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Eating with Assistive Devices
Residents at the Spring Valley Care Facility come together for their meals in the central dining room. They enjoy eating together. Mealtimes offer a good chance to make friends and get to know each other. Some of the residents need to use adaptive devices to help them with eating.
Mary used to push her food onto the table when she tried to get the food onto her utensil. Now she uses a plate guard on her plate. The guard is a rounded piece of plastic that attaches to the plate. When Mary eats, she can push her food up to the plate guard. The plate guard will hold the food there so Mary can gather the food onto her fork or spoon.
Nancy has arthritis and has trouble with the joints in her fingers. She uses built-up handle utensils. The forks, spoons, and knives that she uses have thick handles so she can grip them easily.
Myron has Parkinson’s disease. His hands shake. Myron uses swivel utensils. The handles on the fork and spoon can swivel, or move from side to side, but the fork or spoon at the bottom of the utensil will remain still.
Peter finds it hard to drink from a regular glass without spilling. He uses a cup with a cover on it and a small mouth opening. Peter is glad he found a way to keep from spilling his drinks.
Stacy cannot move her arms very well. She uses an extension utensil that has a long handle. The long handle makes it easier for her to bring the food from her plate to her mouth. Her arms can remain close to her body and she can still feed herself.
Each resident at Spring Valley Care Facility has different needs during mealtimes. Using adaptive devices helps them to eat independently while they enjoy mealtimes together.
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