Cook - Dietary Aide HCC

PruittHealth•Warner Robins, GA

11d

About The Position

The Cook prepares palatable, attractive, and nutritionally adequate meals in institutional quantities, following departmental policies, procedures, recipes, and menu cycles prepared by the Dietitian. Meals must meet residents’ daily nutritional and special-diet needs and be served at the proper time and temperature, in accordance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. The Cook works with the Director of Food Service to use resources efficiently and help ensure residents receive food in appropriate amounts, types, consistencies, and frequencies to support acceptable body weight, nutritional values, and quality of life. The role also assists with meal and snack preparation, tray-line setup and service, food storage, dishwashing, cleaning, equipment operation and maintenance, and maintaining supplies. The Cook may assist with supervising kitchen staff and monitors residents’ acceptance of menu items, reporting findings and workplace problems to the Dietary Manager. The position requires following diet orders, infection-control and safety procedures, facility policies, and residents’ rights.

Requirements

Sufficient education to demonstrate functional literacy.
At least one year of institutional food-service experience as a cook.
Working knowledge of food handling, preparation, and storage techniques that comply with state and federal laws and regulations.
Ability to apply food-service regulations to cook duties and to supervision of staff assistants.
Knowledge of emergency and disaster procedures; ability to locate the nearest exit and understand and respond to written or oral emergency instructions.
Ability to arrive and begin work on time and report for scheduled duty on all shifts, weekends, and holidays.
Ability to follow facility workplace-safety and infection-control procedures, including universal precautions, personal protective equipment use, and hazardous-material handling.
Ability to follow standardized recipes and facility procedures for sanitary food preparation and storage, including special-handling procedures for resident trays.

Nice To Haves

Experience in long-term-care food production is preferred.

Responsibilities

Assist with preparing meals, salads, desserts, snacks, between-meal nourishments, and other dishes.
Follow diet orders and NPO diet orders.
Serve nourishments and follow procedures for serving partner meals.
Store leftovers and opened food properly.
Offer menu substitutions and record them according to procedural guidelines.
Comply with infection-control policies in the work area.
Deliver trays to residents in halls and dining areas; assist with serving beverages and make coffee or tea as requested.
Clean dining tables after each meal and clean the work area at the end of shifts and after meals, including sweeping and mopping.
Clean kitchen equipment and work surfaces, remove garbage, and clean garbage containers.
Scrape, wash, and properly store dishes, pots, and pans.
Record freezer and walk-in refrigerator temperatures; maintain dishwashing equipment and sinks; check and record water temperatures, sanitizer levels, and chemical levels.
Maintain supply stock and store items according to established procedures.
Set up the tray line and perform tray-line service.
Operate and maintain food-service equipment, including dish machines, garbage disposals, mixers, blenders, meat slicers, steamers, and coffee and tea makers.
Use, clean, and maintain serving equipment according to established procedures.
Apply food handling, preparation, and storage requirements in accordance with state and federal regulations.
Follow recipes and prepare food in institutional quantities that is palatable, attractive, nutritionally adequate, and served at proper times.
Assist with supervision of kitchen staff involved in food preparation, tray assembly, cleaning, and storage of supplies and equipment.
Clean food-service work areas continuously, and use food supplies and equipment efficiently to prevent waste.
Prepare and maintain food substitutes that accommodate residents’ choices and cultural, ethnic, and religious preferences.
Inspect trays after meals to monitor and record residents’ acceptance of menu items and report findings to the Dietary Manager.
Use food-preparation equipment according to manufacturers’ instructions and follow cleaning and preventative-maintenance schedules.
Handle, store, and dispose of food supplies and prepared food according to department procedures and applicable regulations.
Participate in center or agency surveys and complete subsequently required reports; assist with state-inspection preparation and interact with surveyors as instructed.
Attend continuing education, mandatory in-services, and survey training as required.
Respect residents’ rights, dignity, individuality, privacy, property, and civil rights; handle resident and facility property honestly and with integrity.
Follow facility safety, emergency, disaster, fire-prevention, smoking, infection-control, universal-precaution, PPE, and hazardous-material procedures.
Report occupational hazards, injuries, safety or maintenance problems, and other issues promptly to the supervisor or Dietary Manager; communicate with the Dietary Manager as needed.
Perform other related duties as directed by the supervisor.