What does dietary provide for our Residents and how do we involve them in our plan for nutrition services? That’s a great question! Did you know we get Resident input on our menus and special meals? We do! The menus that are planned start with the dietary manager using a standardized menu from GFS, we than alter it to incorporate Resident food preferences and requests by input from observations or conversations with Residents. The dietary staff are very familiar with our Resident likes, dislikes and nutritional needs-they are a wealth of knowledge about what the Residents like to eat. We also listen to Resident wishes for food items they are craving and ensure those items are on our menus. Holiday menus are developed by surveying the Residents on what they want to have for each holiday and using the most popular items as the main menu and the lesser popular items as the sub options-we do also make sure the holiday menus are non-restrictive (carbs don’t count on the holidays if you don’t want them to!).
Another nice thing about our dietary nutrition services, we use Resident recipes on our menus! That’s right, if any of your Residents or loved ones have a great recipe that they want to share-Let us know! Of course, we do like our Residents to have fun and enjoy life and their food. We have many fun activities and special food items to accompany those activities.
Our most recent event we had here was nursing home week. Our Residents enjoyed caramel corn on movie madness day-as well as nacho supreme as a sub menu option. For tacky tourist day we served Michigan flavors of ice cream (Mackinaw Island Fudge, Moose Tracks, Michigan Cherry Fried Pie, Blue Moon and Superman) and pasties and cheese curds on the menu. On decades day they enjoyed a variety of food items from different decades on their menu. Carnival day was fun for all- cotton candy and cupcakes- as well as corndogs, corn-on-the-cob and funnel cakes on the menu. Last but not least they enjoyed some candy on nerd day- as well as a nerd favorite food item on the menu…Pizza! The menus had each day listed on the top with colorful pictures of each days event to help get them in the spirit of nursing home week-and they also had amazing activities and accessories to dress up in to complete the experience and fun of everything!
Our next Resident food event will be a cookout of bbq chicken-we will be planning more cookouts throughout the summer and getting Resident input on what they want at each cookout. We really strive to fulfill each-and-every Residents’ preferences and food needs- if they only eat certain food items-we make sure we have those available for them, because it ultimately is all about our Residents!
With each new admission packet, we include an informational pamphlet about food, food safety and contact information for dietary to ensure our Residents are kept safe from foodborne illness by educating family and staff on the importance of safe food practices. If you have any questions, concerns, ideas or would like a copy of this pamphlet you may contact the dietary manager at 497-2116. We are happy to help make your Resident or loved one’s nutrition experience fun and enjoyable!
Dietary & Nutrition Services…it’s a work of Heart!
