Episode 37 of Season 3 - USC Arcadia Hospital

You probably don’t think “hospital” when you think “great food,” but that assumption is exactly what we challenge here. On Tasting Arcadia, Karen Mac Nair sits down with USC Arcadia Hospital’s team and learn how a community hospital in the San Gabriel Valley is raising the bar on patient dining, public café options, and nutrition education, while still keeping food enjoyable and human.

For more information and tickets to the Taste of Arcadia visit TasteOfArcadia.com. 

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Transcript

Taste Of Arcadia Event Preview

John Villa Announcer 0:04

Welcome to Tasting Arcadia, the official podcast of Taste of Arcadia. Taste of Arcadia is an inclusive event featuring food and drinks from the San Gabriel Valley restaurants, all for one price. Come and sample food, wine, beer, and spirits, check out our brand new cars, visit our business showcase booth, smile in our photo booth, and shake it on the dance floor with me, Johnny Via from Dance Syndicate DJ Entertainment. Taste of Arcadia is September 19th at Santanita Park. The fun goes from 2 to 6 p.m. with a special VIP entrance at 1 p.m. Don't forget this is a 21 and over event. Get your tickets today at TasteOfArcadia.com. Now let's hear for our host, Karen Mac Nair.

Why A Hospital Belongs Here

Karen Mac Nair 0:45

Thanks, John, so much. I hope everyone out there got their Taste of Arcadia tickets. If not, you still have time. Get them today at tastefarcadia.com. We are getting to know so many great food, drink um restaurants, distributors, and um some of the business showcase. So we're on to our next guest. Now you're probably gonna be surprised when I tell you about this guest because we're gonna talk about food and we're gonna welcome the URC USC Arcadia Hospital team. Now, don't turn the podcast off because you think, why would I go to a hospital to taste their food? But we have some great news with me. I have Victoria, Brent, and Jesse. Victoria, welcome.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 1:26

Thank you. Thanks for having us. Victoria, what is your official title? Sure. So um I am the outpatient dietitian. I do all of the outpatient nutritional services. So um I also work in the realm of diabetes and surgical weight loss. Oh, nice.

Karen Mac Nair 1:43

So you help um the patients slash clients as they leave the hospital, yeah stay healthy in the world we live in and make healthy food choices.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 1:51

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 1:52

So what we're doing at Taste of Arcadia, they can make the healthy choices while they're there.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 1:55

Well, taste of arcadia is supposed to be a fun thing, right? So healthy is not really the theme of the just enjoy it. Enjoy the food.

Karen Mac Nair 2:05

Good advice, Victoria. Now, Brent, welcome.

Brent Elzinga 2:08

Thank you.

Karen Mac Nair 2:09

What is your official title?

Brent Elzinga 2:10

I'm the director of food and nutrition at USC Arcadia.

Karen Mac Nair 2:13

Nice. What so what does that mean? What do you do?

Brent Elzinga 2:16

What does that mean is I lead a team of talented individuals to uh change the the culinary aspect and look at every part of our operation and see how we can do it better for the patients, for health, for culinary, to get to the times that we're living in now. Yeah. And just move forward.

Karen Mac Nair 2:34

I love that, Brent, because you know, we we talked a little bit earlier and we'll continue to talk. The hospital is not a place that you would often think cares about their patients so much that they're worried about what food they're having. And it's great, it's refreshing to see in our day and age that people are caring about the food while you're there. So thank you for being here. I'm excited to learn more.

Brent Elzinga 2:54

Happy to be here.

Karen Mac Nair 2:54

And we're on to Chef Jesse. Welcome. Thank you to have me. You're the executive chef, correct? Woo! Look at USC Arcadia Hospital with the executive chef on staff. So tell us a little about what your job is.

Jesse Santana 3:06

Oh, so I'm the executive chef at a USC Arcadia Hospital. Um, what I do is I collaborate with the patient service manager and also the retail manager to provide uh great food for the patient's family, but also for the patient as well.

Karen Mac Nair 3:17

Okay. So now this thought, and this goes to you, chef. Um, taste

Cafeteria Hours And Pizza Upgrade

Karen Mac Nair 3:22

of arcadia. Would not think to have a hospital there, but we can taste the food on a a regular basis if we'd like to. We can come by. Tell us a little bit about what you have there where a normal person visiting someone in the hospital, walking by, what can we get?

Jesse Santana 3:36

Um so in the morning we do have our breakfast, um, you know, the casual, you know, breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, um that just go all the way up to uh 10 30. Once we transition for our lunch, it would be at 11 o'clock, all the way to three o'clock. Um and then after that, we reopen at 3 30, and then we do close the cafe at uh 11 o'clock at night. Um we are uh getting ready to launch our new uh pizza uh station.

