Parkland helping residents, community endure pandemic
Truro retirement residence expands its meal delivery program to seniors in nearby homes
With good food and friendship already at the heart of its retirement community, Parkland Truro is expanding its efforts to reach more local seniors during the ongoing pandemic.
“Food and recreation are really our biggest focuses here — besides nursing, of course,” says Parkland’s lifestyle consultant, Bree-lynn Pelly. “Socialization is one of the biggest pillars we have here, in regards to our residents and how they live. We make sure that, especially through the winter and the pandemic, they’re feeling as happy as they can be.”
While many seniors in the community are isolated in their homes due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Pelly says seniors in residences like Parkland Truro are at an advantage.
“When the restrictions change and we have to lower the group numbers, we see how that impacts the groups,” says Pelly. “So we’ve been doubling up on how many activities we’re doing to make sure everyone can participate. Recreation is one of our biggest departments.”
That’s why Parkland Truro ran a packed Christmas schedule and just completed a busy Valentine’s Day season that included lots of games, candy BINGO and three Happy Hours (to accommodate limited numbers) featuring live music and a Valentine’s Day prize draw.
Perhaps the biggest addition has been the adoption of a “prosperity tree.” The idea was conceived by Parkland’s recreation coordinator, Delores Morris, following the Christmas holidays.
After she saw how much residents enjoyed the festive yuletide tree, she redecorated the evergreen with cupids, hearts and white flowers ahead of Valentine’s Day and renamed it the Tree of Love.
“At first, residents were all like ‘Is she crazy? Christmas is over!’” laughs Morris. “Then once they saw it and all the hearts were on it, they loved it. I’ve had many come and say how beautiful it is.”
Now that the season of romance is over, Morris will soon transform the prosperity tree into a beautifully decorated Tree of Luck until St. Patrick’s Day — after which it will become the Tree of Life for Easter.
HEALTHY LOCAL MEALS FOR THE COMMUNITY
In order to make it easier for those in the community to enjoy nourishing meals, Parkland Truro has expanded its Easy Eats program — delivering homecooked meals to residents in Truro and Bible Hill three times a week, with no subscription commitment or minimum purchase required.
“We really wanted to get it out for families or anybody who doesn’t really have time to make a meal at night,” says Parkland executive chef James Betts. “We wanted to rebrand the program and make it a little bit more than what it was — a little bit more high-end.”
The Easy Eats meals are prepared using fresh, locally sourced ingredients and the menu changes on a four-week rotation. Everything arrives in biodegradable packaging, and the meals can be enjoyed right away or frozen and reheated.
“The menu of the week reflects the menu of the week in my dining room,” says Betts, who has been a chef for 25 years and jokes he was “almost born in a kitchen.” He’s worked as a chef in restaurants across Canada, including the esteemed Queen’s Landing at Niagara-onthe-lake under renowned Chef Stephen Treadwell.
The idea for Easy Eats came to Betts after his family was gifted a week’s worth of meals from rival service Chef ’s Plate. While the service was interesting to try, it still required someone to prep and cook the meals.
“For a week, I didn’t really have to think about what was for supper. But you still had to have basic cooking knowledge,” says Betts. “I wanted to do something of that caliber, but with meals already prepared using fresh ingredients so all people had to do was heat it up.”
Betts takes pride in the Easy Eats meal service program, admitting it has been a great success so far. He’s looking forward to delivering more of Parkland Truro’s meals to the community in 2021.
“Just feeding the community a meal that I’m proud of — something that I’m feeding my residents here, something I would absolutely feed my family,” says Betts. “Easy Eats is something that I’m proud to put out the door.”