I want the backup – or not

At this nursing home they're supposed to have a backup, or substitute, for each meal. It is usually a backup just for the main dish or entrée. We residents are told that we have to inform the kitchen before 11 AM that we want something besides what's on the menu. In other words, dietary wants to know early that we want a different entrée.

Today instead of a sloppy Joe I thought I would see what dietary could come up with. In the past sometimes they put hot turkey on a bun instead. For me, who does not especially like sloppy Joe's, that's much better.

I had a newer aide today. I told her right after she set me up at my desktop PC to ask what the lunch backup was. When she told me it was fish, I asked if they would put it on a bun. When she did not come back, I assumed she was able to get them to put my fish on a bun. But, I wondered why she didn't come back.

Then, the nursing home ombudsman came to visit. It was a follow-up about something that came up over a month ago. She just was checking status. She walked in maybe thirty minutes after I made the request for the backup for lunch. By the time she got here it was after 11 AM and I never questioned or thought about my lunch order. But, I know how the rules are and did not expect them to change anything for me.

A different aide took me away from my desktop so I could go to lunch. She asked me if I wanted anything different for lunch and I told her I had already told my own aide earlier. She asked again what I wanted and I said I was going to have the backup "fish" on the bun. She looked at me with an ominous expression. I thought to myself, oh no – someone forgot to tell dietary that I wanted the substitute.

I wasn't really that upset. I eat sloppy Joe's, which I do not care for, all the time. They are food. But, they are not something I prefer to eat.

When they brought my tray there was a sloppy Joe on it. I asked my aide what happened and she told me she forgot. Then, she said she thought she could tell them I wanted a substitute when the window opened for lunch. I asked her to ask dietary if there was fish left. She came back and said there wasn't.

I did say I wanted some clarification about what happened. I wanted to make sure that dietary did not ignore, or forget if my aide had told them about the substitute early enough. In other words, when they are told about a substitute request, they should make a note.

I was eating my lunch and the nurse manager and my nurse came in. The nurse manager asked me what I wanted as a substitute. I told her I had eaten almost half of the sloppy Joe and I was okay with it. My nurse said they could give me bologna. I told her I would just finish the sloppy Joe.. I did say that in the future I will call dietary when I want a substitute for lunch.

My aide said that the nurse manager singled her out for forgetting the rule about reporting a substitute to dietary before 11 AM. She told my aide, "When you forget, you make me look bad".

My aide did remind me that that she's an aide at another nursing home, which has different meals substitute rules. But, in the end she took the blame. I told her it would be great if the 11 AM rule did not exist, but it does.

I told my aide I know at least one other resident does not like sloppy Joe's, and he doesn't let anything rest. So, I was pretty sure he got the substitute.