March 2003

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past few weeks, many of you have written me, urging that the hospital reconsider closing the Asian Café, which now is scheduled to cease operations at the end of the day, Sunday, March 16.

I want to assure you that we reached this conclusion with great reluctance. Many of us have enjoyed the food and the service provided by the Asian Café. It was opened in direct response to your request for more choices and more variety in food options, and it certainly met those criteria.

We also have an obligation to provide an appropriate patient care and work environment - and this is where the Café created an unexpected problem. Within weeks of the Café's opening in January 2002, we began to receive complaints from the occupants of the four buildings that surround the Cafe: Osler, Halsted, Carnegie and Blalock. The Café's exhaust was pulled into the air intakes that supply those buildings.

While many of us find the smell of cooking garlic and ginger appetizing, patients post-delivery and awaiting surgery complained that the odors made them nauseous. Additionally, some employees complained that the odors interfered with their work. Their distress was so great that the Health, Safety and Environment Department was receiving several calls a week for air quality assessments.

We directed our staff to work with ventilation consultants to develop a solution to eradicate the problem. We even put money into our budget to cover expected costs. But we were very far off in our estimates. The consultants determined that installation of stainless steel duct work leading up to the roof outside of the building or "scrubbers" are needed to prevent the Café's exhaust from entering the buildings. The cost became prohibitive.

We are committed, however, to continue offering you the food options you've requested. Within the next few weeks, we hope to announce a new vendor for the Café's space. I'm also pleased to tell you that the owners of Asian Café will still be on the campus, continuing to provide the sushi you enjoy in the Tower Terrace and JHOC Grille.

Please know that we are trying to respond to your food requests and hope you now understand better the dilemma we faced regarding the Asian Café.

Sincerely,

Ronald R. Peterson