The MGEN Institute of La Verrière: improving residents’ quality of life
Since February 2013, the MGEN Institute of La Verrière, located in the Yvelines region, has worked in partnership with Sodexo to provide a comprehensive range of quality of life services and contribute to patients’ and residents’ well-being.
Meals are a part of rehabilitation, meals are therapeutic. We must adapt to each individual on a case-by-case basis. Frédéric Blanchard, Sodexo Site Director
The MGEN Institute of La Verrière consists of two sites: Denis Forestier, an assisted living and rehabilitation community and Marcel Rivière, a psychiatric center.
Today, major reconstruction work is underway.
What is the goal of this work? The goal is to consolidate all assisted living, rehabilitation, and psychiatric and activities at the Marcel Rivière site. "This is a fairly large site that, because of its size, will allow us to bring together all of our services. In the near future, we’ll have 185 beds for psychiatric patients, 114 beds for patients in follow-up and rehabilitation and 186 beds for assisted living, for a total of 485 places," explains Gwenael Pillon, Property Director at the Institute.
Personalized meals
The partnership with Sodexo, signed in 2013, was initially for culinary services. "We have a central kitchen that cooks 1,000 meals a day which are then sent to 20 different delivery points before being served by our patient care staff. We mainly deliver meal trays to residents’ rooms or offer plate service in the dining rooms," says Frédéric Blanchard, Sodexo Site Manager.
In the psychiatric ward, "meals are a part of rehabilitation, meals are therapeutic. We must adapt to each individual on a case-by-case basis. Currently, 35% of our patients are on special diets or require special dishes."
A complete range of services
In 2015, Sodexo expanded its service offering to include bio cleaning and hired more than 60 employees. "This is an important department in terms of human resources and planning. Because we work in a medical environment, strict cleaning protocols must be followed to guarantee the safety, health and comfort of all patients and residents."
Sodexo also provides linen management, including clean laundry, limiting losses and managing waste. "We’re also doing more and more safety checks, removal and maintenance of kitchen equipment," the site manager says.
But Sodexo’s involvement doesn’t stop there! Since new construction began in 2016, Sodexo has been working with the MGEN Institute of La Verrière to ensure all residents experience the transition phase as smoothly as possible.
"As Sodexo participates more and more in the life of the community, the company has naturally become increasingly involved in the development of our project. Its perfect knowledge of our practices and special patient and resident care has made it possible to plan our future restaurant space, equipment and design" Gwenael Pillon, Property Director at the Institute
A single governance for an effective partnership
More than 110 Sodexo employees work at the MGEN Institute of La Verrière. As the client's sole point of contact, Frédéric Blanchard manages and coordinates all activities on site. He is perfectly integrated into the Institute's organization and supported by two assistants: one assistant oversees culinary services and logistics and the other, bio cleaning.
Local supervision is also in place in order to improve responsiveness, with group leaders working in each department.
"It's something that runs smoothly, and we're all very committed," notes Frédéric Blanchard. "I am fortunate to have an excellent partner, our client, with whom it is truly a pleasure to work with. The client is very attentive, and we have a great deal of respect for each other.”
As Sodexo participates more and more in the life of the community, the company has naturally become increasingly involved in the development of our project. Gwénaël Pillon, Property Director at the Institute