Karen Mac Nair 4:00

Ooh, nice.

Jesse Santana 4:01

Yeah, we do have a uh new uh equipment that we just recently uh received. Um, and hopefully we'll be able to launch it until next week on Monday. Nice.

Karen Mac Nair 4:08

Yeah. So if you're visiting anyone, you can go to the cafeteria, it's open to the public. I work at the chamber office right down the street, and I said, gosh, that was a great idea for me when I just need to get out for a minute. I need to just walk to the hospital and have a wonderful meal. And now I know breakfast, lunch, end.

Jesse Santana 4:23

Yeah.

From Methodist To USC Arcadia

Karen Mac Nair 4:24

Anytime. So if you're not from the Arcadia area, USC Arcadia Hospital has made a change recently. Victoria, why don't you tell us a little bit about that change? It's been years, but still Phil's recent.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 4:36

Um yeah, so I've been at the hospital location for over 22 years. And uh, we were previously Methodist Hospital, which um Methodist Hospital was our last really surviving community hospital in the area, and so um USC came in around 2021.

Karen Mac Nair 4:56

Uh-huh.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 4:56

Um, and the hospital's history has gone back a long time with the city of Arcadia. Um, we've been here uh since about the 1950s. Yes. And um now that USC is there, um, you know, as as somebody who was working with Methodists and now USC, I feel like we have so many amazing resources, we have great leadership um at the hospital, and um I think the hospital is really moving forward very quickly in in so many aspects.

Karen Mac Nair 5:25

It's it's been I know people were nervous during the transition, but now I feel like people consider it just part of home. Part of home in the in the San Gabriel Valley, in the Arcadia community, just really everyone's so welcoming, and um, I know I've been there for family reasons and different personal reasons, and it just feels like everyone is cares for you, which is so great at a hospital.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 5:44

And we still want to have that community presence. We don't want, you know, with USC being there, we still I think hold on to that tradition of being a community-based hospital.

Karen Mac Nair 5:54

Right. I really see it, definitely. Um, is there you've been here more than a century, which is great. I love that you're modernized also, because you all we talked about this a little bit. You are have a presence on social media and Facebook. Um, posts really keep us engaged about what was happening. I just thought of something um as we were talking. On Tuesdays, it it you have a special outdoor food fair, health fair. Did can one of you d tell me a little bit about that?

Brent Elzinga 6:26

Yeah, sure. We have a uh farmers market and a lot of local vendors. Uh I think there's things like tacos and tamales, there's produce, there's a coffee vendor, uh, there's a baker, um, I believe there's uh some arts and crafts. There's a really a great variety for for everybody.

Karen Mac Nair 6:45

Yeah, I walked down there the other day and they have this great little coffee stand, and I got the the little roasted nuts and the popcorn. It was just a nice thing on a Tuesday, you know, afternoon. It was about noonish, just to get away. So guys are doing a great job engaging the community. So the next question I have is about menus.

How Patient Menus Stay On Track

Karen Mac Nair 7:04

So we've talked about the cafeteria, we've talked about the patients. Um tell me about the menu. Chef, this is probably towards you a little bit. Tell me about the menus at the hospital.

Jesse Santana 7:14

Yeah, so the menu that we provide, um, we do get it from our systems um that we do work for Sedexo. They do provide it with different diets as well. Um, with those also menus we use for patient trailing.

Karen Mac Nair 7:25

Okay.

Jesse Santana 7:26

Um, just depending on if it's like a heart healthy, you know, low sodium, a diabetic. Um, and those menus help um help us and support us to kind of uh serve the patients the correct food and also um we work closely with the dietitians as well.

Karen Mac Nair 7:41

Do you as an executive chef, do you get input on different things? Do you get to try new things?

Jesse Santana 7:45

Uh yes, we do. Okay, good. Um just like uh like I said about the pizza, we are training, training a lot of new things, a lot of new uh pizzas. Um the dough is fresh, so that's something that we're probably inputting, which most hospitals probably use, you know, a frozen product. Uh huh. Um it is extra work, but you know, with the taste, it tastes a lot better than you know frozen product.

Karen Mac Nair 8:04

Yeah, so you're gonna have fresh pizza with the whole uh pizza station, basically. That is amazing. Now I really want to walk down. I'm glad that there's so much thought into the menu, also. Um Victoria, as people go home and then they think about their home menus, do you have any advice to us as we just think about things healthy and think about our home menus? Is there any just basic good advice that we could have as as we're with all of our foodies out there?

