Now this is real different! A nursing home that offers 24 hour meal service. Culture change at it’s best.

Highlight:

The staff says 24-hour dining and all the changes it produced have had a huge impact on quality of life for every elder. They now may choose exactly what and when they want to eat. They can sleep in if they wish and are able to maintain the same daily routine as they had at home. Physical health has improved. The number of elders eating a puréed diet was reduced from 30 people to seven because of the selection of food available and because there is time for one-on-one interaction while dining. Pressure ulcers have also decreased due to increased food intake and ability to choose the food they like. Residents are gaining weight, pain and behavioral issues are improving, and elder satisfaction with the entire home has improved. “Our care plan meetings and elder council meetings no longer revolve around food issues,” Godfrey says. “In fact, at our annual state survey in May, there were no elder complaints about food.” The surveyors who stayed for lunch even complimented the food!

There has been such a demand for meals that sales to staff and family have gone from $2,000 per month to $6,400 per month. There has been such a demand for families to eat with their elder, Rolling Fields has hired a hostess to seat and take reservations. Some family members were even coming without their elder to eat. “This was happening so often we had to put up some parameters to limit family members to only eating when accompanied by their elder,” Moody says.

I wonder what will eventually happen to this program, if this insightful administrator ever resigns from this facility, er, home?