Comfort food for families of ICU patients

06:22 PM PST on Saturday, December 25, 2004

By DEBORAH FELDMAN / KING 5 News

SEATTLE - It may very well be the last place anyone would want to spend their Christmas, worrying about a loved one in the Intensive Care Unit at Harborview Medical Center.

But for the past few years, the chef at one of Seattle's premier restaurants has done his best to make the day a little more bearable.

When a person has a loved one clinging to life inside a hospital ICU, food is probably the last thing on their mind. But Mike Bryan of the Palisade restaurant made sure worried families didn't need to depend on fast food or vending machines for their Christmas meal.

For the past three years, Bryan and a few volunteers from his culinary staff have chosen to spend Christmas morning preparing dishes such as a seared ahi appetizer, and beef and chicken entrees that have little resemblance to a Christmas ham or turkey.

"We didn't want it to remind them of the holiday so we kind of steered away from that type of food because we really did want to transport themselves away from their experience and just enjoy the food for that moment," Bryan said.

KING

A Bermudez family member enjoys the unexpected meal.

A dozen or so members of the Bermudez family have been camping out in the ICU ever since 79-year-old Petra Trinidad ruptured several internal organs in a car crash last week.

"That day she almost left us and so ever since then we've been here," said her daughter, Aurora Bermudez.

Though it’s stressful, “we'd rather be here than in the house because every time the telephone would ring, I'm just ready to collapse so I’d rather be here," she said.

The family said Trinidad has shown great improvement over the past day or two.

Bryan said he first decided to volunteer his talents after one of his neighbors was treated and cured here at Harborview's ICU.

While Bryan and his staff volunteer their time every Christmas, Palisade Restaurant donates enough food to feed 70 people or more.