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I am a food services worker in the kitchen at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Fairmont.

On July 1, Mayo Clinic management told food services workers in Fairmont that they would be required to deliver food trays to patients into “isolation” rooms. A patient who is in an isolation room has an illness severe enough to warrant limiting access to the room for safety purposes. A patient can be placed in isolation for many reasons including COVID-19, C-Diff, TB and other illnesses.

In the past, when a patient is in an isolation room, the food services worker delivers a tray to a cart that sits outside the room. The nurses then take the tray in to the patient.

After this new change in policy, food services workers must gown up and, if necessary, put on face masks, face shields and gloves in order to bring the food trays into isolation rooms.

Because this new policy increases the number of individuals interacting with patients in isolation, I believe that it could place the health of other patients and the kitchen staff at greater risk.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Peter Engstrom
Food Services worker
Morrison Food Services
Fairmont