Fueling the front lines for 60 years—and counting | Corewell Health

Ollie Robinson likes to remain busy.

That’s why he will get up at 2:30 a.m. 5 days per week for the early morning shift within the kitchen at Corewell Well being Butterworth Hospital.

He wraps up his work by early afternoon, leaving time for feeding the birds and squirrels, fixing stuff round the home or hanging together with his youngsters or his dozens of grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. And he would possibly make time for a nap.

Till the clock strikes 9:30 p.m. or so, which is when he units the alarm after which does it yet again.

For 60 years—60!—Robinson has been stuffing hen breasts, prepping soups and mixing up macaroni and cheese for the sufferers and workforce members at Butterworth Hospital. And at 84, he’s not planning to hold up his apron anytime quickly.

“Yearly, I say this 12 months is my final 12 months,” he chuckled. “However quite a lot of my pals who’re retired seem to be they’re bored. They go to malls and stroll round in a circle.”

That’s not Robinson.

“I need to fill the day in after which get to the following day,” he stated. “I might inform anyone that you need to keep lively. You may’t simply sit down.”

So far as the human sources workforce at Corewell Well being West can inform, Robinson has been a full-time worker longer than anybody else. Ever. So lengthy, in reality, that there was no anniversary card to mirror the milestone. They needed to make a brand new one.

Throughout considered one of his current morning shifts, a handful of Corewell Well being executives stopped by the kitchen to shock Robinson with doughnuts, punch and loads of kudos. They estimated that he has helped make about 4.5 million meals for workers, sufferers and guests.

“We’re so glad you’ve been with us for 60 years,” stated Tina Freese Decker, Corewell Well being President & CEO, as she introduced him with a Corewell Well being vest and a brand new chef’s coat. “You might be a part of our story and a part of our household.”

When Robinson first set foot within the Butterworth Hospital kitchen, microwave ovens and workplace computer systems have been new expertise, she identified. Butterworth Hospital had just lately carried out its first open-heart surgical procedure and Congress was debating the deserves of a brand new program referred to as Medicare.

Robinson, who admitted to being “a bit overwhelmed” with all the eye, additionally obtained a framed phrase cloud that featured most of the sentiments his coworkers use to explain him: mentor, humble, inspiring, devoted.

“He places his coronary heart and soul into his job day-after-day as a result of he understands the worth of the meals he’s making ready and who’s receiving it,” stated Kevin Vos, vice chairman of environmental companies at Corewell Well being West.

Vos wasn’t even alive when Robinson labored his first shift on Dec. 13, 1962.

Again then, there have been about 14 cooks, 1,000 workforce members and 300 to 500 inpatients at Butterworth Hospital every day. In contrast, Butterworth Hospital now has not less than 50 culinary professionals making ready breakfast, lunch and dinner for, on common, 900 inpatients each day.

Together with the expansion of the hospital and adjoining buildings, the workforce additionally has expanded considerably, to about 6,000 individuals on any given day, though there’s additionally a close-by meals courtroom and different eating choices.

“I’ve watched this place remodel a lot over time,” Robinson stated.

Years in the past, workers within the kitchen peeled potatoes and carrots by hand, baked truffles and cookies from scratch and minimize bacon from large slabs. Distributors delivered crates of uncooked greens, eggs and different entire meals. Every little thing was produced from scratch.

“We used to put out our personal hamburger patties. They didn’t have companies like Gordon Meals Service delivering ready meals,” he stated.

Ten years into his tenure, Robinson was tapped to take over as head chef, a task he held till 2002.

Because the years sped by, he started to understand the job was about an entire lot greater than his famend macaroni and cheese.

“Within the previous kitchen I might look out the home windows and see the morgue. As I grew into this job, I began to surprise, ‘How was this particular person’s final meal? How did we deal with them right here?’” he stated.

Then his daughter, Kimberly, considered one of 5 kids, died of a mind hemorrhage in 2010.

“The sky sorta fell in,” he stated. However it additionally helped him higher empathize with sufferers, guests and care suppliers.

“It was onerous watching them take her off life help. She was 52. However now each time I hear ‘Code Blue’ or ‘We want a bereavement basket,’ I do know precisely what these individuals are going by way of,” he stated.

So Robinson retains at it, donning his black cranium cap and chef’s coat most weekday mornings and each different weekend. He nonetheless enjoys the vitality of the kitchen and the friendships he has made alongside the best way.

“I suppose I’m only a workaholic,” he stated, acknowledging that he skilled and, for many years, labored alongside fairly a couple of people who find themselves now retired. “Should you maintain working, you don’t notice the idea of age. You by no means miss a beat.”