Erlanger has became the nation's first hospital to receive certification for offering patients a gluten-free diet option.
Erlanger CEO Jim Brexler on Thursday made the announcement to hospital board members, adding that allergies to gluten, a substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat, is becoming more common.
Gluten, a protein mixture that makes dough elastic, also causes illness in people with celiac disease, an autoimmune illness.
"Erlanger is the first hospital in the country to receive full certification as being a safe hospital," he said "That is some incredible work our folks have done in creating that."
Hospitals usually do a lot to try to get the right kind of nutrition to their patients, he said, but gluten-free diet options in any food service organization have not become common because the special food preparation is difficult.
The University of Chicago hospital was the first to receive certification for some gluten-free effort, he added, but Chicago's work was only in its retail division, not in the patient category, Mr. Brexler said.
In other business Thursday, board members approved a $200,450 purchase of new defibrillators and a $162,225 purchase of new fetal heart monitors.
Hospital officials said the defibrillators will be used throughout Erlanger's facilities and will replace a hodgepodge of different brands and styles now in use.
The new fetal heart monitors will be used at Erlanger East Women's Hospital because the monitors now in use have become a "high risk/liability due to a voluntary factory recall," the purchase resolution states.
Hospital officials said there is no ability to repair the monitors "due to lack of company involvement and acceptance of responsibility for repairs."