// BLOG
Looking for hospitality training? 100 people experienced Kind Dining® in January, here are 6 of the top comments:
January 29, 2012
1. I enjoyed being here….. I learned something I never thought of. Cindy made it interesting in a way that made me listen and learn.
2. Lots of good information for all levels of staff.
3. Cindy was really able to keep the groups attention by having us interact. I really liked that..it was informative and brought clarity on several unclear procedures.
4. I am impressed. Although I did dislike having to leave my office… Once I was here I appreciated the class. “I am a person who can be a little hard to convince” .{“change in dining is comin”}
5. The class was very informative. I walked away with a little more knowledge of dining and services and tools we need to make a better experience for residents and guests of my community.
6. This is a great program and everyone benefits from it. We take our residents for granted and the only thing they ever want is a smile, hello, and thank you.
I enjoy teaching Kind Dining (hospitality and customer service) workshops and helping community staff at all levels learn new skills to implement right away which improves their service at mealtimes. I will be sharing more about my recent experience in St. Louis, working with Bethesda Health Group Inc. A company which is bringing Higher Standards of service to their residents, through skill development and relationship building of their staff. Read more in my next Kind Dining® Connection newsletter…
January 2012 Kind Dining Connection
January 27, 2012
Read the January 2012 issue of Kind Dining® Connection for:
- Ways to foster community in the dining room, especially for single residents
- A Kind Dining® success story that will warm your heart
- Ideas for winter table centerpieces
- A new B♥ Kind, B♥ Courteous, B♥ Service Smart tip
- And much more!
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Leave No ‘Odd Man Out’ at the Dining Table in Long-Term Living
December 27, 2011
After recently teaching my dining class in a senior care community, I had an illuminating conversation with a resident. During the class I had mentioned that staff and administrators should learn the importance of setting the table mindfully. This resident shared her frustration in seeing all the tables in her dining room set with even numbers of place settings. She described her discouragement looking for a place to sit, feeling herself “the odd man out,” even when no one was seated at the table. [read more at Long-Term Living Magazine]
Transforming Resident Dining Service Captures 2011 Optima Award
December 6, 2011
Photo Credit: Long-Term Living Magazine. From left to right: Villa Crest Administrator Sarah McEvoy, Long-Term Living Editor-in-Chief Patricia Sheehan, and Villa Crest Executive Chef Manny Perry.
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Villa Crest Nursing and Retirement Center of Manchester, N.H. dramatically increased meal revenue while also improving both customer and staff satisfaction just over a one-year period. The efforts earned Villa Crest the national 2011 Optima award presented by Long-Term Living Magazine for innovative, outcome-oriented staff teamwork in long-term care communities. Key to the Center’s success is the innovative Kind Dining® training it implemented from the Portland, Oregon company, Higher Standards, LLC. The training transforms and elevates the dining experience in senior living communities.
Kind Dining®: Bringing Warmth to the Table is a 9-module training series developed and taught by service and nutrition expert Cindy Heilman, MS, DTR. The unique training is designed to incorporate hospitality and empathy with proper serving techniques. Research clearly indicates that residents who are highly satisfied with meals, food and the dining experience are more satisfied in their living environment and healthier overall. On a typical day, many residents spend as much as 60 percent of their time preparing for, engaging in, or returning from meals.
Villa Crest staff embraced Kind Dining® training as they embarked on a significant dining room overhaul, moving from a traditional approach with limited options and a rigid daily schedule to a new restaurant-style dining experience called CHOICES. Villa Crest improved the menu and service by offering freshly-made fare, adding flexibility to the dining room hours of operation, and implementing principles of hospitality through Kind Dining®. The dining experience was transformed to focus on resident-centered care and satisfaction. After the training, staff understood the importance of meal service from the residents’ perspective.
The CHOICES restaurant was implemented in April of 2010. In a little over a year, Villa Crest increased its guest meal revenue by an impressive 80%. The changes also resulted in increases in resident and staff satisfaction scores. Additional evidence gathered by Villa Crest indicates that social activity has increased and personal connections among residents have been enhanced by the culture change in the dining room.
“Kind Dining® training truly transformed our operation. Everything from small details like having servers understand how to respectfully address our residents to providing extended hours of meal service resulted in a significant improvement in our meal revenue and resident satisfaction. People aren’t born knowing how to provide good service—they need to be taught. I’m grateful to Cindy Heilman for her expertise,” said Sara McEvoy, Villa Crest administrator.
“I’m thrilled that Villa Crest won the Optima Award,” said Cindy Heilman, the creator of the Kind Dining® training and CEO of Higher Standards, LLC. “I applaud administrator Sarah McEvoy and her partners for taking the steps to make a positive impact on the lives of their residents. The results they achieved from transforming meal service shows how vital the dining experience is in the success of senior care communities.”
New Dining Practice Standards Have Arrived
November 22, 2011
The Pioneer Network has finalized and published nationally agreed upon new food and dining standards for people living in nursing homes. The report includes 62 pages of evidenced-based research that spotlights the connection between the residents’ dining experience and their quality of life. Designed to shift food and dining standards from traditional diagnosis-focused treatment to individualized care and self-directed living, these new standards underscore what Kind Dining® Training has always taught: residents who are highly satisfied with meals, food and the dining experience are more satisfied in their living environment and healthier overall.
The New Dining Practice Standards are in-line with Quality Indicator Survey (QIS) processes and Pioneer Network anticipates Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will refer to these standards where they fit within current long-term care interpretive guidelines. Twelve national professional associations have already agreed to support the standards.
Are you ready to implement the new standards? The next challenge for senior living communities that want to stay on the competitive edge, is to integrate these standards into everyday dining practice. Staff training and new organizational expectations will be key to changing dining standards in your senior residence.
“[Kind Dining®] training materials are consistent with the new recommendations,” according to Dr. Sandra F. Simmons, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University, Center for Quality Aging, who participated in the Pioneer Network Food and Dining Clinical Standards Task Force. Which means, if your staff has already participated in Kind Dining® Training, you are ahead of the game in implementing the new standards. As you familiarize yourself with the new standards, if you have questions about how to train your staff, please feel free to call me.
Module 1 Example Book
Here is an example of the Kind Dining Training Book.Kind Dining® Connection
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