Christmas meal at Regina nursing home an oversight, says health region

A Regina dietitian who reviews meal plans in long term care homes says a meal served to an elderly man on Christmas Day is not something she would have approved.

"I would not be comfortable serving that if I was the person in charge," said Michelle Archer, a registered dietitian and the owner of Eat Well Nutrition Consulting in Regina.

"When I saw that plate I thought, 'there's no colour.' And the colour brings in the vitamins and the minerals in the diet so that was concerning to me."

On Christmas day, Regina resident Darlene Mitchell posted a photo on Facebook expressing her outrage over a cold cut supper she says her father was served at Pioneer Village, a government-run senior's home.

She said the meal included a slice of bologna, a slice of salami, a bun, watered-down macaroni and watered-down apple sauce.

Her Facebook post has been shared more than 2,000 times as of Sunday night.

But the provincial government said a full turkey dinner was served at lunch time.

However, Mitchell says she was not only concerned about the quality of the Christmas meal, but the nutritional content of the food.

The Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region (RQHR) explained that a lighter meal is often served for supper to balance out a larger lunch.

Stephanie Cook, director of nutrition and food service with RQHR, told reporters Monday the food at the nursing home should not be judged based on one meal.

"You have to look over the whole week or over a month to identify if there's a balance of nutrients," said Cook. "And when we look at that menu as a whole, we absolutely have balanced nutrition."

'I didn't see any vegetables,' says dietitian

While Archer does agree with Cook that it's best to make an assessment of a full meal plan rather than just one meal, she says what was served was unacceptable.

"I did not think it was the most nutritious meal that could have been served."

She acknowledges she didn't see the meal in person, but based on the photo says, "I didn't see any vegetables."

"When it comes to a facility that provides 100 per cent of the nutrition, such as a long term care facility, each meal should have all four of the food groups," said Archer.

She says seniors need at least six servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

Cold cut meal an oversight, says health region

The health region acknowledges the cold cut meal was an oversight because it left vegetables off the plate. 

Cook said the lighter meal is typically served at lunch, with a vegetable soup. On Christmas Day, in an attempt to lighten up the supper meal after a large turkey lunch, the facility didn't make the soup. 

She said the facility then forgot to prepare a substitute vegetable.

Cook says they are looking to ensure "whenever a food is subbed out, that there's a proper replacement identified and slotted in that meal, and that's where our opportunity was on that day."  

Pioneer Village follows provincial nutrition guidelines, says health region

At a media availability Saturday, Michael Redenbach, vice president of integrated health services with RQHR, explained that all of the health region's long term care facilities follow the province's special-care home guidelines.

The guidelines say meals should reflect Canada's Food Guide. It also advises all seniors' homes to develop a menu plan with a registered dietitian.

Cook said that Pioneer Village follows those guidelines closely and she defended the menu.

"The menu we're talking about at Pioneer Village has been in the works for over 20 years, so it's a menu that's tried, tested, and true," she said. 

However she added, "there's always room for improvement." 

A meal plan for Pioneer Village was not immediately available, but the health region released it on Monday.

Pioneer Village meal plan for week of Dec. 22-28

On mobile? Here's a link to the Pioneer Village meal plan.

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