Give children the keys to learning -- good food and good conversation

As I explore the various issues affecting children and family, I am mindful of the fact that just because I am part of that group that moves in a different way, my forward movement, physically, mentally and emotionally, was no less in need of acknowledgement and support than that of one who is able to move about freely and randomly. The same is true of the child who is disabled by a life of daily chaos with the school hours being his only respite. His forward movement is grossly compromised by circumstances over which he has no control so it is critical that teachers look beyond the ‘bad behaviour’, often a coping mechanism, to examine what is going on behind the scenes. Prejudging is often a fatal flaw.

We are shaped by our childhood experiences and no more is that evident than on the faces of young children as they sit before their first authority figure outside the home — the classroom teacher. A teacher who makes him/herself available to children for conversation after class is over can help set the stage for healing wounds that won’t be revealed unless and until a child feels safe - safe to disclose, safe to talk; safe to tell. Words and actions of teachers will hold a lot of sway.

The reality is that for lots of children, the relationship with that first teacher in a formal setting can make or break the forward movement. Certainly, teachers can’t cater to the quirky needs of a few kids to the exclusion of others; there has to be a balance, which is achieved when a teacher embraces the notion that all children have something to bring to the table and their opinions and feelings must be acknowledged and respected. A teacher who has a finger on the pulse of the classrom can sense changes in the ebbs and flows and see which child might be in crisis. Not acting is not an option. By letting children know they’re welcome to talk allows you to learn the why of behaviour that concerns you as an instructor. 

Sometimes, the family dynamic is fractured or damaged and children look to the classroom as that safe place and the teacher as the one who will help them feel valued, feel loved. A kind word goes a long way to healing the hidden hurts of the child who will leave at the dismissal bell to go home to spend the balance of the day in chaos, with lots of screaming and yelling, of name calling, perhaps alcohol-fueled abusive rages. Will there be dinner on the table? Will there be someone to help with the math problems? Will Mom sign the permission slip to go to the museum? Will Dad take time from his work to take his child to hockey practice? 

What will the teacher do if that child appears the next morning, wearing the same clothing as the day before, face not washed, hair not combed, homework not done? It’s obvious that the youngster is tired and possibly hungry. Perhaps he didn’t have a meal the night before; something so many of us take for granted. Is it possible he didn’t have breakfast either? Not even an orange, or a bowl of cereal? Food insecurity, nutritional deficiencies and childhood stress impact learning in very significant ways. We need need to be more consistent with what we can do to improve the situation of children in crisis. Teachers can’t be left holding the bag. It’s easy to be an armchair critic or a bench warmer.

All manner of seasonal fund raising efforts are currently underway to ensure that those in need will have a celebratory meal with all the trimmings, that families and their children will have presents under their tree. If they don’t have a tree, I’m sure there are lots of elves lurking about who can make things happen at the stroke of a pen or a phone call or two. Truly, anything is possible if people get together and make it happen.

Children in crisis who are able to develop a bank of good times, of happy experiences, of feeling included and valued will develop the skills to become forward movers. Just as I learned how to walk after a fashion, putting one foot in front of the other, thanks to those who exercised my legs on a daily basis, stressed children can, with sustained supports, thrive and show us who they can be if we believe in them.

Key to successful outcomes is to ensure that the parents or caregiver don’t feel threatened and that their own efforts at childrearing are not criticised. If they could benefit from gentle guidance, whether in the short or long term, a quiet word with a classroom teacher or other trusted adult may be just the thing to propel that struggling parent forward as well. Ultimately, it’s the duty of both parent and teacher to have the child’s needs at the top of the list. The road is long, but it doesn’t have to be lonely.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Eating our way to better health

“Are you having a senior moment or could it be a vitamin B12 deficiency?” captioned a Brunswick News article authored by Catherine McCain, a consulting dietician who practices out of the Smythe Street SuperStore medical clinic.

I’ve had a few ‘senior moments’! Most recently, it was a case of ‘where oh where can the almonds be?’ I purchased ingredients for my Christmas fruitcakes - brandy flavoured mincemeat, sweetened condensed milk, walnuts, mixed fruit, flour,  and eggs. I already had the glazed cherries. I purchased the almonds, too! They’re high in B12, if you didn’t already know! As I organised the ingredients on the kitchen counter, with the intention of baking 2 cakes, cooling them overnight, to be followed by the requisite wrap in booze soaked cheesecloth and  other related steps involved in Christmas cake baking and gifting, I noticed something  — no almonds!

