Seniors at the Bonnylodge have attested to the quality of food being served at the local live-in care facility.
Pauline Marchand, a 92-year-old Bonnylodge resident, described it as “A-plus.”
“I would say it’s excellent, and there is such a good variety. My plate is always cleaned out, I even want to eat the plate. If anybody complains about the meals here, I really don’t know what they could have eaten at home.”
Over the course of an average week, the seniors are fed breakfast, dinner, and supper, and are welcome to fresh fruit and snacks in-between homemade meals.
Last week, their meals varied from turkey meatballs in cranberry sauce with rice, parsnips, carrots, baked chicken leg, and fruit, to lasagna served with garlic bread, caesar salad, and butternut squash.
While Lorette Ducharme uses words like “always fresh and always good” to describe her meals at the Bonnylodge, fellow resident Ron Jeffrey couldn’t agree more.
“It’s great quality of food,” he expressed. “I think seniors need it.”
This is one of the reasons Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills MLA Dave Hanson is advocating the province to mandate seniors facilities to serve fresh food.
He wanted to clarify a statement that he had made earlier last week that had angered some of town council.
Hanson wanted to clear the air and reaffirm he hadn’t been talking about a Bonnyville facility when saying there were some seniors’ lodges in the Lakeland serving poor quality food.
“Some facilities in the province are still serving pre-cooked, frozen, thawed, and reheated meals. By the time that’s done, it loses all of its flavour, consistency, and it’s not very pleasant,” he described.
When it comes to the Bonnylodge, he added, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I was so impressed with the food at the Bonnylodge and at Sunnyside Manor. What I’m advocating for is to have every senior in the province treated the same as those very fortunate folks who live at those lodges,” Hanson said.
Before any meals are served at the Bonnylodge, staff visit every table with a sample plate. They explain each item being offered, and ask residents which ones they would like more, less, or none of.
Hanson wants to see the same quality of service extended to seniors’ facilities across Alberta.
“We’re supposed to be trying to take good care of these folks, and that’s all I’m asking. For some of these facilities, they have a choice, they can serve substandard food or better food. I just want them all to make a better choice for our seniors.”
