Macy Cleasby

Responsibilities

During my internship, I helped with preparing food at the nursing home for residents with specific dietary restrictions. It was my responsibility to prepare breakfast lunch and dinner for the residents in accordance to each of their diet plans. Different diet plans included thickened liquids, purred foods, portion control, heart healthy diets, diets for people with diabetes, low sodium diets, and much more.

Accomplishments

I think my greatest accomplishment was that I was only there for a small period of time ( over the summer ) yet I still was able to earn the respect of the nurses and other cooks at the establishment. I also think that a great accomplishment was that I was able to memorize the diets of each resident by the time the summer was over, so I knew exactly how to prepare each residents meal without having to consult their diet plans.

Learning experience

One of the greatest lessons I learned was the different types of diets that there can be and the knowledge to be able to prepare them all. I also was able to begin to tell when a resident would need to be evaluated for a potential new meal plan as well as potentially need special accommodations in regards to their plates, cutlery, and cups.

What advice would you give?

My biggest piece of advice would be to involve yourself as much as possible within your field. This can be through clubs, internships, classes, volunteer work, etc. Becoming involved will create so many more connections for you and will create a greater opportunity for you to be noted by higher ups in your field.