COVID-19 Concerns and Solutions

We have been sharing LANTERN LOCK DOWN TIPS to help aged care providers and loved ones of residents within aged care help minimise the known risk of the current necessary COVID-19 restrictions on malnutrition. There are simple steps homes, staff and friends/family can take to ensure aged care residents don't fall victim to malnutrition during "physical isolation". Here's a few words from our founder, Dr Cherie Hugo on the topic. Check out The Lantern Project Facebook Page posts over March and April for simple ideas to consider.

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Taste of Heritage recipe initiative

The Lantern Project and CBORD invite you to join us in gathering the nation's most loved and trusted recipes. The Taste of Heritage recipe initiative has 3 goals - 1. To address the increasing problem of social isolation, 2. To encourage generations to connect in a meaningful way (sharing great recipes) and 3. To help us to develop a national database of generation-specific recipes for aged care homes to access.
We invite individuals and schools to connect with older community members and residents within aged care homes across the country using our online tool to chat, share favourite recipes and be part of a movement towards meaningful change. The initiative will launch in the coming week and begin featuring some of the wonderful recipes via The Lantern Project Website (www.TheLanternProject.com.au) and via The Lantern Project Australia facebook page. To register your interest (as an individual, a school or an aged care home), contact us today.

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Our December 2019 Conference Summary

If you missed our conference to finish up 2019, click here to see a snapshot of speakers and topics and be sure to mark Nov 6 2020 in your calendar for the Lantern Conference 2020.

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Checkout our last year in a nutshell here!

If you are yet to join in to The Lantern Project - here's our last year in a nutshell to give you a snapshot of what our project (and members) are all about!

Sound up for a fun run through last year.

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Dr Cherie Hugo on the news.

STOP PRESS!! We've been in the news a lot lately. Here are a few links...

CLICK HERE to watch

EXPLORE App on the radio.

Click here to hear The Lantern Project on Radio National's Future Tense with Dr Rebecca Huntley

CLICK HERE to listen to Radio National Interview

Join the Instagram Lantern Creative Challenge!

What is it? A competition for recognition of excellence in food preparation in the aged care setting.

Who can be involved? Aged care catering staff Australia-wide.

When? Start capturing your pictures now!

How?
1. Follow us on Instagram - @thelanternprojectoz
2. Capture and upload your creative challenge dish to Instagram
3. Tag your pic with @thelanternprojectoz
4. Include the following information in the message – Dish Name, Aged Care Organisation Name and the your state.
5. Apply the following taglines - #lanternfood #agfg #thelanternproject #agedcare #food, #LanternCreativeChallenge

Welcoming you to get involved!

Lantern Collaboration Meeting - Get Involved!

Join us on June 5, 2020 - for a focused collaborative discussion around Culture Change around the Food, Nutrition and Mealtime Experience.

When? Friday, June 5, 7.30am-9am (AEST Time)

Where? Bond University Institute of Health and Sport, Level 5, 2 Promethean Way, Robina, 4226. (attend via webinar link OR in person (if COVID19 restrictions allow))

RSVP essential - click below to book your spot

Register Here for the June Collaboration meeting

RSVP for future meetings here

Next Meetings -

Friday, June 5 - Lantern June Collaboration Meeting "Culture Change around Food, Nutrition and Mealtime Experience"

Friday, July 3, 2020 - Lantern July Collaboration Meeting "Personhood - Meaningfully engaging with residents around food and mealtimes"

Friday, August 7, 2020 - Lantern August Collaboration Meeting

Friday, September 4, 2020 - Lantern September Collaboration Meeting

Friday, October 2, 2020 - Lantern October Collaboration Meeting

Friday, November 6, 2020 - Lantern 2021 CONFERENCE - SAVE THE DATE

Friday, December 4, 2020 - Lantern December Collaboration Meeting

Calendar for Lantern monthly events

Lantern Lock Down Tips Video

Social isolation increases risk of malnutrition amongst older adults. During COVID-19 restrictions, we've been sharing simple ways that everyone (loved ones of residents and aged care organisations) can help reduce this risk. Check our our video which shares some of the simple strategies we've been encouraging over lock down.

