By Kevin Martel

Regina care home apologizes for bologna Christmas dinner

Dec 30, 2014 | 5:48 AM

The seniors care home in Regina at the centre of a questionable Christmas supper is taking full responsibility of what was served.

“It was a disappointing supper. It’s not our usual quality of supper,” admitted Pioneer Village executive director Debbie Sinnet.

A picture was taken of a piece of bologna, a piece of salami, watery macaroni salad and a bun. That image was shared on social media.

“The meal at Regina Pioneer Village was a miss for us,” echoed Stephanie Cook, director of nutrition and food services for the Regina-Qu’Appelle Health Region.

“We do think we missed some opportunities there to provide a better and more balanced meal without question.”

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Sinnet outlined how a full turkey meal was provided for residents and their families for lunch, which has been the custom for years at the home.

However, she explained how it was a hectic day as staff were preparing for the special lunch at the home—of which 390 people live at. As a result, a vegetable was missed during the supper meal.

“It was a miss. It was a miss on one meal,” Sinnet said. “We’ve apologized for the quality of the meal on Christmas night. We’ve indicated that that’s not our usual standard and we’ll absolutely endeavour to do better.”

However, the home stands behind their menu insisting they’re proud of what they offer seniors. Sinnet said they receive few complaints about the food. They even tried to remove bologna and hot dogs once, but Sinnet said the residents enjoyed them too much to see them go.

Cook added it’s also hard to gain an accurate portrayal of proper nutrition with a picture of one plate.

“When we look at any meal for its adequacy nutritionally, we can never focus on just one meal. I think that puts a lot of false sense of security on what we’re providing,” she said. “You have to look over the whole week or over a month to identify if there’s a balance of nutrients and when we look at that menu as a whole we absolutely have balanced nutrition.”

Sinnet explained how they are reviewing their guidelines when it comes to their menu and are aiming to formalize a plan on what to do when it comes to making a food substitution for residents so that an incident like this one can be avoided in the future.

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