Folkhälsan is a Finnish non-profit organization operating in the field of social and health services, including housing and services for the elderly. Folkhälsan has been using the JAMIX System for managing their food services since 2019. Nutrition is an important part of good care for the residents, and Restaurant Manager Ann-Catrine Edfelt uses the system diversely for nutritional monitoring of the residents. The Folkhälsan houses in the Ostrobothnia region want to notice the residents individually: ”Everyone takes care of the residents like they were their own grandparents”, Ann-Catrine smiles.
JAMIX Provides Big Help In Nutritional Monitoring
Folkhälsan’s round-the-clock institutional care units in the Ostrobothnia region perform nutritional monitoring for each resident on a yearly basis. In addition to the yearly monitoring there is a low barrier for taking action. If, for example a resident has lost weight, or if there is some other reason which indicates that the nutritional supply of the resident should be monitored in more detail.
When needed, the food services create individual recipes with JAMIX for the resident for a couple of days. This provides big help both for the care workers and for the resident, as well as for the resident’s family. The system provides accurate calculations for the nutritional supply immediately. When you know precisely how much a certain meal contains protein or energy, no one needs to worry.
In the Folkhälsan house of Mustasaari they added the amount of protein systematically into the meals of all residents. This was after they noticed from the nutritional calculations that the amount of protein was below recommendations at times. Protein supplement was added into bread dough, for example. Now all the residents get at least 18 % of their daily energy from protein. Many residents have gained weight, and the general condition has been improved, Edfelt tells with content.
Co-operation Builds Well-being For The Residents
Ann-Catrine praises the open and natural co-operation with the care workers. This is a huge benefit when taking care of the well-being of the residents. When a new resident moves into the Folkhälsan houses in the Ostrobothnia region, they have an interview where they also ask about the resident’s favorite dishes. The food services try to take these wishes into account as well as possible. The food served has a big impact on the well-being of the residents. Serving your favorite dishes can even help in settling into a new place. This was the case with one resident when the kitchen pampered him with his favorite dessert.
The food services try to take the individual eating habits of the residents into consideration in other aspects, as well. The eating preferences tend to be different in the town area of Vaasa compared to the rural area of Mustasaari. Serving familiar dishes brings back good memories, and it provides topics for conversation for the residents with memory disorders. ”It is delightful when residents can keep their identity as diners until the end of their lives. As long as a resident is able to make wishes, I will try to fulfill them”, tells Ann-Catrine.
JAMIX Provides Accuracy To Nutritional Calculations And Costing
The Folkhälsan houses in Ostrobothnia currently use JAMIX mainly for nutritional monitoring. The system provides huge help in that. ”The thought, that you should do nutritional monitoring with manual calculations is from another planet”, says Ann-Catrine. Along with nutritional monitoring you notice right away if you need to make changes in the recipes. Often little things come up in monitoring. You don’t necessarily notice them in the daily work but you do in the calculations.
In addition to the nutritional issues also the cost aspect is easy to notice when you work on the recipes in the system. Small daily savings accumulate some more money for the end of the year, for example for Christmas meals, Ann-Catrine points out. In the future the chefs will start using the system, as well, so that they can get the recipes directly from JAMIX.
Web-based System Is Easy To Use And Always At Hand
Ann-Catrin thinks that deploying the system was easy. She was unable to go to Helsinki for the training session, but she attended to it remotely from Ostrobothnia. A trainer from JAMIX had guided Ann-Catrine into nutritional calculations already before the training. ”The homework was of big help, as you could try the functionalities in the system by yourself.” Using the system is really easy. You just need to roll your sleeves, be brave and start working.
Ann-Catrine has used the JAMIX system also with a smartphone. ”In one training session we needed to check some things from the system quickly. There was no computer at hand, so I opened the system in the phone. Remembering the password was the most difficult thing, and the important figures were quickly checked.” The chefs in the kitchens might also face situations, where the computer is not at hand or open, but they always have a phone within reach. This way the web-based JAMIX system goes seamlessly together with the daily work of the kitchen.
”Even If You Don’t Always Know Everything, JAMIX Will Provide An Answer”
When we ask Ann-Catrin about co-operation and customer service, she laughs: ”Well that is the wonderful part. You always get an answer, and usually very quickly.” Ann-Catrin says she has also gotten advice on how you could do things differently so that the system works in the desired way. ”It is so safe. Even if you don’t always know everything, JAMIX will provide you an answer.”
Along with the deployment Ann-Catrin remembers to have been surprised when she was asked about wishes concerning the system. ”I appreciated that JAMIX contacted me and asked me what I want.” Even if the system would not include some specific features, many needs can be fulfilled when you creatively think of alternative ways with the JAMIX experts. At the end of the day these are the little things that mean that they listen to you.
Key Words In The Future: Leading With Data And Living In The Moment
Ann-Catrin believes that the use of systems will increase especially in the care industry. Monitoring will be needed more than before, and leading with knowledge will become a routine in the food services, as well. ”The need for information will increase, and the systems can answer to that need.” The customers want to know that the children will get proper food in kindergartens and schools, or that everything is ok with granny in the senior home. As the number of different trend diets increase, it is easy to check from the system that they comply with the nutritional recommendations.
Ann-Catrine wants to believe that once the exceptional times are over, living in the moment will be emphasized, and we will more often take notice of little things like enjoyment of daily meals. Maybe we will appreciate our loved ones more, when after a long time we will be able to meet them and touch them. ”We could take those grandmas and grandpas for lunch or cup of coffee once a week”, Ann-Catrin suggests. Fifteen minutes a week is not that much, but the meaning of a shared meal is still so big to all of us.
Ann-Catrine encourages new JAMIX customers to bravely start using the system. ”You get lots of benefits with little effort!”
