the dining facility to give it some better flow, some items requested by our customers (i.e. Iced tea has been a frequent request all year), and do what we can within the limited space. We also have some policy restraints. For example, we cannot just get extra food for parties. And we only serve dessert on Sundays (no room in the facility to have a dessert table any other days).



And it's nice to surprise people.

We got our iced tea earlier this month (both sweet & unsweet). We got a nice table for the middle of the serving area for fruit & bars display (getting rid of a wobbly looking fruit stand). We got a bread dispenser (more sanitary than people reaching into open plastic bags). And today we started a new policy - Saturday ice cream at lunch (and midnight).

We sometimes get challenged. Like today. There was a power outage that affected the facility that makes our food. They were going to be late in delivery and with limited food choices. When it was time to feed our patients we had the Halal meals for our Iraqi's but we ended up making sandwiches and stuff for our other patients. For the staff it meant we were an hour late for dinner (so we stayed open later). And it meant I didn't go to the movie (Angels & Demons - theater had no power either). On the positive side I was available to help with the helicopters bringing in some patients. Eventually we opened and people were happy.

Operation Postcard - Extended into May

We gotten dozens and dozens of cards from around the world (a couple from Germany and Japan arrived this past week). The messages have been great to read (even if we have no idea who has sent them - amazing how many people don't put a name or their user name/avatar on the cards so it's just a fun mystery).

But we still have half a wall to cover. So I'm extending Operation Postcard into this month.

Standard US postage rates apply (if it's bigger than standard, extra stamp is needed)
Nutritional Medicine
332d EMDG/Nut Med
APO AE 09315-9997

Until May 31st.