Before I begin my tale, I must amuse you all with a joke. A joke at my expense. Many of you know that I visit two hospitals to play piano, one in a hospital foyer and the other on an elderly and dementia ward. Except that, since Covid, the portable piano keyboard has been barred from the ward in order to minimise all risks of infection. But undaunted, I have relied on a Bluetooth speaker and playlists from my phone, using the Spotify Premium App to play patient requests. (I can choose what I like, when I like and no interrupting adverts.) Hence patients can request Chopin, Elvis, Birdsong, Church bells; you name it, I can play it!
And two years ago I was honoured to be voted Volunteer of the Year for bringing music to the wards.
In recent weeks they announced a new Volunteer of the Year. A dog named Bruno. Bruno has been coming in for quite a few years now, going up to bedside and wagging his tail and allowing patients to pat and stroke him. I heard some other guys who were shortlisted for the award were a little bit miffed on hearing they had missed out to a dog! Well actually, Bruno AND his owner were awarded jointly. It was then that someone looked back at my award and said it should have been given to the Bluetooth speaker! Boom boom.
There you go. Hope you had a chuckle. But this post is about assisted feeding at meal times. I visit many elderly and dementia patients and often see an untouched tray of food at mid-day. There is a shortage of nurses to assist in feeding. The Speech and Language therapists are designated with the training responsibilities BUT so far have had not time to give training to hospital volunteers. It’s a Catch 22 situation. Many volunteers are willing to be trained but no training is available. I shook the apple-cart recently by asking “how long do you have to be trained to put a spoon in someone’s mouth.” This, understandably, didn’t go down well with one of the ward sisters on a Steering Committee.
Anyway, I have just put forward a suggestion; divide the training into three levels a) to cover dodgy patients with swallowing or breathing problems, b) elderly patients who are unable physically to feed themselves and c) patients perfectly capable of feeding themselves BUT are disinclined or who need direct encouragement and persuasion.
This Monday, I talked a woman patient from Lebanon into trying to mix her food with the gravy and taste it, even though she said it was not her kind of food and that she had asked for chicken. It WAS chicken but she didn't recognise it! I told her I would happily eat it for her. This made her smile, and she began to mix the food around on her plate. The difficulty with my idea is that each patient would have to be identified as a, b, or c. And a corresponding sign above the bed. Any ideas readers? How about 3 spoons for “a”, two spoons for “b” and one spoon for “c”. Over to you.
On Monday last I witnessed a revolving tabletop when a nurse placed a patient’s dinner on the tray at bedside and the tray spun round to leave the dinner on the floor. I learnt that there is a lever to tighten the tray so that it won’t revolve. Had to laugh. The female patient was beyond noticing. Luckily the food was all in wraps so wasn’t wasted.
I have put my ideas to my manager and asked him if there was any mileage in it - the three levels of mealtime training, not the revolving dinner trays!
😂