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 8:32

Well, I I feel like you know, in the hospital, like like they said, we work as a team and even when it comes to patient food, people have that notion that patient food is not going to be good. Um, but we really do try, you know, they do a great job with getting the patient the right or correct venues, whatever. You know, we have to abide by the doctor's orders, and sometimes the patients don't like that, but we do try to provide the most high quality and nutritious food for them. And in a way, they can take a look at what they are served because that's closely monitored by dietitians and the team. And then, you know, people can get that idea that hey, you know, I was served balanced meals, it wasn't just one thing. Right. Um, I was served a balanced meal, I did have protein, I had carbohydrate, you know, I had um all the nutrients on my plate. So we hope that they sort of carry those types of habits home with them.

Karen Mac Nair 9:26

Yeah, which is so smart. Balanced meals. Yes, not just one thing. Right. Um, Brent, is there something that you're proud

Clinica Menu HealthTouch And Better Connection

Karen Mac Nair 9:33

of? Things that at the hospital right now you we talked about.

Brent Elzinga 9:36

I'm I'm proud of the many projects that USC has allowed us to move forward on.

Karen Mac Nair 9:40

Uh-huh.

Brent Elzinga 9:41

Uh we have a new system-wide menu for the whole USC system called the Clinica menu.

Karen Mac Nair 9:46

Uh-huh.

Brent Elzinga 9:47

And we've had a lot of uh collaboration on that as well. Uh, it's been a very long process of about eight months to a year, that we've been walking through this new menu. It's uh scheduled to launch September 8th, and we're partnering that with new technology. So that one of the great things about being part of USC is they have the resources available for new technology. And we're we're we're upgrading our menu system and our ordering system to HealthTouch. And HealthTouch will allow us to do more face-to-face interaction with our patient. Right now we have a call center, and that will still serve a purpose. But we really want to get in front of the patients and and connect with them because it's all about connecting with the patients and and connecting the people that serve them the food, and we're trying to do the b uh the best and right by all of our patients.

Karen Mac Nair 10:38

Yes.

Brent Elzinga 10:39

By getting them the type of foods they like to eat, but also meeting their nutrition uh requirements.

Karen Mac Nair 10:46

Right. I think that's the best part that I see the hospital really striving for is to make sure it's accessible as they leave, it's things they enjoy. Food, we that's part of our culture. Like we like to enjoy food, and just to be healthy doesn't mean that you take all of that away. It can be a mixture of both. So that's exciting.

Brent Elzinga 11:06

Yeah, very exciting.

Karen Mac Nair 11:07

Um, is there any way this is a question to all three of you? You feel like how can the community support USC Arcadia Hospital? What is a good way, something we could do to help support the hospital, to help just as is it take taking care of ourselves?

Brent Elzinga 11:23

Well, we we definitely want you to take care of yourself and we we do want people to stay as healthy as possible.

Karen Mac Nair 11:31

Uh-huh.

Brent Elzinga 11:31

But also the hospital is here to support the community by the resources that we have available. So digging into those resources will certainly help the hospital continue to have them available, but also uh support their health and well-being.

Karen Mac Nair 11:48

Yes. Before, during, and after we were talking about that.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 11:52

Yeah, and we do have some free um on-campus health events. So just um if people go to our website, they can be aware of what types of resources that they can take advantage of. And sometimes these are health fairs. Yeah. Um, I teach free diabetes classes. I mean, there's not very many hospitals that teach free diabetes classes. You can check the schedule on the website and um attend a diabetes class if if you need to, or if somebody's pre-diabetic, um, we go over a lot of information in there, and you don't have to have a doctor's note, you can just show up.

Karen Mac Nair 12:28

Yeah, that's awesome. We're helping each other. That's a great way to look at

Taste Plans Award And Sponsor Break

Karen Mac Nair 12:33

it. Well, I know you've been we're gonna switch gears a little bit. We're gonna talk about taste for a minute, and then we're gonna take a commercial break. But you Taste of Arcadia is coming September 19th, and I know the hospital has been there for many years, and we are excited to have you. And um, Chef, I feel like we won an award something.

Jesse Santana 12:52

Uh yes, it was back in 2019. I just don't remember what it was. Um, I wasn't present at the time, but I do remember it was in 2019.

Karen Mac Nair 12:59

So you're an award-winning hospital for food. Isn't that amazing? I love that. So we're gonna take a quick commercial break. Um, and then when we come back, we'll talk about what food you'll be serving at taste, and we'll get to do some tasting. So stick around. We'll be right back.

