I live in a very nice upscale Assisted Living in Georgia and pay very hefty rent each month. I have lived here for over two years. Usual everyday problems come an go and eventually get solved. But the one problem that will never be solved is Dining Services.
I have seen four different Food Directors while living here. The present one has been here about six months. Her previous employer was a Juvenile Detention Center.
She is used to feeding teenagers and she wants to keep feeding us the same menu. She is suppose to be follow the corporation guidelines that manage. And she is suppose to take suggestions from the residents. She refuses to listen to us. We aâways had a weekly food chat before she came. But she somehow convinced management to do it once a month. They just hired a new Executive Director three weeks ago and he seems to let her have free rein also.
I would love to hear from others about their experiences with I call it Institution Dining.
The Food Director is a dictator. I'm sure she didn't have to work very hard to get the Executive Director to listen to her. It's clear that neither of them really cares about how happy or satisfied the residents are; they only care about the bottom line.
It's disgusting the way most of these facilities treat senior citizens, as if they don't know their own minds and are incapable of making their own decisions. All they want you to do is comply without complaint; they expect you to literally choke down whatever it is. Now there's a good little girl, as if you were a child. A word of caution: they have the residents over a barrel in more ways than one. If you ruffle too many feathers or cause problems, they'll drum up a reason to evict you. It happened to my aunt, but that's another story.
My husband and I looked after my aunt for eight years when she was in assisted living and, subsequently, a nursing home.
My aunt was diabetic, and before she took up residence in that facility, she managed her diabetes with a diet alone. She never had to take insulin. The first thing the doctor at the facility did was put her on insulin. Anyone who knows me will tell you I don't just roll over. When need be, I'm more than capable of putting up a fight.
I lost count of the number of times I spoke to the doctor, the head of the dietary department, and the executive director of the facility about her diet. It didn't matter what I said; it fell on deaf ears, and they refused to make any changes to her diet. Not only was she diabetic, she was also gluten-and lactose-intolerant. Unless what they served happened to be naturally gluten-and-lactose-free, there was nothing else offered to her or prepared for her. No wonder she was constantly sick with intestinal distress. They'd just give her drugs to manage the symptoms without concern as to addressing what was actually causing her distress.
She had a small refrigerator in her room, so I was able to bring her things she liked and could eat, but I couldn't provide her with appropriate daily meals, which is what she really needed. It was sad and stressful trying to deal with the whole mess.
Why didn't we just move her? Well, she wasn't furniture, so she had a say as to where she wanted to live. Not to mention, we had already visited
seven other assisted living facilities before she settled on this one. I could have moved Mount Rushmore more easily. Cooperative, she wasn't.
The thing is, this problem is rampant. Yes, there are facilities with better food, but location and affordability also have to be taken into consideration. Also, things change. What starts out as good often goes downhill. As it was, I had to drive an hour and a half to get there to check on her because she insisted on staying in a certain area. The whole thing was an ordeal from beginning to end.
And that's my story.
