Recently on an online program about reframing aging, the first male guest speaker stated that a retirement home is the last place you would want to put Mom! Ack! This man has been out of touch with today’s retirement and long-term care communities! He hasn’t been...
The trend shows that employees seek work positions where they can grow as individuals; feel accepted for who they are and their work. Challenges, education with training, and a voice that can make suggestions and improvements seem more important than a high wage. They...
Coleen and Kelly were out for their monthly lunch date. They decided to go to a small, family-owned Mexican restaurant near Kelly’s neighborhood, instead of the bistro where they normally met. “Variety is the spice of life,” Kelly said as they were seated by the wife...
Tom was talking to his younger, married brother Bob about taking time to do some repairs around their mother’s house. “I can’t be here to do all the repairs that are needed. I have to fly out tomorrow for a meeting in Chicago and I’ll be gone for ten days. It...
Advice. We are all familiar with advice, whether giving it or receiving it. If you are over 30, you may have already followed some bad advice and suffered its results unhappily. It’s not unusual for a person starting in life after completing their schooling to ask a...
Do your employees know how important each resident in your senior living community is to your company's success? A long-time friend who is an avid reader sends items of interest to me about long-term living, which she knows I’ll enjoy. For example, a recent article...
“Do you ever have a day when everything you touch goes wrong?” Betty said to her husband Joe when she arrived home late from working in a senior living community. “You know I have always loved working in foodservice and enjoy working with the elderly. I’ve known for a...
Does a company that hires minimum wage earners to need to invest in the expense of training? Absolutely! Investing in your assisted living and senior living community servers enhances the interaction between your serving teams and your residents. It is more than...
The story came to me about a couple who needed to resettle into an assisted living community where they could get the best care. Both of them had Alzheimer's, at the same level of memory loss. Their son was alarmed, knowing that many communities right now are working...
Word came to me by way of a friend who has both parents in an assisted living community for the loss of memory. “In particular,” she said, “seeing the same, familiar faces each day is most important to them. Talking with one of the caregivers who said it is especially...
Food has always been a comforter, whether coming home from school to nibble on the snack Mom had ready for you, chicken soup when you were ill, or gathering around the table for Sunday dinners or grand holidays with family and friends. Food is still the number one...
Many long-term care communities are finding ways to cut expenses yet benefit their residents at the same time. One of those improvements is investing in a garden. An area is set aside for residents to participate in the gardening program of planting, maintaining, and...
The pandemic has trimmed many workforces in our long-term care communities. Yet if you read the articles about the industry of food service, you will find that many employees leave the job within the first 90 days because they didn’t know what their work...
After some fast-paced games of basketball, a shower, and a change of clothes, Matthew and David drove to their favorite Burger, Fries, & Beer Tavern with hearty appetites and a thirst for discussion about the latest news of their long term living communities. With...
It’s only natural that we think everyone who knows where we work and what we do, knows all about our highs and lows of the workday, during these pandemic times, including our struggles to get things right. Not so! People outside our Long Term Care, Senior Living, and...
Kelly was so charged about her new idea for the next employee meeting that she could hardly concentrate on a menu choice at their favorite lunch Bistro. “We’ve talked to our residents about being unable to order some foods and stock items right now that aren’t...
A friend recently sent this to me after seeing the body of work curated: “Researchers have confirmed what parents have known for a long time. Sharing a meal is good for the spirit, the brain, and the...
It is time to stand back and examine where your budget from last year succeeded your desires or failed them. In these times of severe labor shortages, if you have lost employees this past year you need to know why and how you can prevent losing employees ever...
Sometimes in the rush to get our work responsibilities completed in a timely manner, we overlook what is the most important part of our job in a senior care community. It is the residents who have changed their lives completely, often selling the family homestead,...
A friend recently told me about a note she received from a friend who had just moved into an assisted living community several states away from where they lived. Their friendship covered many years. It held the following message. “My move into the assisted living...
A friend of mine who lives alone and enjoys her own company often dines out on her own. She says, shamelessly, that she eavesdrops on other conversations going on around her. People carelessly reveal quite a bit over a lunch or dinner table. Recently she heard a...
Remember the time when you were out for a special occasion dinner in a charming restaurant where the food was all it was promised to be? And then the entire mealtime was ruined because the waiter was in a bad mood and you left the restaurant feeling that you wasted...
“Well, have you worn your thinking cap this past month?” Colleen asked. “I’m anxious to hear what suggestions you’ve come up with for the holiday preparation meeting.” Colleen and Kelly were having their monthly lunch together enjoying waitpersons attending to them as...
The holiday season is an emotional time that can be changed from having the blues and missing particular loved ones, to the idea of forming new traditions, adding new friends to your Christmas list. Very often it is a matter of suggestion and that is where your food...
What can you do when the entire industry has been affected by the pandemic? It is vital to help residents understand why you may not fulfill every request they have at the present time. Residents really have no idea about the inner workings of your foodservice team....
Colleen and Kelly kept their usual lunch date to discuss the upcoming employee meeting in their senior living community. So many changes have taken place over the last two years that they like to stay aware of them. They also enjoy contributing new ideas to help their...
Labor shortage couldn’t come at a worse time for Long Term Care and Retirement Living communities! The largest number of people is reaching retirement age than ever before and they are living longer! This is no time to be short of food serving staff. Yet with the...
“I’m concerned that my company may be in trouble,” Matthew commented. “We’ve lost too many of our staff for various reasons and it isn’t easy to replace them. We’re trying different ways to encourage them to stay, including increases in pay. It should work if that is...
”Well, I could hardly wait to call you to tell you that my daughter Kate had a class at school in Civility this week. It referred to last August being National Win with Civility Month.” Dolores was talking with her brother Robert. She often discussed problems that...
Commonly, being civil is not something everyone is consciously aware of in their daily behavior. Someone, or group, believes we need more civility in our lives because August was appointed “Win with Civility” month. Organizations, companies, and even government...
You may ask how your food serving team can be expected to retain their enthusiasm on the job when times, such as this past year have brought challenges they were not prepared for. Now that Long Term Care, Assisted Living, and Independent Retirement Communities have...
John and Paul have been challenging each other to a game of chess since they both had a full head of hair, a wife, and young children. When John was widowed after nearly 50 years of marriage he moved into a Retirement Living Community. A few years later Paul followed...
Colleen was explaining to a relative newcomer to the Senior Living community Kelly, how she came to work here several years ago. “Gram moved in about a year after Grandpa passed away. She no longer wanted to maintain the big, old country house anymore or to wander...