Dr. Andrew Peterson 13:24

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Short Rib Bao Tasting And Farewell

Karen Mac Nair 14:05

Okay, well, welcome back, everyone. Now, if you're if you're listening to us, we're gonna help try to describe what we have in front of us. If you're watching on YouTube, there's this beautiful dip me uh is a short rib uh bow? Okay, short rib in front of us. So tell tell us describe it to everyone. What is it?

Jesse Santana 14:23

Okay, so what is this a short rib bow? Um I did simmer the the beef um with a little bit of an onion, garlic, and also with ginger, and I let it simmer for three hours so it'll be nice and tender. Ooh. Yeah, and then also the slaw is also uh pickle slaw with carrots and cabbage and a little bit of a cilantro that I put in there.

Karen Mac Nair 14:42

It looks delicious, flavorful, not spicy.

Jesse Santana 14:46

Uh you'll get a little kick towards the end.

Karen Mac Nair 14:48

A little kick. I'm holding it for the camera. A little kick. Okay. It's a hot day. If I get a little kick, I might name it some more water. So what is it wrapped in?

Jesse Santana 14:57

It's in a bow. Um it's kind of uh similar to like uh like a flower um like a dumpling. Like a dumpling, yes, exactly. It's got it's fluffy. Yes.

Karen Mac Nair 15:11

I'm trying to figure out how to get this all in my mouth.

Jesse Santana 15:23

Oh good, we have now candy. Flavorful. I can taste that hint of cilantro. It's a very good target when I'm talking and chewing.

Karen Mac Nair 15:37

It's like with a it it does have that dumpling texture on the outside. But it still um just holds all the flavor with the meat. So delicious. So this is what you're serving a taste of arcadia. Awesome. So make sure everyone goes by the booth and get a tasting. These are huge.

Jesse Santana 15:55

Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 15:56

Are you gonna make them smaller?

Jesse Santana 15:57

Uh no, this is the size that we're gonna be.

Karen Mac Nair 15:59

Oh my gosh, you guys, everyone's gonna be full. I'm gonna take another bite. It's got carrots falling out of the side.

Jesse Santana 16:14

Oh, the cabbage. A nice crunch. Did you come up with this? Uh actually, Mia and the director, we actually, I know, uh, collaborated. He's also a a chef. So uh I'm really lucky to have him so he could kind of help me out and support me as well.

Karen Mac Nair 16:30

Okay, I love the clap, so I'm clapping. Great job, you guys. Delicious. Is there anything else you're bringing to? This is plenty, but I'm just wondering. Just taking ourselves.

Jesse Santana 16:39

Yeah. Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 16:41

What else are you bringing to? Uh that would be uh pretty much the booth um next to you with um different people with information about trainings and different things at the hospital. There'll be information that's there so you could taste the great food and also stop by and get more information.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 17:02

Yes, we'll be doing nutrition information and talking about different uh speakers that we have coming up in the community.

Karen Mac Nair 17:09

Good. Victoria, I feel like you were there last year, were you?

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 17:11

I'm there every year.

Karen Mac Nair 17:12

Oh yeah, I love that.

Victoria Buxton-Pacheco 17:13

Yeah, but this I think this year we we were in separate booths last year. This year it would be so nice to be together.

Karen Mac Nair 17:19

Yeah, I feel like it too, so that people can stop by and really get a good picture of our great community hospital. It's so wonderful, you know, to have you guys there and all that you do. Do you feel like there's anything we've missed? Anything else you want to make sure that everyone knows? I feel like I want to say come by and see you, but we want to do it in a healthy way. Anything else?

Jesse Santana 17:41

Uh no, I think that's pretty much it. Just come out and just try our our bell for that day. Okay. Yeah.

Karen Mac Nair 17:46

Come out, support. Yeah. Um enjoy the event. Oh, good. So, everyone, USC Arcadia Hospital, you hear it here first, has wonderful food. That's the excitement of the day. Yay. So if you're in the area, stop by their cafeteria. If you are visiting anyone in the hospital, um, if you have to be in the hospital for any reason, just be encouraged that there are people surrounding you with healthy spirit, mind, and body and being able to really help your food get better in the world we live in. So thank you all for being here. I appreciate it so much. Thank you, everyone. Um, make sure you go to TasteOfArcadia.com to get your tickets today. And John, go ahead, take us away.

John Villa Announcer 18:25

Thank you, Karen, for another great episode. You can hear us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio. Don't forget, join us on September 19th at September at Santa Anita Park for Taste of Arcadia. You can get your tickets now at Taste Of Arcadia.com. Thanks again for joining us for Tasting Arcadia. We'll see you at the Taste.