Kind Dining

Module 1: Can we make a house a HOME? lays the foundation of valuing the significance of the dining experience, the work of each server, and discovering the best path to making it more meaningful and enjoyable for everyone.

We invite students to participate, interact, be empowered, and be challenged to help find workable solutions that break down barriers to their success, challenge the status quo, and gain new insights and skills to improve the community spirit of working and living together in this community.

As a participant in this module, you will:

• Examine the science and psychology of hospitality. Yes, really!
• Explore how to be more attentive to and connect in our relationship with residents and their dining experience
• Translate, and get behind a company's mission statement and how it relates to dining and you
• Analyze a list of what gets in your way to be more successful in your job.

Module 2: WHO are you Serving? sets out to broaden an understanding of the aging process, create deeper relationships, and promote person-centered hospitality.

We practice exercises around the dining setting that create empathy and compassion for the aging process community-wide.

As a participant in this module, you will:

• Examine our aging population and its impact on you
• Explore some general stages of aging and quality of life
• Be able to appreciate the lives of older people
• Learn how we contribute to other's dignity & satisfaction with Whole Care
• Be attentive to the dining experience as it becomes more personal
• Practice communicating in a way that nourishes this community

Module 3: What do YOU bring to the Table? offers even more extended communication training.

We ask learners to look in the mirror and discuss their own strengths by way of a self-assessment.

We challenge them to learn new skills and behaviors to be significant in their work.

As a participant in this module, you will:

• Recall and relate to using a “mirror” in different ways
• Examine teamwork skills and why they matter (to us!)
• Discover how to become more understood
• Explore what characteristics delight our residents
• Be attentive to how to hear people better

Module 4: Making it Personal presents the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to ensure that the flow of the meal meets resident's expectations.

Pre-service planning to protect the integrity of the product (meal served) is a critical element that no server is born knowing.

At all levels of dining care, we focus on teaching an appreciation of this particular planning and how getting it right shows a special appreciation for the residents and one another.

As a participant in this module, you will:

• Explore why checklists are important.
• Check your own appearance and attitude against a list of personal readiness items
• Practice skills in positively presenting the menu to residents
• Identify set-up requirements based on your menu.
• Be attentive to improve skills in meeting and greeting residents and their guests

Module 5: The Symphony of Service orchestrates how the server sets the ambiance through their knowledge, skills and serving actions individually and as a team.

They learn to appreciate the control they do have to set the atmosphere in how professionally they serve the meal and apply best practices for service and infection control.

As a participant in this module, you will:

• Describe the proper flow of the meal.
• Review the process of taking an order
• Explore three levels of care.
• Recognize visual cues in reading the table.
• Apply Best Practices for service and Infection Control

Module 6: If I Only Had a Heart embraces the importance of dining as a feature element to the success of the community.

We teach relational skills. In fun, but challenging exercises, servers practice the fundamentals of politeness and courtesy.

Developing rapport is essential to any excellent person-centered hospitality culture and is especially important in serving older adults living in senior living communities.

As a participant in the If I only had a Heart module, you will:

• Be able to demonstrate kindness and friendliness to others throughout the meal
• Apply courtesy words and phrases to use every day, and especially in difficult situations.
• Acquire some chit chat skills often needed to start and end conversations.
• Become skilled in recognizing-and responding-to our residents and co-worker's emotional state and needs.
• Identify the core values that drive you to go the extra mile.

Module 7: Emotion Control addresses two of the areas most requested by the staff:

How to deal with complaints (when situations go wrong) and how to manage our own emotions around the loss of a resident we have served.

As a participant in the Emotion Control module, you will:

• Examine new insights in how to respond to others' emotions
• Review and practice the L.E.A.R.N. communication tool, learned in Module 3, which helps us through difficult or stressful moments
• Explore the art of making a sincere apology • Use new skills when we are in a sensitive moment of handling grief and loss

Module 8: Don't Touch That! boldly centers on skills necessary to practice food safety, infection control and protect residents from food-borne illness.

Our older adult population is at higher risk of getting sick from poor food handling and poor personal hygiene habits.

The session arms food servers with vital skills to reduce the spread of germs, be they Norovirus or Coronavirus, providing serving staff with greater confidence to help them view their role more seriously and professionally.

As a participant in the Don't Touch That! module, you will:

• Explore common foodborne illnesses and the keys to preventing their spread.
• Breakdown the essential principles for time and temperature control
• Improve and maintain personal health and hygiene to ensure food safety.
• Handle foods, plates, glassware, and utensils to avoid cross-contamination.

Module 9: Polishing Service challenges staff to continually look for areas to improve the living and working environment for residents and staff.

Skills focus on what to look for and how to communicate with team members, and managers so that the business and environment continue to thrive.

As a participant in the Polishing Service module, you will:

• Explore more about the different types of people you work with
• Explore a new way to communicate and cooperate to support one another within a team, and across teams.
• Take initiative to make improvements by personally changing things you can control.
• Participate in the actions your management is taking to transform dining