The first Sunday of each month, residents at St. Paul’s Towers in Oakland, California, which provides long-term skilled nursing care, are treated to a grand buffet Champagne brunch prepared by the facility’s executive chef.
Past starters for the brunch have included heirloom tomatoes, summer green beans and arugula salad. Also on the menu were smoked salmon and sashimi-grade tuna poke, raw fish cubed and seasoned to taste — a Hawaiian favorite that’s become popular on the mainland, too. “Tuna poke is so hot right now,” gushes Shani Kaplan, a registered dietitian nutritionist at St. Paul’s Towers. Summer ratatouille was among the hot offerings, incorporating seasonal produce — something the executive chef, Mario Martinez, who comes from a restaurant background, tries to do in his menus. “He knows what it takes to keep customers happy,” Kaplan says. Chefs also enter nutrition information that residents can access online through a program called Webtrition.
Nationwide, top long-term skilled nursing facilities are increasingly focused on upgrading dining and serving residents with a healthy slice of home and dinner out. Along with making big splashes for special brunches, holiday feasts and themed meals, those efforts hinge on making mealtime something residents anticipate — rather than an afterthought. That includes providing not only decadent desserts, but low-sugar options to satisfy a sweet tooth, such as for people with diabetes, and fresh takes on healthy fare residents truly want to eat. “It’s a constant challenge to make the food exciting and reinvent the wheel,” Kaplan says. But that’s exactly what many nursing homes are seeking to do, as registered dietitians work with chefs and staff to help ensure nutritious meals are not only made available but highly palatable. Experts says the focus on improving food and dining serves not only to increase resident satisfaction but bolster health outcomes.
[See: The Best Ways for Nursing Home Residents to Stay Active.]
Brenda Richardson, a registered dietitian nutritionist and long-term care nutrition expert based in Kentucky, advises facilities on making culinary improvements, noting that the trend includes some facilities providing a restaurant-style dining experience for residents, from menus to wait staff taking orders. Richardson says the high expectations of baby boomers receiving skilled long-term nursing care is one major reason for the culinary improvements. They’re much more used to going to Chinese one night and eating pizza the next, and they’re knowledgeable about nutrition, she says.
In addition to residents’ higher expectations of food, nutrition and dining, the government — namely regulation by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services — and best practices in medical care are also driving improvements, Richardson says. “When you truly provide food and nutrition and dining that’s much more specific to that particular person — when you [have] food that’s more like what they would eat in their home, food they’re comfortable with — then we’re actually seeing better outcomes in regards to health care,” she says.
Age and medications can alter the taste of food for older individuals, making it less appealing. “Many times food just doesn’t taste the way it used to taste at all,” Richardson says. Not getting adequate calories and nutrients can lead to unhealthy weight loss — a very real concern in the nursing home setting — and put residents at greater risk for a range of health issues, including diminished bone health. “At this point in their lives, they really need those nutrients,” Kaplan says. “Vitamin D and calcium, for instance, are very important, because a lot of my residents are suffering from osteoporosis or starting to see signs of it.”
Inadequate intake, or a poor diet, combined with the effects of aging can make people less steady on their feet as well. “Especially as you age and you lose that lean body mass,” Richardson says. “A real issue facing the aging population in regards to having to go to the hospital or their mobility is falls.” Additionally, inadequate nutrition can slow recovery, whether from an injury or medical procedure. While many residents are given supplements, such as for vitamin D and calcium, experts emphasize it’s still critical to get adequate protein and calories from food — and say nursing residents will have a harder time doing that if the food is blah.
[See: 14 Ways to Protect Seniors From Falls.]
There’s no danger of that at Arch Plaza Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in North Miami, which prizes resident choice and food with flair that reflects a diverse clientele, plus accommodates varied dietary restrictions and preferences, like providing kosher-style meals. In honor of Haitian-American residents’ celebration of the country’s Flag Day, chef Donna Cockfield serves griot, traditional Haitian fried pork, with red beans and rice, plantains and yucca — a starchy vegetable frequently featured in Caribbean cuisine.
She focuses on presentation in everyday meals, too, garnishing with, among other things, orange wedges, tomato wedges and fresh parsley. There’s no hard — or bland — line drawn on nutrition, either. “We promote liberalized diets,” says Chris Kallas, a registered dietitian for Plaza Health Network, a not-for-profit network of seven rehabilitation and skilled nursing centers in Miami-Dade County, Florida, including Arch Plaza. Based on best practices established by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics for older residents in long-term care facilities, this approach allows more wiggle room to flavor food while still delivering needed nutrients. “Most of our foods are made from scratch,” Kallas says. Resident Natacha Gonzalez says she especially likes the fresh fruit plates — which are available at any time; providing food on demand is another skilled long-term care facilities increasingly do to create a home environment for residents. “The food here is very good,” she says, adding the dining experience, eating with friends, is something she looks forward to.
Experts say prospective residents who are evaluating nursing homes and their loved ones should take food into consideration, given how central it is to overall quality of life, and health. Check, too, to make sure any dietary preferences, or food allergies, and related food restrictions can be adequately accommodated, from vegetarian to lactose intolerant. “It’s very important to address those issues from the beginning before they commit,” Kaplan says, since some facilities can’t cater to such needs.
[See: 7 Red Flags to Watch for When Choosing a Nursing Home.]
Kaplan suggests the prospective resident do a trial overnight stay, including having several meals. “Get familiar with the dining team and the staff,” she says. After all, theirs is the challenge to keep things interesting for residents — for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and beyond.
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Nursing Homes Spice Up Food Offerings originally appeared on usnews.com
