Improve Gross Inedible Food at Hospice with Well-Prepared Improved Products
The Issue
I have a serious medical condition with poor prognosis and have resided at a hospice called Alexandria Care Center located in Los Angeles for the past 7 years. I have been complaining about the unacceptable, unappetizing, inedible, and downright disgusting food and juice served here for most of those years.
The meals are often inedible and poorly prepared with substandard ingredients. The juice provided is beyond disgusting with questionable ingredients and causes me immediate stomach pain. This issue isn't just personal to me; it's a concern shared by many other patients residing here. We've all voiced our complaints to charge nurses who have confirmed with me that this is indeed a widespread problem.
In desperation for better nourishment and out of frustration with meals I am allergic to or cannot consume due to poor preparation and taste that often triggers the gag reflex, I have resorted to hunger strikes—refusing almost 100% of the food served over recent weeks.
This situation needs immediate attention as proper nutrition is critical for all patients' health and wellbeing—especially those in hospice care where dietary needs are often more complex due to various medical conditions.
Patients in hospices are already dealing with serious health conditions; they should not also have to deal with poor-quality meals that lack nutritional value. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, proper nutrition can help improve patients' quality of life during end-of-life care. Yet here we are, served food that fails to meet even basic standards.
In an attempt to get reasonable food that is cooked properly and that I am not allergic to, I have been on numerous hunger strikes. In the past couple of weeks, I have refused nearly 100% of the food served to me. In the past, my (complete) hunger strike lasted 6 days. Currently, it has gone on longer with the exception of having to use GoFundMe donations to get food and juice delivered after I got food poisoning a couple of weeks ago. That has left me without earmarked funds for the market and bills I would have otherwise used the donations for.
I reported the food poisoning directly to the head administrator the same day only to have it fall on deaf ears. No reply, no medical follow-up. She got the text because she immediately replied to the unrelated eyeglass portion of the message.
Every time I have gone on a hunger strike, the administrator would have a dietician from the kitchen come visit me, usually 3–4 days into the strike. We would (again) spend over an hour going over my (same) complaints and needs and every time I am promised a satisfactory resolution and the following meal at dinner would be acceptable. Then, starting the next morning, everything goes back to exactly the same.
I have further complained to the Board of Health at least four times, the most recent being today (January 8, 2024). I was visited by an inspector (on a routine surprise visit of the facility) and he promised that after the Board of Health dietician finished inspecting the kitchen, the person would visit me...which never happened! Today, I was also visited by the lead facility dietician who has been off for 10 days with COVID-19. He was unaware that I have been refusing all of the hospice meals for 2 weeks and the only reason he visited me today was because the Board of Health was here and told him to. That was the Board's way of handling the problem (they have always said in the past that they do not get involved with meals). The dietician and hospice should have known about my issues because I told him shortly before he got sick and another dietician visited me during his leave. Today I told both the facility dietician and Board of Health inspector that I didn't expect anything to happen because after all of the complaints I made for countless years of suffering starvation and malnutrition due to the reasons stated herein, NOTHING EVER HAPPENS NOTWITHSTANDING PROMISES MADE.
Patients in hospices are already dealing with serious health conditions; they should not also have to deal with poor-quality meals that lack nutritional value. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, proper nutrition can help improve patients' quality of life during end-of-life care. Yet here we are, served food that fails to meet even basic standards while sporting a grotesque factor, and homemade liquid remedies erroneously called juice, which must instead be provided in brand-name sealed factory bottles.
This is an urgent call for our hospice administration and relevant authorities in Los Angeles to take immediate action. We demand better preparation methods for our meals using reasonable quality products. Our situation requires more than just sustenance—we need nourishment that respects our dignity as individuals navigating through times that are nightmarish at best.
Please sign this petition if you believe everyone deserves access to decent meals regardless of their circumstances or location. Your support could make a significant difference for us here at the hospice. I personally know it can happen—it has briefly in the past with previous food suppliers taking great care to feed the residents of Alexandria Care Center.
