At the La Mirandière palliative care unit located in Quetigny, Côte-d’Or, special attention is given to the meals served to patients.
Food is an integral part of patient support in palliative care in order to enhance sensory pleasure regardless of the stage of progression of their illness.
In a palliative care service such as that of La Mirandiere, Meal time should be a source of pleasure. It is, for the care team, an essential component of palliative care where pleasure and quality of life become priorities.
Mealtime is also a time which, for some, is one of the last accessible landmarks of the day. It must therefore be as pleasant as possible.
Improving the comfort of end-of-life patients also means giving them pleasure in eating tasty and balanced meals.
At La Mirandière, Lydie Gibassier is behind the stove. She is an energetic, organized and smiling woman.
Trained as a cook, Lydie joined the La Mirandière team 3 years ago.
What I like about this structure is that I do my job here… I cook every day!
The menus are the same as those offered to patients at the Dijon University Hospital and are established by the hospital’s dieticians. Lydie therefore places her orders for raw materials according to these menus. “The difference is that I cook as I want, I have no imperative on how to cook the products.”
La Mirandière being “a site apart” the objective is to favor the taste of the products. “It’s not just to feed them!” Lydie does not have an imposed technical sheet as there is on the central kitchen of the CHU (grammage of salt, weight of certain foods, etc.)
In this establishment, there is no “typical” day for this professional. The days go by and are not alike depending on the menus, the number of people to feed and whether a pastry is being prepared or not.
There is no typical day because we also adapt to patient demand.
There are still some essential work habits! The evening meal is prepared in the morning as it is a meal served cold. Then follows the presentation of starters, cheese and desserts.
The morning continues with the preparation of the midday meal. It is prepared at the last moment as it is served “hot”, that is to say cooked and stored hot in the meal trolley.
On the menu of the day: grated carrot salad, paella and baked apples. A meal entirely cooked on site with fresh ingredients.
The menus are submitted to the patients and if they have specific requests, Lydie is happy to adapt. “Today one of the patients doesn’t want paella but a mash…well, I’m preparing a homemade mash for him!”
In addition to adapt to the tastes and wishes of the patients, she also works on textures. In this establishment, many patients eat mixed foods. Under these conditions, Lydie takes care to differentiate between meat and vegetables that she does not combine so that each preparation has a distinct taste.
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She also takes a lot of care in preparing the dishes, for her it’s a must. “A well-presented plate makes you want to eat… it’s important to combine taste and visuals.”
All the care that Lydie brings to her cooking is felt in the feedback she can get from patients who have eaten something they liked, nicely presented.
Giving pleasure to patients motivates me every morning… This little extra that I can bring them with my work, I find it very rewarding
Lydie feels totally integrated into the team of caregivers in this palliative care unit. Regularly, they bring her up with the patients so that she can see with them what their expectations and desires are, and see to what extent she can fulfill their requests.
Food is part of the palliative care approach for a better quality of life and comfort for patients. It allows to remain in communication and respect and maintains desires, tastes and pleasures. Food is therefore an integral part of care, a job that Lydie does every day with pleasure!
⇒ A serial entirely devoted to the palliative care unit of La Mirandière is offered to you in our Evening news from Sunday 1 to Thursday 23 February.
