The lessons learned in life are often as important as the first ones we learn in school when training for a career. This happened when the state surveyor pulled me into her confidence by telling me how much better I could be in my career by embracing the changes and broadening my expanse of expertise. My value to my community expanded as my purpose grew and the residents benefited most of all.

This is the knowledge I share with nursing, care-giving, and ancillary staff  in my Kind Dining® training workshops. Changes in our industry are here. The new regulations stress for widening the service offered within the community. The nursing staff in turn becomes more valuable and in the true sense of a caregiver, will gain in the satisfaction knowing they endeared a resident who has left her former home behind to live in their care in this community.

That presence of the nursing staff in the dining room is an extension of hospitality, not turning into a wait person. It’s part of making home feel like home. Communities are in the throes of cultural shift, in organizational changes, and in service quality. The dining room is the most important room in the community. It’s personal to the residents, where the public is also invited to be part of the bonding process of residents and serving staff. They carry away impressions that will want others to live in your community!

Enlighten the nursing staff of the new skills,  competencies, attitudes, and commitments needed with the new federal requirements for improving person-centered quality of life and care in the dining room. Allow them to grasp the benefit for themselves. They are receiving potential life changing skills that compliments and broadens their relational expertise. Can it be any better for them?  My job is to train your serving staff in proper serving but with the best attitude and behavior adjustments that will make them and your community proud.

Our B♥ Kind® Tip: Remember, you are unique, valuable and worthy of respect, but proceed humbly.