D o You ever feel discouraged over your efforts to feed the aged patient in the hospital? The aides cannot pick up Mrs. Flower's tray because she has been nursing a piece of bread for half an hour while the rest of her food turns cold. Mr. Webster's trembling hands have knocked over his glass of milk, and his bed was just changed. When the elderly patient does not eat, he is often labelled a feeding problem and subjected to a variety of approaches. He may be fed, sometimes forcibly and as quickly as possible. He may receive enriched between-meal snacks which do not appeal to him at all or, as a last resort, he may even be given tube feedings or intravenous fluids. Sometimes none of these meas-