Shari Godin
Dear editor:
After reading the letters from Shirley Russell, June Caul, and Betty Sivonen, I feel that I also must speak up about the kitchen and food services at Rainycrest.
I worked in the kitchen at Rainycrest for 22 years. I loved my job, cooking, the residents, and my co-workers.
In 2005, the working conditions and food preparation started to go downhill. I no longer felt good about what I had to cook and serve to our seniors. Food ordered was the cheapest you could buy, and of poor quality.
Residents used to have their meals served attractively on a plate with good, edible foods, but that no longer happened.
Potatoes were processed flakes poured out of a bag. Poor-quality pork, which is difficult to digest for the residents, was bought. What was called Swiss steak was just hamburger.
When residents asked for roast chicken for Mother’s Day, poor-quality stewing chickens were bought and the residents had a difficult time chewing the dried, tough meat.
Stewing meat bought was lower-grade, it had to be boiled for a long time, and then it still was too tough to eat.
At times, there wasn’t enough food ordered for some meals.
When staff had meetings with the Food Service manager about the poor-quality meals, their concerns and suggestions were ignored. I made the mistake of asking too many questions and making too many suggestions (and I did this politely and professionally), conditions became so intolerable for me that I had reached my breaking point.
I couldn’t take it any more and in 2009 I felt I had to walk away from a job that I had been proud of and loved for so many years.
Food conditions have not improved since I left. Staff numbers in the kitchen has not increased, although more duties are expected of them.
Full-time staff no longer has their benefits 100 percent paid, and part-time staff has to pay 100 percent for their benefits. I wonder where all that extra money for the budget goes?
The public needs to be made aware of the budget and resident fees collected each month, and where the allotted government funds are used. I ask the public to get involved, get pro-active to educate yourself about the facility and conditions at Rainycrest.
Don’t just read the daily menu and think it’s fine. Talk to residents and staff about what you might be faced with if your loved one or yourself becomes a resident of Rainycrest.
Please help our seniors have a voice.
Thank you,
Shari Godin
Fort Frances, Ont.