That meant no fruitcakes and no B12! My schedule was totally messed up, so I had only one recourse - spend the afternoon set aside for baking to relax with movies instead. Life is good. Besides, watching a well written and acted whodunit is good brain exercise.

As I age with multiple disabilities, I am thankful that I am still very mobile, in spite of the awkward, shuffling gait of cerebral palsy. I attribute my ‘top shelf’ health and wellness to the proactive stance I adopted several decades ago. I knew in my 20s that I didn’t want to get locked into a cycle of prescription drugs to manage the implications of aging with since birth disability and those that would layer on top of it. Here I am at 62 years of age having no daily regimen of ‘doctor drugs’ to be taken. Instead, I focus on nutrition; what I eat, and what I don’t eat. I also take supplements to support my immune system, particularly during flu season,  saying ‘no thanks’ to the flu shot.

B12 is a water soluble vitamin that helps maintain health of  nerves, brain, and creation of red blood cells. Long term deficiency may result in nerve damage and may even lead to paralysis.

For me, it reasons that having a topped up vitamin B12 load is a good idea given that my brain was insulted in infancy, resulting in life-long spastic diplegic cerebral palsy. Anything I can do to reduce the impact of age-related deficits, I will do. In my late teens, I was diagnosed with  osteoarthritis of the thoracic spine. Also tied to the cerebral palsy is fibromyalgia, with which I was diagnosed in my 30s. Again, my choice was no drugs for the long term. I take prescription pain management medication on an ‘as required’ basis. Key to healthy living is to keep moving; exercise via routine housework along with range of motion exercises have served me well.

I also benefitted from taking B12 to reverse the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome, and was afforded considerable extended relief as symptoms went away. If symptoms recurred, I simply repeat the course, taking the tablets til gone.

Vitamin B12 has the benefit of boosting energy, reducing depression, decreasing sugar cravings, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. It also reduces neurological and brain degeneration. It’s clear then, that Vitamin B12 is a very necessary supplement for me based on my medical/health profile. Key among symptoms of deficiency are fatigue, constipation, depression, weakness and anemia. Asthma is another consequence of insufficient B12.

Very often adjusting the diet resolves many health issues that compromise quality of life, though some individuals may require a more aggressive dosing schedule and need to supplement. However, since so many of us must make a dollar stretch, buying supplements would be the last thing on our ‘to do’ list — instead, there’s a better, and tastier method. Eat you way to stepped up levels of not just B12 but of other vitamins and minerals necessary for the top-performing body of you.

Don’t use that tired excuse that you don’t have time to cook. You do! If you have time to go to MacDonald’s, order the burgers and fries, wait for the order to be processed, sit inside to dine, or out in your car to eat, you have time to stay home and cook! Night time slow cooker prep with an overnight of the crock pot in the fridge. In the morning, set it and forget it. What a money savings! Don’t have a slow cooker? Check out Value Village!

Most foods have not only the B12 requirement but lots of other nutrients. Take squash for example; it’s high in A and C as well as the B12.  So is cottage cheese. Sometime this week, I”ll be making not only squash pancakes, but also cottage cheese pancakes. and a salmon-spinach quiche. Very high in nutrients. Want the recipes? Get in touch!

I’m pleased to report I replenished the supply of almonds and the fruitcakes have been baked and  remembered to give them the first slosh of ‘liquid refreshment’ before they’re gifted for Christmas.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Driving to distraction

Monique McTiernan-Black’s recent Letter to the Editor in the Times & Transcript is yet another reminder of how dangerous and potentially fatal texting while driving can be. Had Ms. McTiernan-Black,  out on a run, not been paying attention for both herself AND the young woman texting while driving,  there could have been the distinct possibility of the death of one, and a lengthy prison sentence for the other. Definitely something for the driver of that lethal weapon to think about. 

  A car, a motorcycle, all-terrain vehicles or a snowmobile can be and often are weapons of death. If the person operating such a ‘destroyer of lives in a split second’ is caught not exercising appropriate care and control as required by the law, then he should have his license revoked for a term no less than one year. Full stop! 

The time has come for the courts to stop devoting so much time issuing slap on the wrist sentences and fines that clearly are not sufficient deterrents. The system of law, in place to protect all of us, needs to step up the game in a way that is truly attention grabbing and behaviour changing — heftier fines and longer ‘time out’ periods from driving. Accountability is the responsibility of each and every one of us.

