# Food Complaints @ Camp Hill => Gov't Dietician Taking a Look



## The Bread Guy (14 Aug 2012)

5 Aug 12, The Canadian Press:





> Some elderly residents of a veterans hospital in Halifax are asking that someone take a closer look at the food they're being served, claiming it is bland, overcooked, hard to eat and low on nutritional value.
> 
> Jack Walsh, an 84-year-old former member of the merchant navy, said he has raised the issue several times with officials at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial hospital but hasn't had much luck in improving the meals.
> 
> ...




11 Aug 12,_ Halifax Chronicle-Herald_


> Veterans Affairs critic Peter Stoffer will tour a Halifax veteran’s hospital next week after patients complained about mushy, reheated and generally unpalatable food.
> 
> Stoffer says he wants to make sure Camp Hill Veterans Memorial is doing everything it can to provide the elderly war vets with the best quality meals.
> 
> ...




14 Aug 12, CBC.ca


> The Veterans Affairs Minister, Steven Blaney, will appoint a dietitian to review the food at the Camp Hill Veterans' Memorial Building in Halifax after veterans complained about the quality, according to a spokesman.
> 
> Long-term care residents at Camp Hill receive $42 a day from Veterans Affairs Canada to fund food, a dietician, staff and supplies. Last week veterans at the home called for an independent audit, labelling the food bland and undercooked.
> 
> The food facility at the Queen Elizabeth centre prepares food for four Capital Health sites, including the veterans' building. While some of the veterans' food is prepared 24 hours in advance, Capital Health says a lot of care is put into the food ....


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## X Royal (16 Aug 2012)

> Long-term care residents at Camp Hill receive $42 a day from Veterans Affairs Canada to fund food, a dietician, staff and supplies.


For that kind of money they should be eating very good food. And yes I believe they are entitled to it. If the food is poor than the money is not being spent appropriately.
Many seniors in Ontario Government funded senior homes are feed on a 1/10th of that cost. Yes the food sucks but $42 a day is not being spent.
Even in London, Ont. all three hospitals food is cooked at one hospital & trucked to the others. The food quality sucks here also as cooking food in advance then storing in insulated containers for shipment generally leaves luke warm food at best. Toast and eggs at breakfast - forget it as it doesn't keep & travel.

*Our Vets Deserve Better.* 
And yes it's being paid for but not delivered.


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## The Bread Guy (16 Aug 2012)

X Royal said:
			
		

> > Long-term care residents at Camp Hill receive $42 a day from Veterans Affairs Canada to fund food, a dietician, staff and supplies.
> 
> 
> For that kind of money they should be eating very good food. And yes I believe they are entitled to it. If the food is poor than the money is not being spent appropriately.


If my math is right, that's almost $2.7 million/year just to feed these 175 guys - that strikes me as a SERIOUS chunk of change, when you consider nursing homes in Ontario get around $7.30/day/soul for food (or ~$470K/year for 175 folks) and Ontario correctional facilities get ~$11/day/soul (or ~$407K/year for 175 mouths to feed) for feeding "guests" (ref for those figures here).


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## jollyjacktar (16 Aug 2012)

I listened to Peter Stoffer on this subject being interviewed on radio the other day.  I believe he said it came out to $12/day for food after the other expenses were taken from the $42/day.  They should be able to feed them better than that.  We are fed on a ration of about $10/day on ship IIRC and we eat better than I do at home overall.  Something needs to be done better for these folks, I hope they get their act together soon.


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## Trinity (16 Aug 2012)

Something similar came up in Alberta news recently in regards to nursing home food.  Food was being cook centrally and then sent out to far reaches of the provinces to homes to be reheated later and not tasty.
The end result was a ruling that food will be cooked in the same institution it's being served in.  So change in this situation is possible.


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## Words_Twice (5 Sep 2012)

They feed Federal inmates for about 8 bucks a day, and they eat like kings (a buddy of mine is a Corrections Canada guard at William Head in Victoria). Our elderly veterans deserve so much more than felons do.


