Oct. 19—At Stony Brook University Hospital, in the middle of Suffolk County, Long Island, a rooftop farm is feeding patients and challenging the traditional reputation of hospital food.
Hundreds of hospitals across the country host a farmer’s market, have a garden on their grounds that supplies fresh produce or buy at least some of their food from local farms, ranches and cooperatives, according to a survey by Health Care Without Harm, an international coalition of health care groups. But hospital rooftop gardens are still unusual in New York, Eileen C. Secrest, a spokeswoman for the organization, said. “It’s really sweeping the country, but New York is kind of a dry zone for us right now,” Ms. Secrest said.