I’ve been the victim of individuals who’ve been distracted  — texting while walking. In such cases, being a student of human nature, I take those opportunities to educate and enlighten. My favourite MO occurs most often in malls, as I travel in my wheelchair down the center corridors, checking out shop windows. I’ll see a person approaching, ear glued to phone, oblivious to an impending collision. But I’m ready! I know full well what happens next. I slow down and wait. True to form, the ‘gotta make the call right this minute’ guy keeps coming, looking straight ahead, but clearly not seeing me at all. Then it happens! Wham! There’s a body in my lap! I caught a live one! I’m never hurt at all during these little tests of reaction times. But the phone chatter is clearly embarassed as everyone around us saw what HE did to poor little me! 

The call ends as he peels himself off my lap. We have a brief conversation as I ask him to picture himself in a car doing what he was doing at that moment he ran into me. Finally! That lightbulb moment when the message of the lesson gets his attention. Had he been in a car, texting while driving or chatting while driving, he could have killed a Mom pushing a baby in a stroller, while her two older children waited at home; he could have killed a 3 children on their way to school on bright, sunny day; he could have killed a guy who was returning home with gift bags in hand after becoming a first time grandfather earlier that day. There’s no do-over for any of those catastrophic events. Ever!

Another tactic I use to educate is to be casually rolling along in my little red racer, sensing then confirming there’s a person close behind me; invariably, they’re glued to a cellphone. I slow to a crawl, but still moving forward. Bam! I get rear-ended by an uprightly mobile 20 something, wearing short shorts with legs up to there, long, blond hair, shiny with health. She’s smiling and chatting, fully engaged in conversation with the person on the other side of her phone connection. A boyfriend? A girlfriend, as they make plans for the weekend? 

She falls directly into my chair as she bumps into my back. Thankfully, my long flowing hair is wound up in a bun or it would have been soundly pulled as she reached out her hands to save herself. So, I was rear-ended by one of the ‘pretty people’ in full view of passersby. She was more than a little embarassed.  Yes, my friends, both these events occurred and are not products of my writer’s imagination.

After a bit of light conversation, I asked about texting while driving — she was all apologetic and informed me that she’d never do that. I wondered! As she walked away, I noted that the cellphone was once again at her ear and she casually sauntered along the mall corridor with not a care in the world. 

How many people in New Brunswick have been killed because of driving while texting? How many were the drivers? How many were their victims? Innocent parties to their vanity and thoughtlessness? In how many  such accidents of texting/chatting while drivingwere both the driver and others killed? How many survived but will spend the rest of their lives as paraplegics? As respirator quadriplegics? As single limb amputees? As double limb amputees? Permanently living with a traumatic brain injury?

Will someone near and dear to you be the next victim of death or permanent injury by distracted driver? Will you?

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

ER wait times -- condition critical

“Eat your food as your medicines. Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your food.” [Amatellah]

‘ER wait times in New Brunswick hit breaking point,’ reads the headline of the July 5th edition of The Telegraph Journal. 

Patients who have experienced waits of 4-5 or more hours on previous visits are now offered the option of taking an appointment to be seen in another facility should they feel they need ER care. Non-urgent cases will still have to wait, perhaps several hours. Knowing that, patients may start doing something truly remarkable. They may begin assessing whether they REALLY need to go to the ER at all, let alone sit there for 5 hours only to be seen and told they have indigestion or a slight cold that requires nothing more than fluids and rest. How often has that happened? Really?

Every day someone, from the very young to the very old, compromises his body through often repeated behaviour that affects quality life with little regard to consequences until critical mass is reached — rather like the condition plaguing our health care system.

We have all the latest and greatest modern technology so why can’t we get seen in a timely fashion? After all, what are we paying for? Why aren’t the doctors paying attention to us? Why are the folks in the ER admitting station running around, not seeming to be doing much of anything, other than running around?

That, my friend, is the impression held by those who don’t think about how their own behaviour affects their health, and very often the health of the system in place to assist - the ER! Thousands of people are afflicted with the ‘dis’ease called ‘head in the sand syndrome’. In their sometimes, or dare I say, frequent misguided logic, they’re going to the ER because they believe they’re really sick, sort of sick, a little sick, or that cut on their left finger, or a rash on their right knee requires emergency treatment. Little thought is given to the distinct possibility that it is through their own behaviour that they find themselves in distress. There seems to be little or no personal accountability, and with that is another reality. Everybody, and I do mean EVERY body pays for what you, and you and you are doing to YOUR body.

