Hot Topic – Optimising the mealtime experience for older adults: The role of OT and the multi-D team

SESSION OVERVIEW

Food plays an important role in our brain health and general well-being, however this often seems to be forgotten or ignored when it comes to the mealtimes of older adults, especially those living in residential care or who require support at home.

Occupational therapists are well placed to drive change and transform mealtime experiences for older adults.

This session has been inspired by Maggie Beer's Big Mission and we are fortunate to have Elizabeth Oliver, occupational therapist and change consultant on Maggie Beer’s Big Mission start the session with an informative and engaging presentation. This will be followed by a panel discussion featuring a multidisciplinary team of experts who will share their insights, answer your questions and offer their valuable expertise to the discussion.

This session will explore:

• Mealtime experience for older people including how ageing impacts appetite and food intake, the effects of physical and cognitive changes and the influence of the environment on mealtimes.
• Influence of environment and setting on mealtime experiences including in residential care facilities and home environments
• Connection, engagement and socialisation that mealtimes can provide and the many benefits that follow including maintenance of cognition, function and emotional wellbeing
• Role of occupational therapists in enhancing mealtime experiences and their role within the multidisciplinary team
• Impact of an organisation’s culture, structure, funding, governance, compliance, and workforce on mealtime support and experience
• Research that supports the many benefits achieved from optimal mealtime experiences beyond nutritional benefits
• Strategies for supporting meal times of older adults with cognitive impairments, non-verbal communication needs, bed-based requirements, and complex dietary needs
• Top tips and practical ways to support OTs to make a difference in optimising mealtime experience for older adults

Join us at this Hot Topic session to gain the essential skills and knowledge to lead change with confidence and make a significant impact on the lives of older adults – register now! 

For more information about Maggie Beer’s Big Mission and view the program on ABC iview,  click here.

This session is suitable for:

Suitable for OTs at any career stage.

Health practitioners from other disciplines are also welcome to attend.

PRESENTERS

  Elizabeth Oliver

Occupational Therapist, Elizabeth Oliver, is an innovator in aged care. She has worked with older adults for the past 20 years, as well as teaching at Curtin University. With a passion to improve the quality of life for older Australians, Elizabeth delivers evidence-based culture change initiatives. Recently, Elizabeth was the project manager and change consultant during Maggie Beer's Big Mission. This role was a continuation of her decade's work to demonstrate how transformation in mealtime care can provide a pathway towards more humanistic and person-centred ways of caring – promoting independence, choice, social interaction and respect. Elizabeth is committed to advocating for the role of allied health services in residential aged care and the importance of cultivating cultures of teamwork, learning and innovation. Elizabeth aspires to change attitudes and reduce stigma towards aged care and dementia and demonstrate that systemic change is possible. Elizabeth is the founder of Memory Box Collective, and is the convenor of the WA Occupational Therapy Aged Care Interest Group.

  Emma Falconer

A highly skilled and experienced Dietitian with 10 years of experience in the field of aged care, Emma has developed a deep understanding of the unique nutritional needs and challenges faced by many older adults. Emma conducts comprehensive nutritional assessments, interpreting laboratory results, and developing menus that meet the specific dietary requirements of the older adult. She also has a good working knowledge of the complex regulatory landscape of aged care facilities and a thorough understanding of the Aged Care Quality Standards and ways to implement and monitor compliance. Emma has a food first philosophy and making every mouthful count. Emma believes that food fortification is an important aspect to ensure the nutritional needs of older adults are met whilst not sacrificing on flavour.

  Natalie O’Brien

Natalie is an experienced and passionate speech pathologist and advocate for older people with swallowing and communication difficulties, and is dedicated to ensuring all people have safe, enjoyable and fulfilling mealtime experiences. Natalie has over twenty years’ experience working across a number of different sectors, including aged care, rehabilitation, early childhood, schools and clinical education. In her role in aged care, Natalie advocates for the balance between clinical safety and quality of life, integrating person-centred principles and regulatory frameworks to guide clinical care. Her work focuses on training, upskilling, collaborating, connecting and finding innovative ways to ensure mealtimes are both safe and fulfilling for all. Natalie provides support to individuals, families, facilities, communities and organisations to ensure that all people, regardless of age or ability, can find meaning and enjoyment in their lives.

  Kate Lamont

Kate has over 20 years’ experience in, working across the healthcare, aged care and policy continuum. With a clinical background in Occupational Therapy, Kate’s area of interest is supporting older people and people living with dementia, across community, health care and residential aged care settings. Kate has expertise in environmental design, having worked with various health and aged care providers to review their environments against industry standards, implementing practical and sustainable solutions for improved client outcomes. This includes creating environments to enable and support people living with dementia. Her background in policy, quality and project management, combined with her OT expertise has led to Kate working with organisations to make effective large scale environmental, system and process improvements. Kate is credentialed as a Positive Approach to Dementia Care Champion Teacher, recently being trained by US OT and Dementia Guru, Teepa Snow. Together with co-director Kathy Kirby, Kate is a founder and director of Thrive Aged Care Consultants, working collaboratively with service providers, creating the right conditions so the older people receiving care and services Thrive.

  Naomi Moylan

Naomi Moylan (Bachelor of Arts, Grad Dip Business, Masters of Occupational Therapy, Diploma of Dementia Care) is an Occupational Therapist who has focussed on working with people living with Dementia. Naomi has established a private practice, Collaborate Occupational Therapy in Perth to be able to offer a rehabilitation and evidence based approach to support and enable people living with Dementia and their families. This includes the Care of People Living with Dementia in their Environment Program (COPE) and the Tailored Activity Program (TAP). Naomi has also trained in the Cognitive Disability Model to use functional cognition observation and assessment to support a person centred and strengths based approach. Naomi is also developing Younger Onset Dementia services with Brightwater Care Group. Prior to these roles Naomi worked as an Occupational Therapist in residential care and the community; tutoring; and dementia friendly community development work.

DATE:

Wednesday 11^th September 2024

TIME:

Presentation Commences:

• 4:00pm | VIC, NSW, QLD, ACT, TAS |
• 3:30pm | SA, NT |
• 2:00pm | WA |

The session will run for approximately 2 hours

Please login 10 minutes before the scheduled presentation time

RECORDING ACCESS:

This session will be recorded and available for all registrants for 30 days. A link to the recording will be provided following the event's completion; please allow us two business days to prepare the recording. You must register and pay to receive the link to the recording.

REGISTRATION FEES

EARLYBIRD – Book on or before 25 August 2024

• OTA Member: $54
• OTA Student/New Graduate Member: $49
• Non-member: $70

STANDARD – Book on or after 26 August 2024

• OTA Member: $60
• OTA Student/New Graduate Member: $54
• Non-Member: $78

RSVPS close 08 September 2024

Members must be logged in with username and password to register at the member rate.

VENUE

This is a 100% virtual event. You will receive an email with details to access the event two days ahead of the scheduled event date.

DISCLAIMER

All information is correct at the time of publication. OTA reserves the right to alter or delete items from the CPD calendar as required, and takes no responsibility for any errors, omissions, and changes.

All resources including copies of the presentation, along with all supporting documents and links are not for distribution and are the property of the presenter.

An OTA staff member or representative may be photographing this event for use in OTA publications and/or on OTA social media sites. If you do not wish to be photographed, or have your image published please make this known to the OTA representative at your course or contact OTA on 1300 682 878 or info@otaus.com.au

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms and Conditions including OTA’s refund and cancellation policy are available here

CONTACT US

Please email info@otaus.com.au or phone 1300 682 878