A Taste of Home at Gene Zwozdesky Centre Norwood
When you visit Gene Zwozdesky Centre Norwood, you might be greeted by the warm scent of freshly brewed coffee and freshly baked peanut butter cookies. It smells like home, especially for Norwood residents and their visiting family and friends. Brad Jones, the Support Services Manager overseeing the food services program at Norwood, and his team have worked tirelessly to make the dining and café area a welcoming gathering space. It’s an integral part of CapitalCare’s person-centred approach to food and ensuring mealtimes feel like home for residents.
“When I was growing up, my father used to host a brunch at the Red Deer lodge every Sunday,” says Brad. “He’d bake fresh bread and aim two huge fans out the window, so any time someone walked out of their room, they’d smell freshly baked bread. When people smell freshly baked goods, they think of home, and they’re much more comfortable.”
Members of the food services team at Gene Zwozdesky Centre Norwood's Cafe.
The food services team has always prioritized the needs of residents, and the move to the cafe of the new Gene Zwozdesky centre provided a great opportunity to create new recipes that take advantage of the café space and meet residents’ needs.
“Before we moved into the centre, we sampled numerous beans and did blind taste-tests with residents. The debate came down to Seattle’s Best coffee bean versus the bean we’d been using for a long time. Turns out 8.5/10 residents preferred Seattle’s Best, so that’s what we switched to, and it’s been a hit for residents and visitors.”
Photos of the new coffee blend and some of the baked goods available to customers and residents.
This process of gathering input from residents is not new to Brad or CapitalCare. Brad helped lead a project at CapitalCare Strathcona in 2018, interviewing over 100 residents to get their input about all aspects of mealtimes, ranging from food variety, quality and individual preferences. Based on their feedback, Strathcona soon added another week to their menu rotation. When Brad followed up with 72 residents and families a year later, he found that 97% of residents said they now had enough choice and over 50% reported improvements in variety, quality and portions. Food is one of the most important topics residents discuss in CapitalCare’s annual quality of life survey, and lessons from this project have helped CapitalCare centres improve mealtime experiences in the years since.
CapitalCare has a long history of integrating research & evaluation to improve mealtime experiences including a 2012 CapitalCare Foundation research grant to evaluate the CapitalCare Dickinsfield dining room renovation and a partnership with the UofA in 2018 to examine nutrition amongst veterans. Brad and the team at Gene Zwozdesky Centre build on this tradition to continually improve mealtimes and enhance residents’ experiences.
Some of the dishes the GZCN team makes for residents like pizza, a stirfry and tortierre.
Engaging residents and working with dieticians has also encouraged the food service team to get creative, especially when residents have conflicting desires. Recently, one resident suggested having lemon meringue pies for dessert, but another resident said they didn’t like the graham-wafer crust on traditional lemon meringue pies. Brad and his team found a compromise and baked mini lemon meringue tarts that delighted everyone.
New recipes are test-run for residents. Talking to residents about their dietary restrictions helps the food services team build rapport with the residents, and after consulting with Norwood’s dietitians, their team can introduce specialized menu options, like potato pancakes with sausages, strawberry watermelon salads, or corn flake-crusted cod. The food services team at Norwood is currently in the process of presenting a 28-day menu, which expands upon the current 21-day menu, to give residents even more variety in their meals.
Food service is an integral part of CapitalCare’s person-centred approach to care. It is one of the most valued elements of everyday life. By continually seeking resident input to build their menu, the food services team at Norwood is contributing to challenges one and two of CapitalCare’s strategic plan. The way Brad and the food services team consistently engage residents as collaborators to improve their quality of life builds upon Healthy and Sustainable Living.