“When I entered the store, with my mask on,” a lady was telling me, “I was terrified! Everyone looked so weird and scary hiding behind their masks. This was all new and looked so very strange. I took a deep breath. This is life today, I told myself. Then I truly looked and found that people were smiling at me … Continue reading
Many positions covering a wide range of skills are open in nursing homes and assisted living communities now. These include a new position created as ‘room service attendant’ in response to in-room dining resulted from necessary physical distancing. The positions may sound like a temporary solution while this pandemic lasts but if the community has the Kind Dining® coaching program … Continue reading
When regulations introduced meal options for residents in senior living communities, it brought changes many thought were going to be costly and difficult to adapt. It has actually proved quite the opposite. Handwritten food orders that were often misread and produced mistakes, waste, and dissatisfaction from the diners were now clearly printed menu selection options. Efficiency increased while waste, cost, … Continue reading
The story came to me about a daughter’s sadness who planned to have a big celebration for her mother’s turning 80 years old in the senior living community. How disappointing, even in the midst of all the coronavirus chaos going on, that her big party plans could not take place. An 80th birthday only comes once. A party planner friend … Continue reading
. There is no ‘I’ in team! Find ways to praise co-workers at every opportunity. … Continue reading
It’s important to continue having celebrations in this time of extreme caution and stress. Have you ever been in a restaurant when the table or two over from you received a cake lit with candles and the wait staff singing Happy Birthday? Didn’t it make you and the other diners around smile, maybe applaud or even join in the song? … Continue reading
The food serving team in a community sets the ambiance for each mealtime and everyone agrees that mealtimes are the most important time of the day for residents. With today’s required physical distancing, food servers are often the one human, in-the-flesh-link to the outside world for some residents. They carry the most responsibility, not only bringing in food the resident … Continue reading
Serving food has always been so much more than bringing food to the table. Every person who loves being in the kitchen or has restaurant life in their blood system knows that “Bad service can ruin a good meal yet good service can save a bad one.” Even your finest chefs will tell you that. When it comes to senior … Continue reading
Kind Dining® has always stressed the importance of mealtimes in the community dining room. Now that residents have been restricted from coming into the dining room for meals it is more important than ever for food serving teams to take up the social aspect of mealtime. Take at least a minute, or so to talk with each resident served. Ask … Continue reading
It’s more than food servers being courteous to the seniors in your community dining room. It’s more than pulling out a chair or finding the best table for a particular senior to sit. It’s also about being civil, courteous to all your coworkers. It’s about lending a helping hand without anyone asking for help. When a food server notices her … Continue reading
