Guiding Stars Teams With Health Quest

Health Quest has formed a partnership with nutrition guidance program “Guiding Stars,” which has now rolled out to Vassar Brothers Medical Center, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Northern Dutchess Hospital, in Rhinebeck, N.Y., joining Putnam Hospital Center in the initiative. Carmel, N.Y.-based Putnam launched Guiding Stars in April 2013. The project has been in development since licensing for it began in 2008.

The aim of Guiding Stars, a subsidiary of Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford Supermarkets, is to help hospital staff and guests make more nutritious choices when dining in the cafeteria and quick-service food stations at each of the three Health Quest hospitals.

“The Guiding Stars program has proven to effectively influence the choices people make and encourage them to choose healthier options by making it easy to identify products that are better for you,” said Health Quest Director of Food Services Gretchen Hilbrandt, citing a recent USDA, FDA and University of Florida study published in the journal Food Policy. “We believe that offering this innovative and effective program at all three of our facilities is just one more way Health Quest can positively contribute to the overall health and well-being of the 1.5 million area residents we serve” in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley.

“Health Quest is clearly devoted to improving the health of everyone in the communities they serve in the Hudson Valley — not just patients, but also staff, visitors and guests,” added Sue Till, client services manager with Guiding Stars, which can be found in more than 1,800 supermarkets in North America, among them Hannaford, Food Lion, Sweetbay, Homeland, Marsh Supermarkets, B&R and Mar-Val in the United States, in addition to more than 350 Loblaws, Provigo and Provigo Le Marche stores in Quebec and Ontario. The program has also expanded into public schools, colleges and hospitals, and appears on the Shopper mobile iPhone application.

In addition to the three hospitals noted above, LeGrangeville, N.Y.-based Health Quest operates 10 primary care Health Quest Medical Practice (HQMP) locations, several HQMP specialty locations, and two Health Quest Urgent Care locations for walk-in urgent care.
 

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