Nutrition has always played an important role in keeping our residents healthy but even more so during the recent outbreak. With decreased appetite during illness but increased needs in mind, dietitian Mary along with the food service department created a special supplement drink for residents who were affected by COVID-19. Specially formulated by Mary after thorough research, our “Smoothie 2.0” packs a punch of two calories per milliliter, which is more than other supplement drinks offered in house. Made with a blend of protein powder, oil, and fruit (among a few other ingredients), Smoothie 2.0 comes in three different flavours on rotation. It’s been well received and even now, post-outbreak, the kitchen continues to make the Smoothie 2.0 for residents who need the extra nutrition.

Changes have been implemented to the activity department due to the lockdown regulations. We now have an activity staff member on each floor, that is designated to that specific floor. In doing this, we now have more time to engage the residents with one on one-time, meaningful experiences and also connect them with family and friends through facetime. We have also received a generous donation of tablets, that help us to entertain our residents. Now that that activity staff are based on one floor, they are able to conduct and carry out longer activities and group projects to help engage our residents.

One staff member on the activity team has begun researching how to make multisensory pillows/blankets in a way to aide the less cognitive residents they work along-side of.
Activities are more able to carry out meaningful activities that relate to each residents’ individual needs.

Thanks to some sunny weather we have been able to get the residents outside to enjoy the patios, while maintaining a social distance during activities.