For more info:
Petition Closed
The Issue
I have a serious medical condition with poor prognosis and have resided at a hospice called Alexandria Care Center located in Los Angeles for the past 7 years. I have been complaining about the unacceptable, unappetizing, inedible, and downright disgusting food and juice served here for most of those years.
The meals are often inedible and poorly prepared with substandard ingredients. The juice provided is beyond disgusting with questionable ingredients and causes me immediate stomach pain. This issue isn't just personal to me; it's a concern shared by many other patients residing here. We've all voiced our complaints to charge nurses who have confirmed with me that this is indeed a widespread problem.
In desperation for better nourishment and out of frustration with meals I am allergic to or cannot consume due to poor preparation and taste that often triggers the gag reflex, I have resorted to hunger strikes—refusing almost 100% of the food served over recent weeks.
This situation needs immediate attention as proper nutrition is critical for all patients' health and wellbeing—especially those in hospice care where dietary needs are often more complex due to various medical conditions.
Patients in hospices are already dealing with serious health conditions; they should not also have to deal with poor-quality meals that lack nutritional value. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, proper nutrition can help improve patients' quality of life during end-of-life care. Yet here we are, served food that fails to meet even basic standards.
In an attempt to get reasonable food that is cooked properly and that I am not allergic to, I have been on numerous hunger strikes. In the past couple of weeks, I have refused nearly 100% of the food served to me. In the past, my (complete) hunger strike lasted 6 days. Currently, it has gone on longer with the exception of having to use GoFundMe donations to get food and juice delivered after I got food poisoning a couple of weeks ago. That has left me without earmarked funds for the market and bills I would have otherwise used the donations for.
I reported the food poisoning directly to the head administrator the same day only to have it fall on deaf ears. No reply, no medical follow-up. She got the text because she immediately replied to the unrelated eyeglass portion of the message.
Every time I have gone on a hunger strike, the administrator would have a dietician from the kitchen come visit me, usually 3–4 days into the strike. We would (again) spend over an hour going over my (same) complaints and needs and every time I am promised a satisfactory resolution and the following meal at dinner would be acceptable. Then, starting the next morning, everything goes back to exactly the same.
I have further complained to the Board of Health at least four times, the most recent being today (January 8, 2024). I was visited by an inspector (on a routine surprise visit of the facility) and he promised that after the Board of Health dietician finished inspecting the kitchen, the person would visit me...which never happened! Today, I was also visited by the lead facility dietician who has been off for 10 days with COVID-19. He was unaware that I have been refusing all of the hospice meals for 2 weeks and the only reason he visited me today was because the Board of Health was here and told him to. That was the Board's way of handling the problem (they have always said in the past that they do not get involved with meals). The dietician and hospice should have known about my issues because I told him shortly before he got sick and another dietician visited me during his leave. Today I told both the facility dietician and Board of Health inspector that I didn't expect anything to happen because after all of the complaints I made for countless years of suffering starvation and malnutrition due to the reasons stated herein, NOTHING EVER HAPPENS NOTWITHSTANDING PROMISES MADE.
Patients in hospices are already dealing with serious health conditions; they should not also have to deal with poor-quality meals that lack nutritional value. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, proper nutrition can help improve patients' quality of life during end-of-life care. Yet here we are, served food that fails to meet even basic standards while sporting a grotesque factor, and homemade liquid remedies erroneously called juice, which must instead be provided in brand-name sealed factory bottles.
This is an urgent call for our hospice administration and relevant authorities in Los Angeles to take immediate action. We demand better preparation methods for our meals using reasonable quality products. Our situation requires more than just sustenance—we need nourishment that respects our dignity as individuals navigating through times that are nightmarish at best.
Please sign this petition if you believe everyone deserves access to decent meals regardless of their circumstances or location. Your support could make a significant difference for us here at the hospice. I personally know it can happen—it has briefly in the past with previous food suppliers taking great care to feed the residents of Alexandria Care Center.
For more info:
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Petition created on January 8, 2024