Failure to Consistently Provide and Offer Required Evening Snacks
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure the consistent provision and availability of evening and bedtime snacks in accordance with residents’ needs and preferences. One resident, who was alert and oriented and restricted to bed, reported that they had never been provided or offered a snack by the facility and relied on family to bring snacks, expressing a desire to at least be offered something to see if there was an item they liked. Another alert and oriented resident in a wheelchair stated they were missing snacks at times, especially in the evenings, and explained that if they were not at the nurses’ station when snacks were passed out, they did not receive one. This resident described that snacks such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pudding, and chips were available but that residents had to “run to that desk” to get them, and there were days they did not receive a snack despite wanting one daily. A family member of a nonverbal resident reported they were not aware of the resident receiving snacks and stated the resident seemed hungry during visits, leading the family member to request double food portions, which were often not received. During the interview, the nonverbal resident, who used a manual wheelchair, indicated through nonverbal cues (pointing to the surveyor’s and their own stomach and grimacing) that they were hungry at night, which the family member said occurred often. The family member had not been offered a grievance or concern form regarding snacks until prompted during the survey. The Dietary Manager reported that snacks such as chips, cookies, Jello, pudding, sandwiches, and rice crispy treats were prepared and sent to the unit on a tray, but acknowledged awareness of residents stealing and hoarding snacks and stated it was possible staff were taking snacks as they disappeared quickly. Although dry snacks were observed in the Dietary Manager’s office, residents’ reports and staff statements demonstrated that snacks were not reliably offered or made accessible to all residents as required by the facility’s policy, which states that all residents on regular diets are to be offered a bedtime snack each evening and that such snacks must be documented as offered.
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