Save money every time someone at your company picks up the phone. Kosher Concerns Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital dispels rumors of meal blunders, continues food preparation training. JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR Special To The Jewish News ValueLink Plus from Ameritech® combines all your 800 services and toll calling usage R together into one tidy plan.* Inbound and outbound toll calls are billed at the same umors of kosher foods being served on unkash- ered plates with unkash- ered utensils at Detroit Medical Center's Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital have circulat- ed through the com- munity, particularly among new parents. But let it be known, said DMC spokes- woman Cheryl Yurkovich, the meals are at the same level of kashrut as those served at Sinai Hospital in Detroit. In fact, kosher inspection is done by the same person, Rabbi Leonard Perlstein, the rabbinic inspector for years at the Detroit hos- pital. rate, so you can take advantage of volume discounts. You get one simple bill where your rate is guaranteed. So now the phone that helps generate profits can also cut costs. Heeeello! For Ameritech Valuelink Plus, call ditech Authorized Distributor Gary Gal 25860 Lahser Road Southfield, Michigan 48034 PH: 248 350-2020 Excellence in Telecommunications © 1996 Ameritech Meals at Huron Valley are at the same level of Kashrut as those served at Sinai Hospital in Detroit. COLORWORKS STUDIO OF INTERIOR DESIGN Kosher service at the Commerce Township hospital is not new; in fact, it has been available since 1986 when the facility was built. From the time the meal is pre- pared until it arrives in the patient's room, food service techniques ensure that a meal stays kosher, Yurkovich said. When a patient makes a request Robert Stewart Photography 12/12 1997 12 • You've said we're in a class by ourselves and we thank you for the compliment! Complete interior design services from blue print review and construction specifications, to furniture selection and custom fabrication; from windows and walls to the last scented soap . . . These are the services that set us apart. We're so glad you've noticed the difference. 32506 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills, MI • (248) 851-7540 ■ for kosher meals, he is given a sepa- rate menu which gives him milchig (dairy) choices for breakfast and lunch and fleishig (meat) choices for dinner. The choices are relayed by the nursing staff via computer to nutri- tion services. Because Huron Valley-Sinai does not have a separate kosher kitchen, as Sinai does, nutrition staffers must rely on frozen entrees and separate, pre-pack- aged food items to make a kosher meal. The items are stored in separate areas of the freezer and kitchen, Yurkovich said. The entrees, which come from Superior Kosher Meats in Oak Park, are double-wrapped and reheated in a microwave. The double wrapping eliminates the need for a separate kosher microwave. "These meals are not to be opened, pierced or tampered with in any way," says a copy of the food preparation guidelines. For all kosher meals, nutrition staffers are instructed to leave the items sealed for the patient to open. Disposable utensils, cups, glasses and dishes are included in the meal pre- sentation, she said. Yurkovich said food service employees,are trained on the guide- lines and protocols for kosher requests. Concerns, such as not plac- ing dairy and meat items in the same meal tray, are stressed during such training, she said. "We have been training our staff u) regularly and will be doing another training soon," she said. Sinai Hospital is the only hospital in the state of Michigan with an on- site kosher kitchen. Some other area hospitals, including all of DMC's other hospitals, offer kosher meals that are frozen and reheated. 0 nai O