At Christian Health Care Center, we work hard to create a wonderful dining experience for our residents. We think that’s evident both in the quality of the food and in the personal care and attention with which it’s created and delivered.
It’s also evident in the opinions of outside sources. We recently were given a surprise double audit by Sodexo, the company that manages our food services, and CHCC came out of it with perfect scores! The “double gold” award was quite a treat for Carol DuBois, our dietary manager.
“Both audits, containing 15 pages total, showed 100-percent compliance,” DuBois said. “This is the first double gold I have had since being at CHCC. Prior years, I’ve scored in the high 90s, but not two at 100-percent!”
Attention to detail in the kitchen
Chef Dave chats with a CHCC resident at mealtime.
The third-party auditor hired by Sodexo conducted two separate audits of the CHCC facilities. The first, focused on food safety, looked in-depth at such items as personal hygiene, temperature control, purchasing and receiving, the knowledge of the person in charge and general observations regarding the service area, dishwashing and more. The second audit covered health and safety, including chemical hazards, prevention of slips and falls, safety training and more.
The perfect scores earned the dining team a special Audit Recognition Award from Sodexo. “Congratulations on establishing Sodexo Audit Recognition Award status on your recent Food Safety and Health & Safety Audits,” Sodexo wrote in a letter to DuBois. “This result, so effectively represented by the overall 100% score on both audits, is appreciated and recognized by all of Sodexo North America. We know that you and the entire team played a big part in this superior outcome.”
The award, along with the glowing scores CHCC received on the audit, are reflective of the pride CHCC staff members take in their work, from storing and preparing food to serving it to CHCC residents.
Personal attention to resident dietary needs
Carol Dubois
Dietary staff members work hard, day in and day out, to ensure that CHCC residents’ nutritional and dietary needs are attended to.
“We go out of our way to meet with each resident and customize meals according to their preferences and diets,” DuBois said. “It is not just a job to all involved; dietary staff really care about all the residents as individuals.”
A member of the dietary staff meets one-on-one with any resident who needs help with menu choices, and the kitchen adjusts meals based on individual nutritional needs.
To ensure that all nutritional needs are met, the kitchen has a diet spreadsheet that breaks down individual types of diets, approved by a certified dietician.
‘Family traditions…feel like home’
One of Chef Dave’s special omelets. Once a week in various parts of CHCC, Dave makes custom omelets for long-term care and short-stay rehab residents.
It’s that individual focus — along with the deep commitment to customer service and compassionate care — that sets CHCC’s dining experience apart, she says.
Consider this: CHCC recently started asking residents for their recipes from home, so the kitchen staff at our Lynden healthcare campus can prepare meals that taste just like mama used to make. Treasured family recipes are presented to the food committee, which consists of DuBois, Chef Dave and four CHCC residents.
“We all have family traditions that we do not want to lose just because we are no longer at home,” DuBois said. “I hope that the dining experience makes all the residents feel like home.”