You know the photos of cement block-like shepherd’s pie and “meat” soaking in thawed brown water that made headlines last week *? These meals that we served to residents of three CHSLDs in the north of the island of Montreal?
Well, the patients at the Rivière-des-Prairies Mental Health Hospital ate the same thing.
Okay, that’s just hospital food, you might say.
You should know that a large number of patients hospitalized in Rivière-des-Prairies are children and adolescents who suffer from eating disorders.
And for six months, we have been serving them this kind of unspeakable gibelotte.
You will tell me again that their problem is more in the head than in the plate. But admit that the mediocrity of the meals served to them surely does nothing to help them regain the desire to eat …
A professional who works with these children is devastated. “For those with eating disorders, it has become extremely difficult to use the ‘healthy eating’ card as an approach to cognitive restructuring,” he writes. For others, meals have become moments of discontent. I personally would never eat what is served to them. At least I have the luxury of bringing a lunch to work. ”
In June 2021, the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal centralized the preparation of meals at Rivière-des-Prairies hospital.
Prepared in advance and frozen, these meals are then placed in heated carts and shipped by truck to CHSLD Paul-Lizotte, Légaré and Paul-Gouin.
The goal of this centralization? Streamline, of course. But the managers’ idea was also to improve the food offer in all the CHSLDs, since the quality of the dishes was uneven from one establishment to another.
Rather, they managed to make her disgusting all over the place.
A few days ago, I reported the testimony of Johanne, who sees her mother wasting away at the CHSLD Légaré since she was served soft pasta and brownish iceberg salad at Rivière-des-Prairies hospital.
Since then, the children of several residents have written variations on the same theme. “One of my mother’s greatest pleasures has always been food. She was an excellent cook. She is greedy, ”wrote a woman whose mother lives at CHSLD Paul-Lizotte.
From now on, his mother takes only one bite and pushes the cabaret: “Not edible! ”
“She has lost her appetite because what we serve is not appetizing,” writes her daughter. She became very thin. “My mother is slowly wasting away. I find it very sad and deplorable that she ends her days sooner because she has stopped eating. We deprive her of the only pleasure she has left. ”
The redevelopment of the kitchen at Rivière-des-Prairies hospital cost $ 650,000. The heated carts cost $ 500,000.
More than $ 1 million was therefore swallowed up to serve dishes deemed infective. Such a waste.
“The decision was taken not to cut costs, but to offer better dishes. Obviously, this is not the case in all of our CHSLDs, ”admits Émilie Jacob, spokesperson for the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.
While we are still convinced that the centralization of kitchens remains a good solution for our CIUSSS, we have our homework to do.
Émilie Jacob, spokesperson for the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal
An external audit will be carried out “as soon as possible”. In the meantime, each dish will be inspected when it leaves the kitchen. “If the dish does not meet the presentation, texture or temperature criteria, it will not be served to the resident. ”
For 28 years, Réjean Lapointe was in the kitchen of the CHSLD Légaré. The kitchen had been completely renovated in 2008, he recalls. “We pretended it was a restaurant. We wanted people to want to come to the dining room. ”
The residents did not need to be asked. Neither do the employees. Even they asked for more …
The secret to his success was simple. Talk to residents. Know their likes and dislikes. “When it’s done in the factory, it becomes impersonal. We lose interest… ”
“We must review all that”, we say in the office of the Minister responsible for Seniors and Caregivers, Marguerite Blais.
The government intends to rectify the situation. “We cannot centralize everything. We don’t make asphalt, we feed seniors and teenagers, ”a political advisor told me.
In future Seniors’ Homes, “everyone will have their own kitchen. It’s going to be home-cooked food ”.
Obviously, the message did not reach Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
There, the CISSS told the newspaper The citizen that the centralization of the kitchens in Rouyn-Noranda would be completed in the spring of 2022 “in order to be able to link it up with the new House of Seniors”.