What’s the solution, you ask? The answers are closer to home than you think and if you stayed home and really thought about what you may have done that contributed  to that sick feeling, the cut on your left finger, or the rash on your right knee, you realise that the cure for any one of those ailments is as close as your kitchen cupboard or your medicine cabinet. 

I’m not going to go on ad nauseum about the garbage in, garbage out philosophy. Most of    us are able to grasp that concept and once we realise we may be the cause of quite a few of our own troubles, we will make effort to self-correct, self-regulate. Some need a bit more prodding because they’ve become accustomed to having their errors and omissions dealt with by someone else - and so is born what I like to call the ‘professional patient’.

As a cardiac patient, I will never discount chest pain of any kind, especially if it’s accompanied by sweats, jaw pain, and/or lower to mid back pain. If you have a history of cardiac issues, then you’d already know what to do. Calling ahead, in advance of an ER visit, to consult with a nurse might allow you to decide whether to wait it out or to actually go in. Chewing on a couple of aspirins and having a bit of wine has long been acknowledged as being helpful if one is in the throes of a cardiac event. Consulting with your physician to establish an ‘if this happens’ protocol is always helpful. That action alone may reduce the need to prematurely rush off to the ER. Note, though, that alcohol consumption post-cardiac event is something that must be discussed with your physician as alcohol may interfere with certain drugs taken to treat the healing heart. Let common sense be your guide. There’s that personal accountability thing again.

As well, and to conclude today’s life lesson, paying attention to how you fuel your body so that it efficiently performs, goes a long way to reducing ER visits. The same is also true with your family members. Very early on, if parents educate their children to focus on eating to live, the frequency with which they catch colds or suffer headaches, or stomach pains, joint pains, and muscle pains diminishes. Good habits at home reduces the tax on the health care system, making it more accessible to more people with you and yours as part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem. Sounds like a good idea to me. What say you?

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

A home of many brothers, and sisters, too!

“Canada is having a foster care crisis, with so few people willing to serve that one province is preparing to house infants in group homes if necessary,”says Maureen MacEwen, Provincial Co-ordinator for P.E.I. Child Protective Services.  A sad commentary on how significantly this ‘social program’ has deteriorated, but it’s been simmering dry for years. It was inevitable.

Rather than ‘group homes’, how about homes for groups? In order for it to work, to be sustainable, the ‘group’ needs to be distanced from  the ‘home’.  Why does there have to be a special, distinct, separate designation at all? Labeling only serves to make children in such circumstance stand out and get noticed  — often not in a good way. The negative connotation is an historical one that has lingered. 

In the 70s, ‘group home’ was a label, a name assigned to a home where the ‘mentally retarded’ lived. Over time, terminology changed but the prevailing attitudes still existed. So while it’s all well and good for the government to consider placing infants who are in foster care into ‘group homes’, there should be serious thought given to a long-term plan. Children, no matter the age, cycling around the foster care system from one ‘home’ to another, weeks at a time, months at a time, a few years at a time, has never been the ideal. Lack of continuity of care does cause emotional trauma as has been demonstrated. There is no need to throw money at more studies to prove the proven. Put the money where it’s needed - into HOMES; not just structures to ‘house’ children in need, children in crisis.

Children go into care for many reasons — it’s a sad reality that many cannot go back to the house where the biological parent(s) live, but the system sometimes seems to miss the mark when stepping in to remove a child or children from the biological family. Certainly, the child’s welfare is critical, but there needs to be a stronger emphasis on correcting what has gone wrong with the parenting/caregiving. Do the parents want help? Will they accept help that’s offered and follow through and not just go through the motions to ‘get the kid back’? A child is not a piece of property to be passed around like an ugly piece of furniture no one really wants, but someone will take it, even if only to fill that corner of the living room until something better comes along. Again, a sad commentary on our ‘throw away’ society. 

If parents in crisis were buoyed up to the point where they could stand on their own, moving forward, there’d in all likelihood be fewer children ‘in care’. If,  without judgment, they were shown how to guide their children with less stress and less mess, the entire family dynamic has potential to change and self-correct. Not unlike many families outside the view of government scrutiny. Lives of families all across Canada go on, day after day as Moms, Dads, brothers and sisters live, work and play and parenting styles and welfare of children are not questioned. That’s the way life has rolled along for centuries.

