Snack cart garners food, fellowship for patients
by Cindy AbolePublic Relations
It's 9 p.m. and MUSC patient Vince Dixon's stomach has started to growl above the background TV noise in his room on 8-West. Instead of ignoring the sounds and rolling over to catch more shut-eye, he remembers the cold soda and double-chocolate chip cookies that are sitting on his bed tray and smiles. It was a snack offered to him less than a few hours ago by a smiling, blue-jacketed volunteer rolling around a snack cart.
8-West
snack cart volunteer Bill Shields reviews his list of patients and approved
snacks from MUSC Nutrition Services. Everyday between 7-8 p.m., Shields
and other volunteers visit and offer nutritional snacks to recovering patients
on the medical oncology unit.
For Dixon, the snack is a godsend. Unable to finish his dinner during mealtime, he would have had to wait another 13 hours before breakfast is brought to him at 8 a.m. the following morning. The situation is a common one among cancer patients or patients undergoing high doses of radiation or chemotherapy. Many leukemia, bone marrow, pancreatic cancer or sickle cell patients simply lose their desire to eat after treatments.
For these patients, eating a large, hot meal provided at scheduled meal times may not be appetizing to them at that moment.
An alternative program, created last spring, offers patients a second chance at eating. It is known as the 8-West snack cart — a service that's performed almost daily by MUSC volunteers who visit the medical centers’ medical oncology unit. So far, it has garnered a lot of praise from patients, their families and particularly, staff.
“It's a simple idea,” said Laurie McCotter, R.D., CDE, an oncology dietician who helped organize the program with Volunteer Services. “We wanted to find ways to provide nutritious foods while encouraging patients to eat more solid foods and gain energy. Anytime we can get someone to eat, it’s a good thing.”
In addition, the snack cart becomes an effective tool used to generate conversation and stimulate socialization between patients and others. McCotter directs volunteers through additional training that orients them around the floor, introduces them to staff and patients and provides other relevant information.
Shields
delivers a snack to Vince Dixon, an 8-West patient. The snack cart program
operates daily and is a complementary service for medical oncology patients.
Each day, McCotter assembles a list of foods and diets based on each patient and their caloric intake or medical condition. That information is shared with the snack cart volunteer who confirms each item and checks-off foods distributed during the 8-West food cart rounds.
The cart is a haven for any hungry snacker. It’s stocked with ice cream, milkshakes, cakes, pies, cookies, chips, soda and ice, fruit plates, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—a lot of comfort food. For diabetic patients, they can choose healthy snacks like angel food cake, sugar-free pudding or low-fat milk.
“Our snack cart volunteers are a great asset —especially to our evening staff,” said Colleen Corish, R.N., program manager for Adult Oncology Services. “Not only do volunteers help attend to the nutritional needs of patients, they also become an additional pair of eyes to see and check-in on them. They're very helpful in alerting the staff about any situation or special need.”
On Thursdays, Bill Shields is a familiar face around the halls of 8-West. A volunteer working for almost a year at MUSC, Shields became inspired to help others through his wife, Cindy, also a volunteer at the hospital. He began volunteer work at MUSC’s Children’s Hospital atrium until he was recommended in April for service with the snack cart.
“I was looking for something that would allow me to be more involved in the care of patients,” Shields said, who has borne his own personal loss of friends to cancer through the years. “Being part of this program has really been special. I am able to care for these adult patients in a way that’s comforting and inspiring.”
During the day, Shields deals with people as business clients associated with his Mount Pleasant brokerage firm. At MUSC, he strives to fulfill even the smallest request by a recovering patient by bringing some comfort through food and his brand of caring.
“This is so different from the work I perform everyday,” said Shields, who is also a father of two, ages 16 and 20. “The best part of coming here is getting a patient to respond to me with a smile.”
He hopes his work and others involved with the snack cart will be the inspiration to others to choose volunteering. Currently, McCotter and Corish are exploring the possibility of expanding the snack service to the hospital’s surgical oncology unit on 10-East.
For more information about the 8-West snack cart program and volunteering,
contact Susanne Banks, MUSC Volunteer Services, 792-7038.