Christmas meal at Regina care home “a miss,” but isolated case: RQHR

WATCH: The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region admitted today the Christmas supper it served at a local care home was a mistake. The meal upset a daughter of a resident, who then posted the story and photo to Facebook. It went viral. And today RQHR is saying it won’t let this happen again. Steve Silva reports.

REGINA – The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region admitted on Monday that a supper served at a local care home on Christmas was a mistake.

“That meal at Pioneer Village was a miss for us. We do think we missed some opportunities there to provide a better and more balanced meal without question,” said Stephanie Cook, executive director of Nutrition and Food Services at RQHR, stressing the incident was isolated.

The balance, she said, should have come in the form of an added vegetable component – “a very hearty vegetable soup.”

Instead, residents were served slices of cold meat, a piece of bread, pasta salad, apple sauce or an apricot, and, for those who wanted it, a slice of cheese, and 1 per cent milk.

The meal gained notoriety over the past few days after a daughter of a resident posted a photo of the meal on Facebook.

“I wouldn’t serve that in my home. I wouldn’t serve that to my children,” said Darlene Mitchell on Saturday.

A turkey dinner, described as well-proportioned by RQHR, was served at noon on December 25; the supper was served about five hours later. The aforementioned soup “wasn’t made on that day just because it was such a heavy Christmas meal at the lunchtime,” said Cook.

“There was really no colour on that plate at all,” said Michelle Archer, a registered dietitian and the owner of Eatwell Nutrition Consulting. “How we get vitamins and minerals in our diet, often, it comes with colourful fruits and vegetables.”

“The meal itself misses the mark nutritionally, absolutely,” she added.

Dustin Duncan, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Health, spoke to reporters in the morning. He agreed that the supper didn’t live up to standards.

“I think, in this case, Regina Qu’Appelle has indicated that, you know, they could have offered something a little bit more of a balanced meal,” said Duncan.

The opposition said the incident is representative of a larger issue.

“That type of food, prepared without a whole lot of love, prepared in a very processed kind of way, that story is replicated day and day again all throughout the province,” said NDP leader Cam Broten.

Pioneer Village has already apologized to residents, and notified families, according to RQHR Long Term Care executive director Debbie Sinnett.

“We listen closely to our residents and we believe we have a menu that they enjoy,” she said.

A safeguard is also being promised to avoid this from happening again: “That identifying that whenever we make a substitution to the menu, that we have a planned substitution that automatically goes in, and we don’t leave it up to decisions made on a busy day,” said Cook.

RQHR officials said they’re already working on assessing the meal plan, including meeting with nutritionists and other players involved with residents’ meals.

According to RQHR’s website, the home has nearly 400 beds and is the province’s largest special care home.