Connect

“Connection, comfort, and community for our patients and our people.”

This is the latest installment in our Connect article series “Hope at Work” — showcasing inspiring stories about how our team members contribute to UVA Health’s 10-year strategic plan: “One Future Together Health and Hope for All.” No matter where you work, you have an opportunity to inspire hope in others. These stories show how:

Praise for our Food and Nutrition Services team members, staffed through Morrison Healthcare, can be heard consistently across the board — from morning huddles to patient appreciation letters. Our team members and patients are impacted positively by Morrison and their combination of quality food and great service.

For some patients, hospital stays can be scary and uncomfortable, and providing clinical care can be challenging — in these conditions, food and empathetic service can make a big difference in someone’s experience, allowing them to feel more welcome, relaxed, or appreciated. The personal touches and connections that our Morrison teams so often go out of their way to make, play a key role in our team member and patient satisfaction.

Donna Staton, Chief Operating Officer, UVA Community Health, expounds on the significant work being done by FNS teams: “This holiday season challenged us as a leadership team to approach our holiday meal celebrations a little differently. Our goal was to make a broader impact across all hospitals, ambulatory sites, and medical group locations. The partnership with our FNS team was instrumental in achieving this goal and exceeded our expectations for team member impact.”

Serving Up Holiday Spirit

These efforts were even more evident than usual during the recent hustle and bustle of holiday events, which included celebratory meals, Thankful Thursdays, and cultural meals. Our FNS teams provided meals for approximately 8,000 team members across six Thankful Thursdays — an initiative between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in which we offered complimentary meals to foster community and ease holiday burdens.

These efforts spanned Culpeper, Haymarket, and Prince William Medical Centers and medical group locations, and delivering this level of support during an already busy holiday season filled with multiple catering and special events supported by Morrison showcased an unprecedented lift — underscoring a dedication to the wellbeing of our team members, visitors, and patients.

In addition to Thankful Thursdays, the FNS teams at each medical center helped ensure every team member felt a sense of belonging during the holidays by offering multicultural meals each Tuesday in December. “Their professionalism, grace, and commitment to service created a consistent, positive experience for team members throughout the season,” describes UVA Community Health Support Services Director Mandy Dickinson.

Cooking Up Camaraderie

Beyond the meals themselves, these programs helped connect team members, reinforcing a culture of empathy, gratitude, and belonging. These meaningful gestures helped team members feel seen and supported, contributing to improved morale and stronger engagement across UVA Community Health. “Team members who participated shared their appreciation for FNS’s dedication and for the support demonstrated by leadership. Many expressed that these efforts truly enhanced the holiday spirit throughout our organization,” Dickinson adds.

At UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center, Chef Joel Fuentes contributed significantly to the success of Thankful Thursdays and cultural meals, pulling off two separate menus weekly via ordering, schedule preparation, menu development, and overall execution. Morrison Healthcare Director of Food Services Brett Carter notes, “Each one of our cooks played a huge role in prep and cooking. They laid the backbone for our chef to be able to pull off these menus consistently” and, speaking of FNS’s coordinators, “Both of these ladies boxed and organized all of our offsite deliveries and overnight meals for staff, consisting of 200 boxed meals weekly.”

He concludes, “Without the efforts of each of these individuals, we would not have been able to feed more than 2,000 staff members free meals during the holidays and put out food from five distinct regions throughout the world!”

Setting the Tone (and Table)

Similarly, UVA Health Haymarket Medical Center Chief Operating Officer Amanda Welch (pictured above, left), shines a light on the Haymarket Medical Center FNS team: “Their work goes far beyond preparing meals — they create moments of connection, comfort, and community for our patients and our people.”

“Thankful Thursdays brought our teams together in gratitude, reminding us how the small things like a warm meal for our teams can make the holiday season a little lighter. The team’s cultural meals celebrated the diversity of our workforce and the communities we serve, offering not just food but a sense of belonging.”

“Our Food and Nutrition Director Charles Healey [pictured above, right] leads with heart, humility, and an unwavering commitment to caring for others. He consistently goes above and beyond, not because it’s expected, but because it’s who he is. Whether he’s ensuring a patient receives a meal that brings them comfort or supporting a team member through a challenging day, Charles sets the tone for what compassionate leadership looks like.”

Award-Winning Impact

This excellence is even being recognized across the region, with UVA Health Prince William Medical Center recently being awarded “Account of the Year” in the Northern Atlantic market for FY25 from Morrison Healthcare. UVA Health Prince William Medical Center Director of Food and Nutrition Services Thecla McPhee calls it "a well-deserved honor that reflects excellence, creativity, and outstanding service. Well done to the entire team!”

This standout moment was achieved through several aspects that set our account apart for this performance-based award, including a two percent increase in total retail sales, the successful opening of a new coffee shop, a big improvement in Press Ganey scores from the 37^th to the 79^th percentile, and a successful The Joint Commission Triennial Survey.

Additional highlights regarding team members and collaboration include nursing engagement surveys reflecting strong nursing and FNS partnership with responsiveness to food quality and Chef Michel Dawaliby’s development into a Regional Executive Chef. In these ways and several others, our Morrison team has stood apart, and the FNS team was joined by hospital leadership and Morrison leadership for the award presentation and surprise celebration in late 2025.

Going the Extra Mile

Prince William Medical Center Assistant Vice President of Operations Mike Barkema attests to the FNS team’s impact: “I've been so impressed by our FNS team’s commitment to excellence for our team members and patients. There are countless examples of the team going above and beyond to ensure we provide high quality food offerings and exceptional service to all who come into our hospital. Whether it is Chef Michel creating specialized dishes to reflect the different and diverse cultures in our building or rounding on patients to understand how they can help make their time in facility extraordinary, they really go the extra mile which is represented their account of the year recognition.”

The award-winning work of our Morrison team accentuates the importance of every team member’s work in caring for each other and our visitors and patients. Every role, from clinical care to food and nutrition services, impacts the success of our mission to transform health and inspire hope for all Virginians and beyond.