Last updated on January 22nd, 2024
It’s January, which means it’s National Glaucoma Awareness Month! If you work in long-term care, shuttling residents to and from their eye doctor appointments will likely take up much of your transport team’s time. However, they aren’t the only staff in your community who’ll stay busy this month; your kitchen staff will, too.
Dealing with vision loss is stressful for older adults. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a type of vision loss that impacts over 11 million people across the world, increases an older adult’s risk for a low mood, even leading to mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, or Charles Bonnet Syndrome – which causes visual hallucinations.
Things in their environment can also contribute to a decline in mental health, such as the lifestyle changes someone has to make when they begin to lose their vision. This means your visually impaired residents may need more assistance with eating, and you need to be equipped to offer it.
Here are three ways to create adaptive dining experiences and tips to help you achieve this in your senior living community.
Optimizing Dining Areas
Where you eat matters. That’s why optimizing your dining space is crucial to providing an adaptive dining experience. A peaceful yet engaging environment lays the foundation for a mealtime that’s both enjoyable and accessible, where residents enjoy a meal without unnecessary distractions or frustrations that make it difficult to eat.
- Maintain a well-lit area, avoiding dim lighting that makes it hard to see or lighting that causes a glare, which could ultimately further impair someone’s vision.
- Minimize background noise to reduce overstimulation for those with visual impairments.
- Use placemats to guide residents to their plates.
- Make the most of your seating, encouraging residents to sit together when possible. Don’t segregate your residents with vision impairments into one section of the dining area.
- Help residents navigate their plate by using the “clock” system. Arrange the plate like a clock, placing foods at different places on the plate that correlate with numbers on a clock. For example, it would allow someone to identify the mashed potatoes at 3:00 (right, center) and the chicken breast at noon (top, center).
Making Menus More Accessible
Accessible menus are one of the most pivotal ways to create a more inclusive dining experience. A low-vision lunch isn’t complete without traditional accommodations like large print and Braille menus or magnifying glasses.
However, while these options are necessary, there are more tech-savvy seniors now than ever. With the baby boomer population rising in long-term care communities, visual assistance apps are an excellent idea for those who prefer a digital approach. These apps help people read a digital menu by showing it to them in large print or having an actual person read it via phone or video call. Most apps also give the option to upload a picture of the menu. If residents can access your community’s menu on a digital platform, you also need to train your staff on how to properly write alt text, which is what is read by screen readers.
Offering Adaptive Tools
People with vision impairments often use assistive devices to help them navigate the world. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of options to choose from. If you have an occupational therapist on staff, they can work with one of our dietary experts to determine which tools are best for residents in your community. Whether it’s finding the perfect adaptive fork or a talking device that enhances communication, taking a more tailored approach to how dishware and cutlery (and other tools) are used. Here are some ways to do this in your dining room:
- Use colorful dishware and utensils that contrast with the table setting. The starker the difference, the easier it is for a visually impaired person to see their plate.
- Have more than one type of utensil available. For example, using a bread knife to push food onto a fork makes eating foods like peas much easier.
- Customize a resident’s dishware to their level of impairment. Non-slip placemats, non-skid dishware, raised-edge plates, stabilizing spoons, and plate dividers are all things you can keep on hand in your kitchen to make residents more comfortable while eating.
Why Low Vision Lunches Matters
As a senior living community staff leader, you know how accessibility and inclusivity improve the resident experience for older adults. Traditionally left out of the conversation about what’s best for them, long-term care residents need to be able to advocate for themselves and their needs, especially when deciding what and how they eat.
Clear communication between staff and residents is always encouraged to ensure that those with vision impairments can confidently make informed dining choices. Independence is just as important as inclusivity, especially if your community uses a person-centered approach to dining — something both the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) and the nutrition experts at Culinary Services Group recommend.
We offer flexible and completely customizable plans that promote culinary choice for residents. While this level of flexibility works well with all residents, it’s a necessity for those with visual impairments. This January, participate in National Glaucoma Awareness Month by working with your staff and residents to make inclusive choices that make everyone feel comfortable and confident in your community. Contact one of our sales team members to learn how Culinary Services Group can help you make this happen.
