Ringgold County Hospital serves up for the holiday
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by Jeff Snyder
The Ringgold County Hospital opened it’s doors in 1951. Over the years the facility grew with increased capacity and added services largely due to its coordinated merger with Mercy One Health Systems.
Currently the hospital stands as a modern full service medical care facility serving the Ringgold County community and surrounding small towns and municipalities.
In addition to its quality medical care, the hospital also serves as a social gathering place for members of the community who have discovered one of the hospitals worst kept secrets but in all of the best ways. Turns out the hospital has a very nice little cafe that also services the community by distributing breakfast and lunch to the general public.
Each Monday a local women’s club meets at the cafe and commiserates on the past week’s activity. Likewise on Wednesdays, the men hold their own “club” meeting in the same lunchtime setting.
According to Maddie Sickels, one of the cafeteria managers, the cafe brings in customers from all over the area.
“We serve roughly 100 meals a day in the cafe including the inpatients staying in the 16 bed facility,” she said.
While the cafe will be closed on Christmas Day and the day after, the facility will continue to serve patients and employees.
The cafe has been running a series of games to commemorate the holiday season with winners earning cafe treats. The campaign started at the beginning of the month and will run throughout the holiday season.
The contests consisted of clever ideas devised by the staff such as “Guess the ingredient” or holiday smells. They even played an ongoing version of “Elf on the Shelf” whereby rewarding the finder a special holiday candy. There was also a hospital wide “door decorating” contest held in the facility.
The rehab departments felt Christmas Tree display was deemed the winner this year.
The RCH staff has managed to turn a normally somber place into a less dreary environment by providing a low cost, high quality dining experience that is appreciated by all who partake.
It’s not just a hospital cafe, its a dining experience open to all. The secret is out. Abbondanza! Ringgold County.
