The philosophy of The Vicarage has always been to offer food and fluids until the end of life for its dementia residents. The Vicarage, however, does not resort to tubes and machines in order to accomplish this task.
Instead, like The New York Times article, Food and the Dying Patient, suggests we feed our residents “by hand. Spooned slowly so as not to overwhelm… [that such food and fluid] may be the last small pleasures for a dying body.”
The Vicarage offers long term dementia care in its truest sense, caring from the time a resident arrives through the end of life.
The staff caring for these individuals remain the same familiar faces throughout this journey. They share times of laughter and sorrow together. Meals are an integral communal experience, allowing time to be present with others and engage in the primal experience of loving, home cooked nourishment.