Maplewood Senior Living
Engaging Senior Senses with Farm-to-Table Freshness
Baby-boomers—nearly 80 million people—are a large part of our aging population. Additionally, the number of 60-somethings with living parents has more than doubled since 1998 to about 10 million. Together, there is an huge number of people who are aging with all the accompanying concerns, including sensory impairment.
One study from the February 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society measured the spectrum of age-related sensory damage and found that 94 percent of seniors in the United States have at least one sensory deficit, 38 percent have two and 28 percent have three, four or even five. Involvement of all five senses—smell, taste, hearing, touch and sight—is necessary to enhance quality of life for everyone, and specifically seniors as they age.
Maplewood Senior Living recognizes that sensory engagement of aging populations makes for a richer—even vital—experience, and they create senior communities with this in mind. Sensory information—input—is converted into nerve signals that are carried to the brain where the signals are turned into meaningful sensations. It is easy to see why captivating the senses is a crucial part of dynamic aging.
Five years ago, Maplewood Senior Living acquired Mayflower Place in West Yarmouth and has since opened two more Cape Cod senior living communities: Maplewood Brewster and Mill Hill Residence. Their philosophy encompasses exciting and engaging their residents’ five senses, particularly around the dining experience, which have been designed with that in mind. They know that baby boomers and the parents they care for want to eat fresh, well-prepared, creative fare in gorgeous surroundings, deficits notwithstanding.
The Maplewood Culinary Sensory Experience
Smell and Taste
Sense of smell can be compromised as people age and, along with that, their appetites. A Maplewood kitchen is always open so that residents can smell aromas from food preparation. From the time they awaken, they are tantalized by delicious aromas. This stimulates appetite and often mood, even if a resident’s sense of smell is not as robust as it once was. Who hasn’t heard a story about baking cookies or mulling cider in a kitchen to make a house feel homey or to evoke holiday memories?
Hearing
Hearing loss is common among seniors, so the open-concept kitchens are audibly inviting with the gentle clink of pots and pans, chopping of ingredients and murmurs of culinary conversations. The dining rooms are designed with tables of four, allowing for quiet but not overwhelming meal-time conversation and socializing. Research has shown that social interaction is a key factor in senior nutrition. Older seniors on their own can often forget to eat and stay properly hydrated.
Sight
As people age, the visual field can be considerably affected, especially in late stage dementia and Alzheimer’s. The dining experience was designed to keep things as comfortable and functional as possible for residents. Bright, fresh cuisine takes center-stage and helps entice the residents. Research from The Mayo Clinic and the Alzheimer’s Association was incorporated in the dining room designs. Pattern distinctions between chairs and carpet; white tableware that allows food contrast for depth perception; and contrasting color linens support residents with visual impairments.
Touch
A lack of sensitivity to temperatures can pose real risks to seniors. Providing meals that are prepared at just the right temperature for safety and enjoyment is good culinary practice and is responsive to resident’s needs. Monthly chef demonstrations encourage residents to touch and connect to foods. Indoor potting rooms and outdoor raised-bed gardens provide tactile experiences and the opportunity to grow and harvest herbs used in meals.
To accomplish these sensory goals, the culinary team uses fresh, locally sourced ingredients in accordance with the seasons. This practice offers peak nutrition for residents and creates dishes that charm with taste and aroma as well as presentation. Mary Ellen Greenfield, Corporate Director of Culinary Services in Connecticut, says their 48-acre farm in Eastport provides some fresh produce that is augmented with local farms and fisheries at each of the communities. She adds that Maplewood “is moving to a more plant-based menu in accordance with their nutritionist and in response to residents’ requests.” All three campuses have roughly the same menu on any given day.
Local seafood arrives fresh from Chatham Fish and Lobster, cranberries from PJ Cranberry Bogs in Sandwich, heirloom tomatoes from Town Brook Farm in West Yarmouth. They go a little farther afield for corn—Farmer’s Garden in Rehoboth—and for special cheeses they use Narragansett Creamery for fresh mozzarella, local yogurts and fresh ricotta, and Great Hill Dairy in Marion for world-renowned Great Hill Blue Cheese.
Bob Patchel, Culinary Services Director (CSD) at Mayflower for 12 years, works with Paul Crowell of Crow Farm in Sandwich, for beets, lettuce, beans, tomatoes, herbs, squash, apples and peaches. Patchel appreciates the Maplewood farm-to-table policy as, “It is so enjoyable to buy local, fresh ingredients. The residents notice when I use the local Crow Farm beets. I never get as many positive comment cards as when I make fresh borscht from their beets.” He reaches out to Crowell to see what is plentiful, but always has an alternative in mind. It can be a challenge, as an item harvested can often be bought in its entirety by a local restaurant. Keith Schuck, sous chef for ten years, says about Patchel, “Honestly, Bob always knew how to get the right stuff—produce and seafood—all year long.”
Patchel recently prepared a “smart food dinner” that concentrated on plants and was low in sugar. The menu was relatively easy for Patchel to create—two fresh vegetables, fresh seafood, and no starch, except for the dessert. He wanted to keep the sugar content low so gave an add-on option. He fashioned a deconstructed triple-berry trifle with optional nut brittle made with locally harvested sea salt.
“Tootie” Weiss, Culinary Services Director at Mill Hill Residence, which opened two years ago and has two kitchens, one for memory-impaired residents, has been with Mayflower for over 20 years. Having grown up on a farm in Washington, she embraced Maplewood’s move to a farm-to-table strategy.
Remembering fresh fish as a household staple when she was growing up, Mill Hill resident Joan Knowlton enthused, “Everything is delicious from the dining room. You know the fish were swimming yesterday! I have lived by the ocean all my life and we would go fishing when I was younger.” Fellow resident Fred Brown chimes in, “I watch for the Chatham Fish truck from my window!” The connection to their food excites the senses as well as memories.
In addition to looking ahead to peach harvest, Patchel and Crowell are planning an apple-picking trip for Maplewood residents in the fall. Crow Farm will have Granny Smith, Pink Ladies and Aztec Fujis along with some later varieties, as well as a spectacular view of the water from the apple orchard up on the hill.
Since so many baby boomers—and often their parents—are self-avowed “foodies”, it is comforting to know that, should they [we] be looking for a senior living community that appreciates food as much as they [we] do, culinary-centered age-sensitive options are out there!
Maplewood at Mayflower Place
579 Buck Island Road, West Yarmouth
Mill Hill Residence
164 MA-28, West Yarmouth
Maplewood at Brewster
820 Harwich Road, Brewster
