Residents Make Their Own Menu Choices

Resident Ron Irimata likes to eat and he knows exactly what foods he likes. Ron has an individualized menu, so every week he works with carepartner and Resident Relations Coordinator  Edna Hedani to plan his menu.

Edna assists Ron is recording his meal selections for the week. Ron likes designing his own menu because he can eat foods he enjoys and “you don’t have to just eat what they’re serving.” Edna adds that Nutrition Services likes helping residents with their menus because it cuts down on wasted food. Ron says that his favorite food at Hale Makua is “just about everything.”

This story illustrates Eden Principle #8: “An Elder-centered community honors its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of the Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.”

Eden Alternative Tip of the Week: The Culinary Caregivers at Rolling Fields want to share a story about choices and the happiness that comes with having them

We have had a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables from our very own gardens this year. The Elders bring these treats into our restaurant (aka Kallimos Café) and ask us to do different things with them. Paul likes to have a fresh tomato cut up and put on a nice garden salad with Thousand Island dressing! Yummy! Peggy likes to have yellow summer squash specially breaded and she gets them cooked up just the way she likes. Recently we had an Elder named Sadie ask for a tomato from the garden to be sliced up and given to her with two slices of white bread and a little bit of mayonnaise. She was very excited to be able to make her own sandwich. This prompted the Elders around her to go into a tomato eating frenzy! One Elder in particular who wanted a tomato sandwich was Jean. The problem was, Jean can't eat seeds. So for days Jean watched the elders around her enjoy these tomato sandwiches and she would try to eat other things like tomato soup to satisfy these desires. One day we decided to slice a tomato from the garden and rinse all the seeds out of it. We made it into a sandwich and gave it to Jean. She was so happy and her craving was so satisfied that she began to cry. We asked her if something was wrong and she said "these are tears of happiness!"  This shows that it truly is the simple pleasures that make daily life here worth living!

Respectfully Shared,

Kebby Kitten

What simple pleasures are you honoring today? This is Eden Alternative's Principle Six in action.