The Maggie Beer Foundation has launched an initiative to bring together a wide range of multidisciplinary food and nutrition professionals to improve the dining experience of those in need of care.
The Alliance of the Willing will include experts and professionals from across the country, such as chefs, cooks, scientists, nutritionists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, medical experts, philanthropists, corporations, top-level organizations, governments and geriatric care organizations.
The initiative is the result of the February National Congress on Nutrition in Elderly Care, attended by experts and stakeholders from around the world, and jointly hosted by the Maggie Beer Foundation and the Ministry of Health.
The announcement coincides with the release of the Congressional Final Report, which contains 56 outcomes and 139 possible actions on nine key issues to address pressing food and nutrition issues in the elderly.
Maggie beer
It found a variability in quality as well as a lack of transparency and accountability in the provision of food, nutrition and the culinary experience in elderly care.
Cook, writer and mentor Maggie Beer said they would set up working groups to look at the results of the convention.
“The Alliance of the Willing came about because we at Congress had this overarching sense of collaboration that no one could do this; that it has to be a collaborative and holistic approach, ”Ms. Beer told the Australian Aging Agenda.
“The main work of the alliance is to find guidelines and key changes that will remove silos in food nutrition and related health. There are such silos and we need food and nutrition as a holistic approach and we need to find a way to combine home care with inpatient care, ”she said.
Ms. Beer said she would like to see those attending the congress join the alliance.
“We also hope that the AMA. on invitation [Australian Medical Association] and some unions or big vendors and other top-level bodies would also be involved because collaboration matters, “she said.
“We don’t see Allianz as lobbying because we don’t want to work against the government. We want the government to look at us and see us doing things that hopefully will steer them towards policies that work for everyone by hearing everyone’s point of view, ”she said.
Ms. Beer said she hoped this initiative would also influence elderly care homes about what is possible.
“Some things and very simple things are very complex. But it’s about making this conversation between the groups loud and strong, ”said Ms. Beer.
Access the report on the results of the National Congress.
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