Excellent care, questionable food

On April 26 of this year, I was admitted to the Hospital of St. Raphael for a medical condition, being released on May 3. There are two stories to this stay. The first is a positive one. The second is a negative one.

The positive one. I cannot say enough about the staff on Verdi 3 South. From the floor resident doctors, nurses, technicians, right down to the custodians, they were all fabulous doing their jobs. There are too many employees to name, so please commend everyone on Verdi 3 South for me (I was in Verdi 327).

Now the negative one — dining services. The kitchen staff from the director on down. It all starts at the top. Four of the days, I never received my dinner. I did call well in advance. The other three days, my dinner came up to my room cold with only half a cup of coffee most of the time, always cold. The soup — need I say more? Try drinking cold soup. When I asked the person bringing it up to take it back, I was informed to ask the nurse to heat it up. I wouldn’t do that as I know the nurses and technicians were always busy. As far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t their job. The staff member who bought the food up had an “I don’t care” attitude. Breakfast was always cold. Towards the end of my stay, my meals were coming up in a plastic tray. When asked why the plastic tray, I was informed the dishwasher broke down. My opinion, they should have had a backup plan. I was also informed during my stay from a reliable source that from the director to the general manager to the manager of dining services, they just cleaned house, all were fired. I wonder why?

I’ll sign off by saying for the sake of the hospital, major changes should be made in the dining services; if not, more letters may continue to come in regarding dining services. I really don’t believe the hospital would like that.

Jeff Cofrancesco East Haven