CLICK HERE to watch

Lantern COVID-19 Message

Amidst the current flurry with COVID-19, a quick reminder that food, nutrition and mealtime experience are the foundation of immune function and health outcomes.

Lantern COVID-19 Message

Current restrictions for aged care residents are vital given they are vulnerable HOWEVER...

Research shows that Social Isolation & Loneliness immediately:
- further increases the risk of malnutrition across our homes
- Malnutrition reduces immune function, increases risk of infection, falls, hospital admissions & quite clearly, death.

Lantern research shows simple strategies, incl staff engagement, can reduce malnutrition by 44% in 3 months.

MESSAGE TO ALL AGED CARE PROVIDERS - Catering services & staff support around mealtimes are more vital than ever right now. Opportunities to improve the mealtime experience for residents CAN improve intake & malnutrition levels. Join The Lantern Project for support in this space.

MESSAGE TO AGED CARE CATERING TEAMS - NOW is your time to step up & demonstrate how your service can positively impact our most vulnerable during this difficult time. Join The Lantern Project for support in this space.

The Lantern Approach - Cost Effective

The Nourish Study was presented at LASA Congress 2017. This 3 month intervention demonstrated The Lantern Approach - special food first strategies, staff education along with the removal of supplements - offered positives all around. For more information, check out the digital poster presentation and contact us.

CLICK HERE to watch

What are we spending on aged care food in Australia?

Spoiler alert.....More on Supplements and Less on Fresh Food.
In case you missed our presentations at LASA Congress 2017, we've posted the digital posters to keep you updated on some of the latest Lantern Research.

CLICK HERE to watch

Share your Story!

A few moments of your time can make a huge contribution to our work. Sharing one food memory will go a long way in helping us share much needed evidence to further improve the dining experience for nursing home residents. Grab a cuppa and share your aged care food experience.

SHARE YOUR STORY

EXPLORE App on the news!

STOP PRESS!! We made the news again. Thankyou Terraces Assisted Living Centre's staff and residents and Bond University for helping on the day!

CLICK HERE to watch

SHINING THE LIGHT FOR OLDER AUSTRALIANS

The Lantern Project came about from an urgent need for change. I am a dietitian and I work in aged care every day. Current statistics show 50-80% of aged care residents in Australia are malnourished and I know there's ample room to improve on this. In order to look for ways to make positive change we began The Lantern Project - a national collaboration with the central goal to improve quality of life through great food and nutrition. This project is not about finger-pointing or laying blame, it is about getting in and working out tangible solutions that will work for everyone. Above all, it is about giving aged care residents the quality of life they deserve through improving the food and dining experience. And that is something every Australian deserves.
Dr Cherie Hugo, Founder

ABOUT THE PROJECT

We'll be heading out on Lantern Aged Care Food Safaris in 2019!

If you enjoyed the 8 "Little Things" videos from the 2017 and 2018 Lantern Aged Care Food Safari, then stay tuned....We will be heading out on safari again in 2019 and will be sharing the next instalment in the "Lantern Little Things" videos.

Here's the background -

Factors affecting the dining experience in aged care homes are complex and the constraints are many. Often within this complex environment, the ability to innovate revolves around a culture that encourages staff to trial small novel ideas and gauge impact. The purpose of The Lantern Aged Care Safari "Little Things" project is to immerse within the culture of a number of identified innovative aged care food service settings to identify, document and further explore the impact of one novel idea (one “simple thing”) with the purpose to video capture the innovation, share the video via The Lantern Project, to inspire aged care homes Australia-wide.

The result? We will produce a short sweet video highlighting the great work from a few aged care homes and share it across social media. It's all about posting good news stories and we invite you to register your innovative organisation for the next round. Contact us via email to nominate your organisation today.

Check out the food safari videos on Facebook

LANTERN COLLABORATIVE MEETS MONTHLY ON THE GOLD COAST

The Lantern Project Collaborative meets on the Gold Coast on a monthly basis to progress the work of the project, to strengthen our networks and work towards our individual and shared goals.

The meetings are held over a light breakfast on the first Friday of each month from 7.30am-9am. Participants can join in person or via teleconference.

JOIN THE COLLABORATIVE