Last week’s debut of the Outpost Market Cafe at the Aurora Sinai Medical Center is great news and I hope the start of a trend. The cafe, located in the Aurora Sinai main lobby, is being operated by Outpost Natural Foods, the co-op that owns supermarkets in Bay View, the East Side and in Wauwatosa.

 At only 225-square feet, the eatery is small, but it is giving hospital visitors, staff and the surrounding neighborhood the opportunity to grab Outpost’s made-from-scratch soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees and baked goods. Hallelujah!

 I have long been amused and appalled at the dining options offered to families and friends of hospital patients. During the final three decades of his life, my father was under cardiac care that required occasional hospitalizations at several different facilities. I would be in his room when he was encouraged to eat intelligently and follow a heart-healthy diet, and then I would go in search of my lunch in the building.

 Time and again, my options were not only unappetizing. They were a bad joke of high-calorie fried and processed foods, precisely what my dad was supposed to avoid. I would usually leave the hospital for a fast food joint that almost always gave me better choices.

 Congratulations Outpost and Aurora Sinai. May your healthy partnership prosper and grow.