For some families, something gets fractured and outside help is needed, sometimes court sanctioned. Given that children learn what they live, parents with proper tools have a chance to break a cycle and with that the notion of the ‘bad kid’ label fades. When parents who want to learn and grow see the fruits of their labour manifesting in the forward-moving behaviour of their children, all are winners. Instead of the ‘system’ patting themselves on the back, social workers and others need to respectfully acknowledge the efforts of parents and children in crisis. There’s too much focus on what’s wrong and not enough on what’s right and good.

If the parental unit is irrevocably broken, then a long-term ‘forever home’ elsewhere would be pot of gold for children in need. We hear so much about animal shelters wanting ‘forever homes’ for dogs and cats available for adoption. If children cannot be adopted, for whatever reason, would they not be better served in long-term home life situations, rather than short-term ‘foster’ care? Would studies to look into repurposing vacant buildings/heritage properties across the country have merit? 

Imagine being in a foster home and 3 days before Christmas, you’re moved. No explanation. Then April rolls around and you’re moved again, out of the district, with a different school Starting over. Then again in July! Multiply that scenario by thousands of kids every year, and we see a very serious problem. No wonder foster kids have a difficulty with trust and can’t settle in to ‘good’ behaviour, often falling onto the path of drug addiction, promiscuity, unwanted pregnancies, as history repeats itself. It’s time to change the care plan and explore the potential for success of a home for ‘a group’ - a group of youngsters that can, with supports become a family. ‘He doesn’t look like me, but he’s my brother!’

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Brain training is good for a body

Sending a handwritten letter is becoming such an anomaly. It's disappearing. My mom is the only one who still writes me letters. And there's something visceral about opening a letter - I see her on the page. I see her in her handwriting. [author unknown]

From the moment I was officially diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, training my brain was to be the order of the day for the months and years that followed. If my body was to do what the bodies of everyone else did, the brain would have to be stimulated into negotiating new pathways to compensate for those lost to the damage caused by cerebral palsy, damage that would be permanent. My mother and others in my home took care of manipulating the legs, up and down with the left, from side to side with the right.

In school, teachers were charged with training the ‘smarts’ in me. Training the brain to learn facts and figures, part of which involved learning how to print, and then how to write. Reading was the next big thing! The exercise of cursive writing served a valuable purpose  - teaching the brain to co-ordinate eye and hand to create letters, then words, then sentences. I am convinced that learning cursive writing also trained my neurologically insulted brain to master a range of fine motor tasks that would then progress to learning gross motor tasks, like stepping and walking with a greater degree of competence than would otherwise have been realised. Then there’s language fluency. Cursive writing and language proficiency go hand to mouth. Amazing! 

Using a pencil to follow through the sequence of creating the letter A is vastly different than touching the letter on a keypad attached to a computer device and the A suddenly appears. The steps required to create the A from scratch is rather like baking a cake — a home made cake often has a far superior flavour to the commercially prepared (box) variety.

A Psychology Today article points out the benefits of cursive writing for cognitive development, with one study concluding that elementary students need at least "15 minutes of handwriting daily for cognitive, writing and motor skills and reading comprehension improvement. Students wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard. This study included second, fourth, and sixth graders. Cursive writing helps train the brain to integrate visual (and) tactile information, and fine motor dexterity.”

“Observers of Montessori schools are often astonished by the beautiful cursive hand of four-and five-year-old children. Montessori noted that the straight and oblique lines of printing were more difficult for children to form than cursive. The uninterrupted movements of the hand may make cursive letters easier for children to form, and for this reason, some Montessori primary classrooms introduce children to cursive sandpaper letters first. Other Montessori schools wait to teach cursive to lower elementary students.”

As a leftie, learning many eye-hand co-ordination activities was at first awkward but then acuity and aptitude for a range of tasks illustrated that I was well-suited to learning many skills, all of which serve me well today. Gone are the days of grubby shirt cuffs as my hand dragged across the page while I was learning the  A B C’s of cursive writing. Oh, the joy of those early years of my formal education! Today, I routinely copy recipes by hand and have bits of paper tucked in a ‘catch all’ basket in the kitchen. A friend has been after me to organise them into some sort of order, but that’s too easy! What’s the problem? She’s able to read my south-paw scrawl! That’s scary, actually! 

