Read about LHINs
at the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care website.
OMNI to roll
out flax flour program When Garden Terrace’s former nutritional
manager piloted a program that introduced flax flour
into residents’ diets the results were dramatic.
The purpose of introducing the flour was to promote
regularity and reduce
the amount of pharmaceutical laxatives necessary in
long-term care. At the end of the month-long pilot,
staff gave out a total of eight laxatives compared to
564 the month before.
Andrea Smith brought the Natural Bowel Care Program
to Garden Terrace after learning about it while on an
internship with a dietician in Nova Scotia. Howard
Selig introduced flax to residents of a Nova Scotia
long-term care home as part of a natural approach to
regularity. He learned residents weren’t fond
of the whole seeds so Howard and the dietary staff began
grinding them instead. This launched into a new business
for Howard, who established Valley Flaxflour Limited
and now supplies long-term care homes across the country
with flax flour.
Back at OMNI, Garden Terrace’s successful pilot
of the program piqued the interest of home office staff
and nearby Almonte Country Haven employees. Almonte
looked to Garden Terrace for assistance with putting
into place a flax flour program at the long-term care
home. “I’ve been a great believer in the
natural route,” says director of care Pam Murphy,
explaining what prompted her to introduce
the flax flour program at Almonte Country Haven.
After meeting with a Garden Terrace dietician, Pam got
the program started for residents who require assistance
with their meals. A couple of tablespoons of flax flour
is either mixed into residents’ hot cereal, added
to juice or spread with jam on toast each morning.
Home office nutritional care co-ordinator Aimee Fluke
was also impressed with the Garden Terrace pilot project.
So much so, OMNI plans to expand
the program to all of its homes by year’s
end. “Rolling out the Natural Bowel Care program
is one of our nutritional care goals for 2005,”
says Aimee. “We want all of the homes to benefit
from it as Garden Terrace has. As far as the trial at
Garden Terrace, the results were absolutely incredible.”
If you are
interested in becoming
a member of our family as a resident, an employee
or a volunteer please contact us!
Nova
Scotia dietician introduces flax flour to long-term
care sector Wednesday,
March 30, 2005
In the kitchen of his Nova Scotia home, Howard Selig
produced his first few cases of flax flour by grinding
the seeds in a counter-top coffee grinder. Read
More...
DOC
‘great believer in the natural route’ March 17,
2005 For one resident, the introduction
of flax flour into her diet, helped ease a chronic condition.
Read
More...
