Chef turns up heat at Mercy Medical Center

Educated at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde, N.Y., Chef Tracey has prepared meals for Kahill's and Minerva's restaurants in the Siouxland area. At Mercy, he will use his culinary skills to provide comfort food that will make each patient's stay at the hospital more pleasant and add new menu items, such as stir fries and made-to-order omelets, for a tasty change of pace.

Chef Tracey said his specialty at the Culinary Institute was center of the plate (the complete meal), and he will use that specialty and his restaurant experience to provide healthy food and good patient service at Mercy.

"We incorporate a lot of salads, as well as sandwiches and subs," said Chef Tracey, a Chicago native. "We are currently working on a new patient menu. We will also have new entrees in the cafeteria and we are enhancing banquet items."

Chef Tracey, who oversees the food service department, has already impressed Mercy's staff with his creativity. For Nurse's Day this month, Chef Tracey worked with the staff to prepare classic items including Key Lime Tartletts and Tortilla Pinwheels, and to enhance the decor with vegetable carvings for centerpieces.

"We wanted to let the nurses know we appreciate the hard work they do here," he said. "I hope to do a lot of hands on work here. That's my nature. A way to bond with the staff is to work one on one with them and teach them the skills to help them grow."

Chef Tracey is also working with the Nutritional Care department at Mercy to make sure that all meals will meet patients' dietary needs.

"Together, as a joint effort, we're going to change patient food service," said Angie Keegan, director of Nutritional Care at Mercy. "Tracey can bring forth creativity by enhancing the meal quality with different flavors and presentation, and we make sure that the new meals are appropriate for the therapeutic menu.

"We have asked Tracey to bring forth ideas. He knows the current trends that would be applicable to food service. It is important that we make the flavors, food transportation and customer service the best we can for the patients. They are our customers. It's really a very comprehensive process. We do a nutritional assessment to make the decision whether a meal is appropriate for therapeutic diets.

"And to do that, he has to tell me what's in his recipes," she said, tongue-in-cheek.

Keegan's not the only one interested in learning Chef Tracey's secrets. Chef Tracey has been widely known in the Siouxland area for his seafood and salads - his favorite foods to prepare.

"You can have a lot of creativity with them," Badar said. "There's a trend toward healthy eating. You can pick and choose the ingredients and everything comes together. I like to make salads because you can make them a thousand different ways. Every day you can have a different salad just by adding different greens and different vegetables."

His love of preparing healthy foods fits in perfectly with his new role at Mercy, where he will be challenged to come up with meals that taste and look good, and meet nutritional goals at the same time.

Tracey is currently working with the Nutritional Care department on 83 different diets.

"There's a lot you forget," he said. "Not all people can have seeds and skins. Angie and her team will say, 'This won't fit in a diet. What can we substitute instead?'"

He is also working with the Nutrititional Care department to implement a room service program for the OB/GYN unit. New mothers will be able to order foods ala carte by calling a dedicated line.

"Hopefully, it will be like a 5-star hotel. We will be able to give them the food they want to eat when it works for them. It will be comfort food that will ease their stay here. Great patient care and service is one aspect we can provide to that unique population. We're proud to roll that program out this summer," he said.

While Chef Tracey could have continued to use his creativity in a restaurant setting, he said he wanted to work at Mercy, where he could use his communication, teamwork and organizational skills and experience more diversity with food and co-workers.

"Their No. 1 goal has been great service, taking care of patients, and building up their employees. I don't know anyone who cares so much about service. Having chefs be a part of hospital food service is a growing trend, and I thought being part of that trend would be a really great opportunity," he said.

When Chef Tracey applied for the job, he impressed Keegan with his commitment to service.

"He has a great sense of teamwork, and he clearly represents what that looks like and demonstrates it with his staff," Keegan said. "Team building is very important because you're working side by side with the staff. He has to direct production of the food. It is crucial that he builds up the team. He can't do everything."

It also helped that Chef Tracey is a valued member of the Sioux City community, she said.

"A lot of people know him. We're excited to have him on our team."