Stephens Memorial Hospital unveils new cafeteria, dining room
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Stephens Memorial Hospital unveiled its new dining room on Thursday, Nov. 19, during the Gift Shop’s Christmas celebration. The dining room will be used for senior citizen activities once the threat from COVID-19 has lessened and hospital visitor restrictions are lifted.
Stephens Memorial Hospital volunteers Sammie Blades, Suzanne Malcuit, Linda Hill and Lou Stanford welcomed visitors to the newly renovated cafeteria at the hospital during the Gift Shop’s Christmas celebration on Thursday. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
The hospital renovated the rooms that were formerly used for medical records and cardiac rehab. The renovation includes a small cafeteria that serves salads, sandwiches and hot meals, as well as a dining room with several tables.
Also during Thursday’s event, the Stephens Memorial Hospital Auxiliary hosted a Christmas celebration, showing off items for sale in the Gift Shop and serving refreshments in the new dining room.
Currently, the cafeteria and dining room are used by hospital employees, volunteers and anyone who is visiting a patient in the hospital. However, the hospital has plans to use the dining room space as a senior citizens center for the Breckenridge community, since the City of Breckenridge closed the Senior Center earlier this year. The City’s Senior Center was shut down in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and federal and state guidelines and restrictions have prevented SMH from opening a senior center inside the hospital as planned.
Once the hospital is able to open its doors to the public again, the cafeteria and dining room will be open to senior citizens, SMH’s Wellness Center members and the general public, said Chris Curtis, the hospital’s the director of business development. The dining room area will be used for meals, as well as for bingo and card games, dominoes and other senior activities. Senior meals will be served three days a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The cafeteria meals cost $4 for employees and patients’ visitors, and $5 for outside guests just coming to eat. When the senior citizens center opens up, meals will be available to seniors, whether or not they can afford to pay or not. Those who want to pay for their meal can pay $4. To help fund the senior meals, the hospital accepts donations. Curtis said the cost to fund three meals a week is $625 per year.
Since SMH’s senior center cannot be opened up at this time, the hospital is providing meal delivery and/or meal pickup to those people who would normally be eating lunch at the senior center on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. To get meals delivered, senior citizens need to have their doctor contact the hospital and put them on the delivery list via a prescription for home delivery. Volunteers deliver the meals to more than 70 seniors every week, and Curtis said SMH could always use more volunteers.
Additionally, the hospital offers curbside meal pickup three days a week for senior citizens. Seniors can call the hospital and order a meal; then, they can pull up in the hospital’s parking lot and someone will bring the meal out to their car.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, home delivery is handled by the local chapter of Meals on Wheels.
Cutline, top photo: Dietary Aide Alexis Kellar serves a meal to Dr. Kelli Windsor in the newly remolded cafeteria at Stephens Memorial Hospital on Thursday. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
