Henry Wiens said he enjoys helping people heal through preparing nutritious food at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center.[/caption]In the kitchen, the head chef at Cedar Park Regional Medical Center combines his love for food with his love for helping to heal people.
Henry Wiens, director of food and nutrition services, has lived and cooked in many places, following his passion to Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, South Carolina, Florida and back to Texas.
“My life has always been kind of a journey,” Wiens said. “A journey of faith and a journey of culinary [career]. … Life is about the journey and about how much you love and who you love. … Oftentimes we wrestle with what is most important in our [lives]. But if you really think [about] what gives you the most joy and happiness, it’s giving to others and making others more important than yourself.”
He started cooking at 10 years old, making breakfast for himself and his brothers daily because his mother left for work early in the mornings. Wiens also cooked for his friends and frequented the library to study different kinds of cuisines.
Wiens studied food management and nutrition at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and after graduation he began managing restaurants located inside the Livestock Exchange Building in Omaha.
“That was my first experience with a real chef,” he said. “I started learning that there was more to kitchens than what I had really understood. I began to get a taste for fine dining and [gained an] understanding of world cuisine.”
Wiens and his wife, Brenda, prepared food for Taste of Cedar Park on Oct. 20.[/caption]After his management role and working as a food service operator at a hospital in Colorado, Wiens took a new route in his life. He attended a seminary to study theology and family counseling and established new churches. But he was eventually drawn back to the culinary path, started working at a hospital again and has not left the health care system since.
“I am very privileged as a chef to be in health care, because I have the opportunity to practice many cuisines,” he said.
Wiens said he enjoys the freedom he has to create many different dishes in the cafeteria, in the doctor’s lounges and with catering.
“That gives me a lot of satisfaction as a chef,” he said. “I love to create.”
Working in the hospital as a chef also gives Wiens the opportunity to help people heal, he said.
“I always remind my staff that they are not wasting their time at this hospital,” he said. “It is more than a job. You are [dedicating] your life, and you are helping others that have a need for your assistance and have a need to be well and you are here to help them get well.”
The chef said it is important to him to not only help the patients, but also the caregivers at CPRMC.
“We always need the touch of the physician and the touch of the nurse and the touch of all the wonderful people that are caregivers that help keep our community well. I’m really blessed and very grateful to be a chef in health care,” he said.
His meals range from chicken tenders and cheeseburgers—because that is what most people all over the country eat, he said—to fish, tenderloin and pasta dishes and fresh-tossed salads.
Matt Berry, director of trauma services and acting assistant chief nursing officer at CPRMC, said he eats at the hospital five to seven times per week.
“The quality of the food has increased [since Wiens started working here],” he said.
Berry said he also hears a lot of positive feedback about Wiens’ food from patients.
“I am always pleased to hear that our patients really enjoy the variety of the foods,” Berry said. “They are always hot and well-presented. [Wiens’] staff does a really good job of creating a friendly environment for patients [and] of making them feel special and taking good care of their needs.”
