THESE MEALS ARE FANCY!
Swallowing is as necessary to our lives as breathing. For some this function is impaired by a condition called Dy
sphagia (swallowing difficulty). Actually, more than 5% of the general population have some sort of swallowing difficulty (That’s 100,000 in Perth alone).
Yummy Tasters (peas, carrots, beans, potato, fish, pork and beef)
This can cause great distress for those affected; inadequate hydration and nutrition as well as potentially life-threatening infections in the lungs.
It was great to meet Paul Moltoni (Managing Director of Home Chef, WA) last Wednesday at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital as he presented at the WA Dysphagia Interest Group meeting.
Home Chef use molds of chicken, broccoli and carrot to make these texture modified meals look appealing. It’s all about providing people with dysphagia with a better quality of life!
He has been working with Speech Pathologist Kate Duque initially and more recently with Belinda Morrell, speech pathologists at the hospital to ensure that modified texture diets are of a safe consistency for those with dysphagia. Robert Malekin, head of dietetics at Osborne Park, has also been involved in advising about the best ways to fortify these meals. Home Chef provide home delivered meals and are developing their modified texture meals under the guidance of professional speech pathologists and dietitians.
Melissa Lombard at Perth Adult Speech Pathology has always had a keen interest in dysphagia. In addition to her advanced level training acquired in the UK, she has previously led teams to win First prize in the Jersey Healthcare Quality Awards and second prize in the Golden Helix Award for total quality in European healthcare, an award for innovative work across UK and Europe. Both of these pieces of work developed safe, nutritious diets for people with dysphagia and an ongoing education program for catering staff, nursing staff, OTs, Physios and staff at community homes.
Well done Belinda, Paul and team. Keep up with the great work you are doing. It was great to see something new in this area.
