Diwali celebration in the Environmental Services department at Stanford Health Care

Diwali, the festival of light, is one of the most significant holidays for the Hindu, Sikhs and Jains community.  The event theme is triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. This year it falls on October 19 in the united states while it is celebrated on October 18 in some other countries. 

During diwali, homes are cleaned prior to the festival to welcome the goddess of Lakshmi and the smell of food and cookies always fill the entire household. Paper lanterns, clay lamps or electirc lamps and incredible Rangooli (A design on the floor made from colored rice and powder) are used to decorate the household and shopping malls. Rangoli is used as a joyful way to welcome the Goddness of Wealth and Prosperity. Hindu women will adorn their beautiful saris (a traditional Hindu dress), colorful bangles and earrings and Men will wear dhoti (sarong wrapped around the waist and leg) with an oxford shirt. 

Today during the Environmental Services department morning huddle, we celebrated the festivity by first showing a video from National Geographic on what is Diwali and how it was celebrated.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrrW3rO51ak. Colleagues were then invited to sample an array of Diwali snack and food which was brought in by our colleagues who  celebrated the festivity. We also had bollywood music in the backgound during the event. What a great way to learn and celebrate our diversity!

Wishing all colleagues and readers who celebrated the festivity Happy Diwali. Wishing good health and happiness to everyone!

Left to right: Maria A, Vijay, Ramona, Alvin K, Yamin, Ashwin, Rozlin and Narranda

Left to right: Maria A, Sangita, Raj, Erika, Vimal, Yanira

Left to Right: Johnny, Jerry, Dran, Reina, Javier, Ragni

EVS colleagues learning about Diwali during huddle

Diwali desserts

Celebrating Healthcare Food Services Week at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (Oct 9-Oct 13)

The Food Services team at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital celebrates Healthcare Food Services Week this week from Oct 9- Oct 13. This is the week we honor our food services colleagues who serve an integral role in providing nutritious meals to our colleagues, patients and visitors. 

Our main servery, Courtyard cafe opens at 7am-7pm and Java Junction cafe opens till 330am. Our first shift starts at 430am and our overnight shift ends at 400am.  Our food services team are our unsung hero that works tiresly to support the hospital mission to be one of the healthiest children’s hospitals in the country. The team are also very humble.  Whenever anyone gave them a compliment, they always said " I am just doing my job". This can be summarize by a quote Jay Cabus, retail operations manager provided :

"When I think about what doctors, nurses, and support staff go through, my problems are easy. It is my privilege to support and nourish them, so they can continue healing our patients. When you think about what these families are going through, we should give them options. It is our obligation to educate and provide our customers with healthy options, but most importantly, to give them the best possible service and care."

In addition to serving our patients, colleagues and customers, the team is also preparing for the opening of the hospital expansion, Packard 2.0 on December 9 which will provide a total of 361 licensed beds. The site will have several new food services facilities. http://expansionjobs.stanfordchildrens.org/pages/food-services. 

Under the leadership of Dwain Richardson, Director of Food Services, the team had been working tiresly in facilities and menu planning, hiring and training for the new expansion. 

Dwain and the management team planned this year event with an array of food and gifts to thank our food services colleagues for their dedication and commitment. Here is what the team has planned: 

Monday – Homemade fresh fruit danishes and pastries made in house by Chef Muhammad Siddiqui, Sodexo resource chef 
Tuesday – Steak and Tandoori Chicken Lunch prepared by Chef Muhammad Siddiqui

Wednesday – Homemade fresh Bread pudding and desserts prepared by Chef Muhammad Siddiqui

Thursday  – Ice Cream Social

Friday – Gifts 

Please join me in wishing all our Food Service worker a Happy Health Care Food Services week. 

Thank you for all that you do! Thank you for making everyday a better day for all those we served!

Team picture

Housemade Cheesecake 

Steak and tandoori chicken lunch

Harvest Cafe at Packard 2.0 (Opening on December 9, 2017) 

Dining area

Harvest cafe

Market Deli

Chef Specials