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## Canadian.Trucker (6 Sep 2012)

Words_Twice said:
			
		

> They feed Federal inmates for about 8 bucks a day, and they eat like kings (a buddy of mine is a Corrections Canada guard at William Head in Victoria). Our elderly veterans deserve so much more than felons do.


+5 to that.

Veterans deserve to be given the care they have earned.  Food is such a simple thing to do well if you get down to it, but it can mean the world.  Think about it, I know my morale has been lifted before by a good meal.  I wish my wife read these forums, I'd make a comment and suck up about her cooking.


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## X Royal (6 Sep 2012)

For $42 a day I'm sure there will be many local restaurants who would be willing to deliver 3 good (& hot) appetizing meals a day which will meet  the Canadian food guidelines. At that price I'm sure they would also give the residents a few different options for each meal.
I know if I was a local restaurateur I would see this as a cash cow at $42 a day (times - 175 residents). 
Yes the residents deserve far better than they are getting and the money is being spent. :


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## Words_Twice (6 Sep 2012)

X Royal said:
			
		

> For $42 a day I'm sure there will be many local restaurants who would be willing to deliver 3 good (& hot) appetizing meals a day which will meet  the Canadian food guidelines. At that price I'm sure they would also give the residents a few different options for each meal.
> I know if I was a local restaurateur I would see this as a cash cow at $42 a day (times - 175 residents).
> Yes the residents deserve far better than they are getting and the money is being spent. :



That is an outstanding idea. I understand the Reserves these days get catered meals from the local economy if CF dining facilities or IMPs are not available. I hear the food is not too bad (has to be better than the hayboxes we got in Wainwright 25 years ago), why not do it for these elderly vets?


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## JorgSlice (6 Sep 2012)

I'd even be willing to give up another $50/month if it meant that our Vets received better.

One thing I can't tolerate is the mistreatment of our elders, let alone elderly Veterans (or Vets period).

My grandfather fought at the beaches of Dieppe and survived through the rest of the war in a Nazi prison camp, I sure as hell made sure he was taken care of in the time he still had left. The government should be doing the same. Oh wait, politicians are more important than our Living History.


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## Fishbone Jones (7 Sep 2012)

JorgSlice said:
			
		

> I'd even be willing to give up another $50/month if it meant that our Vets received better.
> 
> One thing I can't tolerate is the mistreatment of our elders, let alone elderly Veterans (or Vets period).
> 
> My grandfather fought at the beaches of Dieppe and survived through the rest of the war in a Nazi prison camp, I sure as hell made sure he was taken care of in the time he still had left. The government should be doing the same. Oh wait, politicians are more important than our Living History.



Thank you for your alleged dedication, righteous indignation and cynicism. All in one post.

Inspirational.

Where's the viable remedy?


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## Words_Twice (4 Nov 2012)

It seems to me that if 30 bucks of the 42 is consumed by "overhead", then the overhead has to be trimmed, not the quality of food these veterans are getting. How hard can it be to prepare a menu? I understand that many of these elderly gentleman require special diets, but again, if the facility has a set of diets (low sodium, low fat, allergie accomadation etc), it seems to me that once these menus and recipies are established, what is the purpose of having staff and a full time dietition gobble up a huge portion of the money allocated to feed these men?


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## The Bread Guy (14 Nov 2012)

An update, in a column in the home-town newspaper:


> ....  In July, Jack Walsh, chairman of the food committee, criticized the bland and tasteless meals. Back then, even Walsh did not know the cause: everything, even grilled cheese sandwiches, was prepared 24 to 36 hours in advance, chilled and then reheated just before serving.
> 
> Veterans Affairs immediately ordered a financial audit and a quality review. NDP veterans affairs critic Peter Stoffer dropped in. He discovered the kitchen was making mashed potatoes from dried flakes — despite a daily budget of $42.27 per veteran.
> 
> ...


No sign of the columnist sharing the report at this point, so we can't tell what else is in it.


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