Oldies but goodies on retirement home menu

Sushi, tapas, chili rellenos, foie gras? Not on the menu. At least not at several local retirement facilities.
But they may be in the near future, especially as the roughly 29 million Americans turning 60 this year start to think about retirement. As they choose senior housing, one big consideration will be the food.
"I think it's one of the key criteria," said Maura Ferrigno, executive director of the Inn at Robbins Brook in Acton.
Here's a window into the world of dining in three communities in our area. An admission: I have already eaten my way through a number of dining rooms during the search for my mother's senior housing. Don't expect haute cuisine or upscale restaurant fare, even in affluent communities. This food is for an older generation that dined at their country club on standard American cuisine, with a dash of French, Italian, Chinese, and Southwestern.

Making the tough decision about a care facility

MAKING AND carrying out a decision to place an older relative in an assisted living or skilled care facility can be as difficult as trying to meet their needs at home. Increase your chances of success by using these strategies:
-Decide whether it is time to switch from providing and overseeing care yourself to delegating most of the hands-on care and socialization to a care
facility team. Consider both your relative's and your own capabilities and needs, as well as resources to help with such a decision and transition.
Get guidance and support for your decision. Anticipate how such a change will affect your daily life and feeling of responsibility. If you have been motivated by a do-it-yourself attitude or by guilt, are you prepared to let go and accept your decision?
-Determine the appropriate level of care for your relative.

The highly contagious stomach virus that shut down a hotel near Dulles Airport last weekend cropped up in an Annapolis assisted living facility, which quarantined 15 elderly residents.
There is no story here. I recommend you don't come in. I don't want you to get sick with what they have," Elona Myers, director of the Sunrise Senior Living facility in Annapolis, told The Examiner.
Sunrise quarantined 15 patients with gastroenteritis an inflammation of the intestines and stomach, said Megan Lublin, spokeswoman for Sunrise Senior Living. Quarantined patients are suffering from gastroenteritis and stomach-flu," she said.
Gastroenteritis is caused by norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The highly contagious norovirus is the same infection that caused the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport hotel to close for a floor-to-ceiling disinfection after 120 people were infected.