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SOUP’S ON!
by Keith Schaeffer
encourages a staff-driven rather than resident-directed approach to care giving, and makes it hard to ful ll residents’ individual wants and needs.
When Diamond arrived at Idylwood in 1999, he brought along a new philosophy: The more positive we make the social and physical environment, the higher resident and staff morale will become. Residents’ individual wishes were to be ful lled to the extent possible—a goal presented to staff as a way to pre- empt disruptive behavior and make their jobs a little easier. For example, if someone wants a shower in the middle of the night, she gets one. Otherwise she may be agitated the rest of the day.
Change was integrated slowly throughout the facility one unit at a time as more staff climbed on board the bandwagon. “We didn’t refer to it as ‘resident-centered’,” says Diamond. “It was more like ‘we want to make this a nice place to live.’”
Conditions improved and residents were nally “living life”—but still not living it to the fullest. Disruptive behavior continued to ll the void caused by the absence of meaningful activities. “We were lacking creativity in how to address the problem,” says Diamond.
Soup-of-the-day stirs up interest
A book on aroma therapy reminded Diamond of the feelings evoked by the savory smell of simmering soup and freshly baked bread spreading through the household. Anyone could participate in that experience by merely inhaling and letting memories arise with the aroma. For people with advanced dementia, food may be the last thing they lose interest in.
Food focus feeds residents’ lust for life
When Franco Diamond saw his residents losing interest and withdrawing from life, he took his mother’s advice—he made chicken soup. “‘If you’re sick,’ my mom would say, ‘maybe a little soup can help.’ Soup was always the answer,” recalls Diamond, Administrator at Idylwood Care Center in Sunnyvale, CA.
Today, his soup epiphany has evolved into a smorgasbord of food-related activities that draw residents out of their rooms to indulge their taste buds, share cooking and gardening skills and celebrate life. Like Mom’s chicken soup, the focus on food seems to hold an answer for just about every ailment of institutionalized living.
Fed up with the same old can-fresh fare from central kitchen? Try the chorizo with eggs, the veggie raft or other avorful, ethnically-diverse alternatives prepared by Chef Sanchez from fresh food grown locally.
Feeling lonely and powerless? Bored with bingo? Join any of about 40 weekly resident activity groups that involve food. Concoct new recipes for the organization-wide menu, weed the garden, build a “raised bed” or study the history and cultures of food with others in your group. Even the television in the common area is tuned to The Food Channel. Residents and staff have found common ground by breaking bread together and
discussing how the garden grows rather than dwelling on topics like blood sugar and arthritic knees.
Serving tough customers
Before Idylwood’s dining revolution, it was hard for staff to get residents involved in life’s normal activities. They often resisted care and became combative. Along with severe medical problems, Idylwood’s residents, the youngest in their forties, typically suffer deep cognitive loss from dementia, mental illness or brain injuries. “Nursing homes usually
“It was more like ‘we want to make this a nice place to live.’”
have two or three such residents,” says Diamond. “The majority of our residents have these needs.”
Most of these residents are unwanted by nursing homes because of their dif cult behavior, and can’t be placed in psychiatric facilities because of their medical conditions. They are referred to Idylwood by mental health services across California.
Two-thirds of Idylwood’s residents have cognitive loss so severe they live in a restricted setting. This
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