Assisted Living Menus

It is my opinion that many Assisted Living facilities do not take into consideration the menu needs of a dementia sufferer. I have worked for 8 years in this field and I’m in the Midwest so I am speaking of those communities.
Most of these facilities have 70% dementia sufferers as their residents. Yet, in the dining room, they tend to cater more toward the retired independent clients. The menus may include items such as:
Tuna burger nicoise
Hawaiian veal roast with red bliss potatoes
Salmon Oscar  (cooked salmon topped with crab meat, asparagus, and a creamy bearnaise sauce)
Cabbage with mango and peanut salad followed by shrimp risotto prepared Tuscan style.
Raspberry Mesclun Salad  (Mesclun, Raspberries, Goat Cheese and Walnuts with Raspberry Dressing)
Chicken Française with Penne Sicilian
Sautéed Maryland Crab Cakes with a Saffron Red Pepper Remoulade Gravlox
Well, you get the idea. While these menus may be delicious, they are not standard fair for Midwest communities. These people were raised on roast beef cooked with potatoes and carrots, fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, pinto beans with cornbread and fried potatoes and so on.
Their vegetables were canned which meant they were soft when cooked, while facilities steam the vegetables which gives a chewy texture that the residents do not like. They roasted or baked, or fried their meats while facilities tend to braise or steam the meats which make them tough to eat.
Many times, I have asked the Food Service Directors if they would modify the menus for the dementia patients. I was told they were not allowed to do that due to Corporate procedure. Corporate made the menus and passed them to all of their facilities. The menus would be based on the popularity of their larger facilities that were in New York or California. We aren’t in New York or California. We are Midwestern down-home people who prefer simplicity in our meals.
They were allowed to add items “off” menu such as hamburgers, grilled cheese, tuna salad sandwiches and such which meant the majority of the dementia patients would order those most of the time. This would upset the Directors because the residents weren’t even trying the fancier choices. Well, gee, do you have any idea what “Chicken Française with Penne Sicilian” means to someone with dementia? It means ‘Huh?’!! If they don’t know what it is, they’re not going to order it!
Sausage Manicotti? Please– give ‘em spaghetti and meatballs.
Rotini Greek Salad? Please don’t. Macaroni salad is just fine.