Speaking of importance in a dining room… “I stopped trying to chase the perfect place to be, and realized the perfect place is with your loved ones and your closest friends, around the dinner table, over a good meal, talking about the past year and the year to come...
Autumn turns a chef’s ideas to serving comforting foods to your community residents gathering around the traditional table of warmth and congeniality. It’s a time for coming in out of the cold, looking forward to sharing a meal and conversation that warms your heart...
“As soon as the trees begin to turn into a glorious canvas of autumn colors, I begin to think of Thanksgiving Day. I mean this year’s Thanksgiving Day to come, based on all the previous ones I remember. I love that Day and think it is my favorite holiday of the year...
When a friend who taught occupational therapy suffered a stroke and wound up in a nursing home for permanent and long term care, she learned a new way to look at what she had been teaching for many years. As her progress restored her to a normal life again she wrote...
My friend told me “I admit that I was eavesdropping in a restaurant when I heard the word ‘bullying’ mentioned. Expecting to hear a story about kids in school I was quite surprised when they were talking about a senior community not too far away. Claiming territory in...
A writer friend, who enjoys traveling solo, says she prefers staying at B & B style inns rather than hotels when she goes to Great Britain. There is such a huge difference even though hotels also extend courtesy and consideration. She said, “It is usually like...
Teenagers looking for jobs during the summer and school vacation times often apply at retirement communities. One in particular was a boy working in the kitchen. When he started, he had no other thoughts than earning money toward future education. His entire attitude...
There are days when any commercial kitchen can run into problems. Electrical systems shut down for some unknown reason, the fresh vegetable supply didn’t come in, the chef took ill, the sous chef has poison ivy, and so on. Can those problems be fixed? A back-up...
I often write about welcoming new residents that have chosen your community for the next chapter of their lives, which may be a fresh beginning for them. Your dining room is an important place for them to meet friends by sharing a meal and listening to their stories....
Ambiance in the dining room is vital to success in the community. That means a food serving staff working together, cheerfully, enjoying the work they do. Dining seniors will respond in kind to that attitude if they see it every mealtime. Forward-thinking providers...
A friend told me about her friend Anne starting a new job as a food server in a senior living community. She ran smack into a bully that pulled gloom down over everyone in the dining room. It was a sad place to be. She boldly criticized every other food server trying...
Seniors telling their stories is an important part of who they are as they evolve into their elder years. I heard a WWII veteran tell his story on NPR’s StoryCorp. He was part of a platoon who had to come up with ideas on deception; how to fool the enemy into...
If you think that the next employee you hire will bring a fresh new outlook to your present group of food servers, take a deep breath and rethink that thought. Remember the last time you hired a person you thought was perfect for the job only to find that one little...
Do you remember Deborah Kerr singing Getting to Know You in the film The King & I with Yul Brynner? It’s a lovely, happy scene where she meets the King’s children, all of them. As the new teacher, she is in the same situation as the food servers in your community...
We all know that the dining room in the community is not the same as a restaurant vying for its place in popularity with the public. But we also know that a community dining room run like that popular restaurant is a place we are aiming for. To satisfy our residents,...
Mealtimes meeting the American Geriatrics Society recommendations and the latest CMS regulations are goals. Communities have been challenged with the problem of seniors changing their habits from relying on appetite stimulants or high calorie supplements to keep their...
When Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple he didn’t sit back and watch others succeed. He bought Pixar and moved the company to a location planned with three separate buildings that would hold separate departments. He scrapped that whole idea quickly and decided that...
Remember being 24 years old, going out to dinner with the person/people you wanted most to spend time with. See yourself being recognized when you were greeted at the door of the restaurant and was led to a table you favored. This was where you wanted to savor your...
Maybe when you are unhappy it is better to go out for a walk instead of feeding your unhappiness with a plate of pie a la mode. In a study conducted at Iowa State University, students were directed to walk around campus for 12 minutes and practice one of three...
Communication is the glue that holds people together creating better working environments that create happier atmospheres for residents. Kind conversations are the handiest way to have communications between co workers. Food servers are the leaders in moving forward...
When Sally helped her mother select a long term community to continue her life after selling her home, she felt it was time for a change in her own life too. She left her job on cruise ships to working in her mother’s community, primarily in the dining room. Even...
Rebecca thinks back to ten years ago when she suffered a stroke at 52 years of age and wound up in a short term Rehab facility. In the beginning meals were brought to her room. There was a noticeable difference in the attitude of who delivered her meals. One gal...
Joe couldn’t wait to go into the world as a young man looking for the adventures that would never come to him in the small mid-western town where he grew up. He traveled the world working on cruise ships, survived his adventures, and never did return to his hometown....
A friend was reminiscing about her first job after leaving babysitting behind. It was working in a luncheonette which is a smallish neighborhood restaurant that serves home style cooking, the kind that brings comfort when you need it and even when you don’t. It was a...
A friend told me she saw where a woman had left a bakery, smiling and happy with her warm bagel smeared with cream cheese and strawberry preserves, heading for the office. When she stopped at the curb to wait for the light to turn green, she saw him. Him being a man...
The story came to me about two brothers looking for a retirement living community for their elderly mother. They knew their mom was a modern thinking woman. They also knew that age would catch up to her in time and wanted that aging to take place in a community that...
Football coaches such as Vince Lombardi become legends by bringing their team to be top winners over and over again. At the beginning of training season he would traditionally hold up a pigskin and say, “Gentlemen, this is a football” in front of the rookies and...
Linda’s mother Anna moved from her retirement community after living there for only a year. “I never really felt at home there.” She said. “This new community that Linda found made me feel like they were truly happy to have me here. I’m greeted in the dining room with...
A friend told me about Claire, a college student who was hired as a food server in a nearby assisted living community for the summer months. She said she had worked with serving food when she was hired but it wasn’t very long before her nervousness caused her to spill...
A friend’s mother-in-law, Minnie, decided on retirement living a year after her husband passed away. On her first visit to the dining room she spotted one of those don’t even think about sitting here looks from a snooty looking woman where one chair was vacant at her...
If you’re not moving forward you’re moving backwards. Many changes are taking place in the community of today. Over thirty years ago when I began my career in healthcare food service, I entered the field at the lower end. I recall feeling the sting of being...
A friend told me about an acquaintance of hers who was widowed unexpectedly. Her husband had not been ill or shown any sign of the heart seizure that took his life. She was bereft. He took care of all the finances, maintenance of the house, and other responsibilities....
Walk into many elementary school buildings these days and you’ll notice posters and banners advocating being a friend not a bully. It is best and easiest to change negative attitudes early in life, opening the minds of children to show kindness and friendliness....
