TOWNSHEND – Come join the public celebration on Tuesday, June 5th at 11 a.m. as members of the Grace Cottage Hospital staff sign the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge. The pledge signing ceremony will take place in the Garden of Grace if weather permits and in the Dining/Community Room in the case of inclement weather. Healthy refreshments will be served.

Roger Allbee, a former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture and Grace Cottage Hospital Board Member, will be sharing his thoughts on the accomplishments of Grace Cottage's dietary department and the importance of local foods. Please join community members and hospital employees as they celebrate the achievements of the dietary department in helping to create a more local and sustainable food system.

Grace Cottage Hospital will be joining over 225 other health care facilities in the United States who, by signing the pledge, have agreed to adopt practices that improve the health of patients and communities through nutrition, while also protecting the environment. The pledge has been created by Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), an international coalition of hospitals and health care systems.

“One of the steps we are taking as part of this pledge includes increasing our offering of fruits and vegetables,” said Denise Choleva, Dietary Department manager at Grace Cottage Hospital. “We already have a large salad bar for patients and employees, so it’s been lots of fun to mix and match what we offer every day. We’re also working with farmers in our area to increase the use of locally-produced foods, and we’re cutting down on food and packaging waste as much as possible. We want Grace Cottage Hospital to be a model of healthy eating.”

Grace Cottage is a 19-bed Critical Access Hospital, founded in 1949. Outpatient services include family practice; pediatrics; psychiatry; lab; diagnostic imaging; physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation services; a Community Wellness Center; and a full-service retail pharmacy. For more information, go to www.gracecottage.org. For more information about Health Care Without Harm, go to www.hcwh.org