When was the last time you wrote a letter with a real pen and real paper, whether formal or informal? I’ve written a few in the past couple of days - short notes. I even hand-addressed the envelopes. OMG, am  I regressing to a primitive state of being? Heck, no! I’m working the grey cells! Writing with ‘old-fashioned’ instruments. Decades ago, I knew I ‘arrived’ when my parents gave me a Cross™ pen with pocket clip for my 18th birthday; I still use it today. Several years later, an older brother gave me the ladies Cross™ pen. As a leftie with wonky vision, my writing tends to ‘wander’, so I prefer lined paper to ensure that the letters are evenly executed across the page. I keep a stack of recipe cards at my desk so when I read something interesting, I pen notes. There’s that brain training again! In another corner of my messy work space is a lined notepad - for the grocery list that goes with me me to the supermarket.

When I was learning to sit up, stand up, step, walk, print, write, and read, and type, who in my world back then would ever have imagined how all those things would come together over the course of my life experiences to bring me to this point - becoming a weekly presence in the the lives of those who read this paper.

I’m going to sit right down and write someone a letter! 

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca 

Breakfast of champions isn't just for the young

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” [Luciano Pavarotti]

‘Food, glorious food, can’t wait til I get some.’ and ‘Please, sir, I want some more.’ Words to describe my relationship with food, though I hope never to have to sing for my supper. 

I love preparing different dishes and trying new recipes. I love eating! In fact, I have the appetite of 3 men and a boy, living with a rapid metabolism which is often a common feature of persons doing battle with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy who are able to move about whether on wheels or walking with supports; I burn calories just breathing in and breathing out.  The most recent new recipe tried was for honey glazed pork roast, prepared in the slow cooker.  

Perhaps those within the ranks of government need to develop more efficient recipes to improve quality of care of those who are most risk by changes to their quality of life - the elderly and infirm. They would do well to consult some seasoned cooks as menus for daily institutional living are rewritten.

“Aging care experts weigh in on proposed changes for nursing homes” titles a recent commentary in The Daily Gleaner. Other articles in the various provincial newspapers discussing changes to spending for nursing home food to be served to residents have given me pause. Should I be alarmed? I think perhaps I should be concerned - not so much for me at this stage, but for those whose quality of life and their relationship with food may impacted by government entities believing they’re doing good things. In their logic, they claim that patients would not be lacking in proper nutrition with the proposed changes. I’m sorry, but I cannot accept that. I’m not convinced!

Attempts to save money on food costs by reducing funds spent cannot be a good thing in the grand scheme and to suggest that patient ‘quality of care’ won’t be compromised is a bit unsettling. Those holding that belief haven’t met me and don’t know my previous history with regard to hospital nutrition. Any significant downturn in my own health status could potentially find me as a member of the nursing home set and should that happen, a caution to all patient attendants - be very afraid! I’ll be expecting both a cold meal and a hot meal, three times a day - plus morning snack, afternoon snack and evening snack. No, I’m not kidding! 

Back in the 1980s, a one-month stint as a patient in the now defunct Northern Carleton Hospital in Bath, New Brunswick, with a dislocated elbow, will attest to my propensity to consume copious food. The dietitian who interviewed me about my food preferences seemed shocked and understandably so! I was rail thin then, just as I am now, over two decades later. The ravenous appetite is still a feature of my wobbly walking life. It takes a lot of energy for me to get from place to place.

Were I resident in a nursing home today, I’d be quite worried about not only the quality of care I’d receive as a person with ‘special needs’, but also whether I’d have access to sufficient nutrition to fuel a body compromised by neurological deficit. My fears are not unfounded, if what’s planned with policy changes on nursing home operations are going forward.

A reduction in quality of care with staff reductions, along with a concurrent change in nutrition may well be a recipe for disaster no matter how the key players choose to spin it, and it saddens me to know that one of the greatest joys for so many - eating good food - may be in jeopardy, if only in a small way, according to the policy makers. Time will tell. 

What I believe needs to happen is for patients to tell, or if they are unable or choose not to be a ‘boat rocker’, that their nearest and dearest speak up on their behalf.  Anyone who prepares several family meals a day for years will always say how nice it is to eat a meal they didn’t have to make — to just sit down at a table with family and friends to enjoy good food and good conversation.  Let’s hope that residents in nursing homes will enjoy nutritious, quality food. They deserve that and so much more.

We have a duty, morally, ethically and legally to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. One of the very few joys many older people have left is food, snacks, and treats. Let us keep close watch on those chipping away at the 3 square meals a day menus to ensure that what they say is what they mean.

Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca