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Somerfield staff celebrates Center for Quality Aging feeding course

A well-deserved celebration took place in The Heritage at Brentwood’s Somerfield Health Center in mid-September. Eighteen Somerfield employees have successfully completed feeding assistant training offered by the Center for Quality Aging through Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The course “heightens our Food & Beverage and Community Life Services team members’ skill set,” Molly McDevitt, Somerfield’s registered dietitian nutritionist and a certified specialist in gerontological nutrition, explains. These skills include assistance with feeding and hydration, recognizing the warning signs of malnutrition and dehydration, mastering appropriate feeding techniques for certified feeding assistants, and recognizing changes in residents related to the dining experience.

“Our nursing staff is trained with these skills during their education,” McDevitt says. “Having these additional staff members available to provide this assistance absolutely enhances our residents care.”

The online course includes eight hours of training, followed by both written and hands-on evaluations.

About Somerfield: The Heritage’s on-campus Somerfield Health Center offers a full spectrum of senior health care services, including short- and long-term skilled nursing, rehabilitative services and memory care. An assisted-living neighborhood is connected to the health center.