May we take your order?

Nursing home offers residents more choices, cuts food waste

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

By RON JENSEN

The Register-Mail

There is pizza, of course. And burgers. Choose between cottage cheese, cole slaw, fries and other side dishes.

The list goes on and on, including, even, breakfast choices all day.

A new restaurant in town? No, this is the choice provided the 60 residents of Country Manor Nursing Home in Roseville.

"We have residents that want shrimp every day. We have residents who want ribeye every day," said Robert Weyant, director of dining services. "I say, more power to them."

The short order service was phased in beginning in August. Weyant said it grew out of conversations with the residents.

"What do they want? That's where it started," he said.

The nursing home started a buffet line five years ago, providing residents a choice of two entrees, two potatoes and two vegetables. The menu was a next step in the process as an addendum, not a replacement for the buffet.

"They like the choices," said Weyant. "They can get cottage cheese whenever they want it. They can get tomato juice whenever they want it."

Ethel Logue, the home's administrator, said the short order service has been popular.

"It has very much empowered the residents to make their choices," she said.

The generation of people now entering nursing homes, she said, are "smarter consumers" than their predecessors. They are accustomed to having more choices in their lives and are reluctant to give up that freedom.

"We're past the generation of 'I'll go where my daughter wants me to go,' " she said.

And, she said, the menu has had positive results regarding the health of residents. Weight loss, a common problem for nursing home residents, has been reduced.

An insufficient diet can cause skin breakdown, Logue said, making skin wounds more likely. She has seen a reduction in those types of problems since the new dining program began.

And the expanded menu has actually saved money for the nursing home by cutting food waste, Logue said. People are more likely to eat what they order.

The residents give the idea a five-star rating.

"I think it's great," said Deanna Mershon, 63, who has been at the home since January. "It doesn't seem so much like nursing home food all the time. We get a chance to eat like we were going to a restaurant somewhere."

Laura Long, 85, said, "You can choose what you want. I get tired of chicken and pork all the time."

Before the idea would work, the kitchen had to be remodelled a bit to accommodate the food flow, Weyant said. New equipment, like a deep fat fryer and a refrigerated sandwich station, had to be purchased. The kitchen staff was shuffled to better meet the demands.

Other adjustments were made on the fly. For one thing, Weyant said, some residents complained that it took too long to get the meal they ordered.

"I didn't anticipate that," he said. "I thought it would be more of a social hour. They don't want that."

So residents now can order their meal choice well ahead of time so it is ready and waiting for them when they arrive in the dining room, which has been dubbed Caf<0x00E9> LaMoine.

The food service is open to visitors who want to share a meal with a friend living at Country Manor. Weyant said he has kept the prices low for visitors because most are senior citizens, as well. He said visitation is up at meal time since the menu was introduced.

"We're not done," said Weyant. "I still have plans on how we can improve things."

He wants a baker on the staff to provide fresh-baked bread, doughnuts and cinnamon rolls. He wants to stop using frozen pie crusts and make them from scratch. He has a cappuccino machine on order. He foresees a 24-hour food service.

So far, however, the changes have been a hit. Weyant said surveys of residents used to show they looked forward to activities and food.

"Now," he said, "they look forward to food and activities."