Actual food shortages at seniors’ care residences Evergreen Care Unit and Willingdon Creek Village in Powell River did not take place, according to Sodexo Canada.
The food-service company’s vice president of communications and corporate affairs Katherine Power said a complaint that an energy-supplement drink was used as a meal substitute for six clients happened once, on one day in July.
“The Boost incident, if we want to call it that, was a one-time miscommunication between our client and staff on the floor,” said Power.
The miscommunication resulted in those residents not receiving their first or second meal choices.
Evergreen residents’ council secretary Elaine Steiger said she wonders how Sodexo would consider Boost a meal.
“I consider it a food shortage,” said Steiger. “Is that all they have to give a patient is a glass of Boost?”
Rather than there being food shortages, said Power, there have been occasions when not enough of a patient’s first meal option were available.
“When we bring in a new menu we have a couple of options for people to choose from,” she said. “One day we’re serving chicken or fish and the chicken is super popular and the fish is less popular. What has happened is we’ve run out of first options.”
Power said there is ample food, but it may not be the person’s first choice.
“It’s not that we’ve had a food shortage, it’s just that we haven’t had enough of the primary selection,” she said.
In the three months it has taken Sodexo to respond to complaints about food quantity and quality, Power said the company has looked into the incident and instructed staff at Evergreen and Willingdon Creek how the company wants to go forward and improve.
“It’s not that it’s taken three months to resolve, it was identified as an issue that happened three months ago and we’re looking to see how we can address it,” said Power.
She said a patient-food-user committee meets regularly to provide feedback on food service and quality.
According to Steiger, the council at Evergreen will often discuss food items that have been replaced when a new menu is introduced, but not food quality.
“Sodexo does surveys,” said Steiger. “I don’t know how often, but they do them.”
Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons, who first raised the issue after receiving complaints from residents and their families, said he is encouraged that Sodexo and Vancouver Coastal Health have acknowledged the problem and say they are working to correct it.
According to Simons, he recently discussed the issue of food shortage and quality in Powell River with health minister Terry Lake and said he did not get favourable results.
“The issue is a hugely important one, one that took a lot of courage for people, residents and workers to bring to the fore and advocate,” said Simons. “It speaks well to the concern we have over the quality of life of people living in longterm care.”
