Supportive measures plays a part at mealtimes
Thursday October 18, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
A supportive measures initiative at Springdale Country Manor has been successful at reducing wandering and increasing the nutritional value of meals for four residents, say staff members at the Peterborough long-term care home.

“They were our residents who would get up and leave during the meal,” explains Ann Weldon, Springdale’s nutritional care manager (NCM).

“So we serve them first them first and our supportive measures person stays there and they give them their courses in a shorter, condensed time, so that they eat a full meal and they’re gone.”

Scott Ladoucier, supportive measures specialist at Springdale, was one of the home’s staff members who came up with the idea. He explains what mealtimes were like before the introduction of the supportive measures table.

“(These residents) would leave, and other residents would see them leave and it (would be) a domino effect,” he says.

Ladoucier notes there were also safety concerns, because one of these residents would often wander into the kitchen looking for her meal if she came to the dining room and her food wasn’t there.

These residents also exhibited behaviours, which, in turn, often caused a chain reaction of behaviours with other residents, notes Weldon.

Since starting the supportive measures table in one of the home’s three dining areas, Weldon says behaviours at mealtimes have decreased and the residents who sit at the supportive measures table are eating better.

“We’ve stabilized their weight, or put some more weight on them,” she says.

Supportive measures at mealtimes are used with other residents at Springdale. One recently-admitted resident has a neurological disorder which causes him to yell. Supportive measures staff brings this resident to the dining area where he’s served first.

After he finishes his meal, this resident is transferred from the dining room to the library, where he relaxes and enjoys the soft music playing in the background.

“It gives him quality time at meals . . . and his intake has increased,” says Weldon.

Weldon says she’s not aware of other long-term care homes practising this form of supportive measures, but due to the success it has had at Springdale, she recommends other homes consider trying similar methods.