INGLEWOOD HERALD

Pianos—A wonderful Gift

The residents of the ECU want to thank fellow resident Eileen Ainslie for her generosity in purchasing a new piano for the ECU Lounge. They appreciate her kindness and have already enjoyed recitals given by Jane and Lori, our two wonderful volunteer pianists, who provide what we all feel are highlights in each week.

Now that the ECU has Eileen’s gift, the SCU residents are benefiting too, having inherited the still-good white piano from ECU, to replace the less-than-great rental piano which had been their lot for a while.

So we are all happy, and once again say a big THANK YOU to Eileen Ainslie, herself an accomplished pianist and singer. We would also like to thank the friends of Eileen Ainslie, Frank and Carol Wright, for taking this opportunity to publicly acknowledge Eileen and her talents and for recognizing how important pianos are to the soul. THANK YOU!
 

Hairdressing Rate Changes

On Monday February 11, 2002 new hairdressing rates at Inglewood Care Centre will be implemented. The service fees were frozen in 1997/1998 and have remained the same since. An agreement was reached with the new owners and our Family Advisory Committee to raise those fees to reflect prices being charged at other facilities. Notices will go up with the new rates. Further questions should be directed to Kay and Jabeen at 604-802-4462 or Sedi at 604-983-9917

RECLINERS FOR SALE

The Inglewood Residents’ Council currently has 3 or 4 automatic recliners for sale. The chairs are comfortable and are normally worth between $500 and $700 dollars to purchase new. The council is looking to sell them for $100 to our residents here at Inglewood for the length of their stay with us. It would then go back to the council for someone else. This saves the trouble of moving, cleaning or selling the furniture later. For information please contact a team leader or Wilma in Recreation.

FAMILY & COMMUNITY ADVISORY
EDUCATION NIGHT

On Wednesday January 30 at 7:00 pm in the ECU dining room the Family and Community Advisory Committee will be hosting their first education night of 2002. Due to government initiated changes to our Medical Services Plan, an open forum is planned with a panel of representatives who can provide first hand answers to what those changes are, how those changes will affect you, the customer, and how Inglewood is working with those service providers and their customers to manage those changes.
At this meeting you will also have the opportunity to welcome and meet with Inglewood’s new owners. Questions or concerns about future plans to the facility can be directed to them at this time.

VOLUNTEER NEWS

It has been a couple of months since the last volunteer column. I now welcome our newest volunteers…
Both of the following volunteers come from St. John Dog Therapy.
Barbara visits on Tuesday morning with her little Scottie named ‘Robbie’.
Ann visits on Thursday morning with her Spaniel named ‘Charlie’
We have five new high school volunteers.
Ainslie and Eva visit after school on Wednesdays to play scrabble with residents in the Lodge.
Sabrina comes on Tuesday evening to assist Recreation with the North Shore volunteers Entertainment Program.
Debra assists with Recreation, and plays piano in the sensitive Care Unit.
Hasti opens the Tuck Shop on Thursday afternoons from 4:00-5:00.
We were very fortunate to have Gulnar (who has been high school volunteer for a couple of years) recruited her grandmother, Freny, to join our Volunteer Program. Freny visits on Monday morning to do on e-to-one visiting with some of our residents. Should you wish to know more about our Volunteer Program, and to become involved, please call Susan at 604-913-4730
 

RESIDENTS MEET THE NEW OWNERS

“Open; straightforward; honest; we were pleased with the meeting” were some of the comments from the many residents who attended ”Meet the New Owners” meetings on January 18. Residents and family members alike were interested to meet the people who took over on January 1, 2002 from Mr. David Ail, who has looked after Inglewood so well for many years.
Unicare Management Inc. is a BC firm which owns three assisted living facilities in Ontario, Edmonton and Bellingham. Inglewood is the first government-assisted facility they have bought. At the meeting we met two of the majority shareholders of the company - Mr. Abdul Bhaloo and Mr. Hassan Hemani. They both live on the North Shore and will be frequently seen around Inglewood. Mr. Ed Shaw, who works for Unicare and has 31 years experience in health care for seniors, told of Unicare’s delight in acquiring “the prime facility in BC”. “We are not here to change things,” he said, “Inglewood is very well run—why would we want to change it?” All the administrative and care staff are remaining in place. Improvements may come in the future as needs are identified.
Unicare is impressed with the level of involvement of residents and family members and will support and assist the Residents’ Council and the Family Advisory Committee in their continuing efforts to keep Inglewood the best place to be.

NEW RECOMMENDATIONS

There are some changes in daily intake of Calcium & Vitamin D that you might want to be aware of.

Strong bones and healthy teeth require calcium and Vitamin D. Calcium lays the foundation and Vitamin D is essential for absorbing the calcium.

The main sources of calcium are the milky foods, such as milk, cheese, yogurt and pudding. The Inglewood menu provides a variety of calcium-rich foods and meets Canada’s Food Guide’s recommendation for 2-4 servings per day of milk products for adults.

The main sources of Vitamin D are sunlight and milk. Canadian milk is fortified with Vitamin D; however, cheese and yogurt are not. Since the majority of our residents don’t spend a lot of time outside in the sun, milk then becomes their primary source of Vitamin D.

Scientists at the U.S. Food & Nutrition Board and Health Canada have jointly re-evaluated calcium and Vitamin D and are recommending greater daily intakes.

Residents over the age of 70 years need 1200 mg of calcium and 600IU of Vitamin D daily. The previous requirements were 800 mg and 200 IU respectively. The recommendations for those with osteoporosis are even higher. One glass (8 oz) of milk contains approximately 300 mg of calcium and 100 IU of Vitamin D. Therefore, although the new calcium recommendations for seniors can be met with 4 glasses of milk a day, it would take 6 glasses of milk to meet the new recommendations for Vitamin D ( that’s 12 of our 4 oz plastic glasses!!)

To assist our residents in maintaining and/or improving their bone health based on the new recommendations, the Inglewood Kitchen has been making “High Calcium/High Vitamin D” porridge and Cream of Wheat. Residents consuming these hot cereals are now receiving the equivalent of 8 oz of milk per day in their cereal, in addition to the 4-6 oz milk that is added to their cereal.

Here’s What You Can Do

Whether you’re staff or family ensure your own bone health so you’ll be at less risk pushing a wheelchair or assisting someone into a car.
Educate and encourage your resident and family members to drink milk, especially your daughters. Offer milk at meals, hot chocolate at bedtime or milk popsicles. Join your resident in a glass of milk from the tea wagons. Start small. Sprinkle dry skim milk powder (DSMP) into your favourite recipes (3 Tbsp DSMP =1 cup milk and contains no fat).
If you don’t like milk to drink, or if you are unable to drink milk (due to lactose intolerance or milk allergy), or if you are sunlight sensitive, ask your physician or dietitian about supplements.

Think milk, drink milk.
Choose lower fat milk more often.