Nutrition Assistant

Job Summary and Responsibilities

As a Nutrition Assistant, you will participate and support all aspects of healthcare food service operations. Work with facility staff to provide optimal nutritional care and demonstrates excellent customer service to patients, guests and staff.  Follow diet manual handbook and diet spreadsheets to ensure therapeutic meal compliance with prescribed diet order. 

Prepares and serves food within guidelines of menu and dietary requirements using required kitchen utensils and equipment. Maintains knowledge of recipe ingredients to respond to food allergy questions or requests. 

Follows healthcare foodservice industry standards, regulations, guidelines and procedures including monitoring and maintaining food temperatures during cooking, holding, and storage processes. Avoids cross-contamination of foods and adheres to personal hygiene requirements. Maintains proper labeling of food products and ensures storage of food equipment, and machinery per regulations and facility guidelines. 

Follows organizational standards and guidelines for a high quality patient and customer experience. Ensures proper meal portioning and an aesthetically pleasing presentation. Provides service recovery efforts and escalates to leadership as needed. 

May be responsible for one or more of the following: 

• Following therapeutic diet modifications and guidelines including allergy restrictions for all patient meal trays, nourishment, snacks and supplements
• Printing, providing and following production tool and/or electronic meal tallies/differentials for food preparation
• Explaining basic therapeutic diet orders and menus and responding to questions from patients and family members. Escalating additional patient nutrition questions or needs to appropriate clinical support team members.
• Collecting patient food preferences and ensuring compliance with prescribed diet orders. Distributing food preferences to kitchen for menu planning in a timely manner.
• Operating electronic diet office software and tools following established procedures and protocols.
• Navigating electronic health records to access patient diet orders and nutritional reports.
• Performing general cleaning of equipment and work areas (e.g., cleaning the tray line, equipment, coolers, office area, and emptying trash cans, etc.) 
• Perform other duties as assigned by leader.

Job Requirements

Required Education and Experience

• One (1) year foodservice experience required.

• High School Diploma, GED, or equivalent combination of education and experience. 

Required Licensure and Certifications

• If a Food Handler Permit is a requirement by your state, county or local health code, you must obtain it within 30 days of hire or what is required by your state, county or local health code.
  • Kentucky - Jessamine, Fayette, Madison, Montgomery

Where You’ll Work

Welcome to Saint Joseph East, a 217-bed, full-service, community hospital located in a convenient setting in Lexington, Kentucky. Saint Joseph East also includes the Women's Hospital at Saint Joseph East which is dedicated to supporting the well-being of women in Central and Eastern Kentucky and serves a 16-bed Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). 

CHI Saint Joseph Health is part of CommonSpirit Health, a non-profit, Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people. With approximately 175,000 team members and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice clinicians. 

Our commitment to serve the common good is delivered through the dedicated work of thousands of physicians, advanced practice clinicians, nurses, and staff; through clinical excellence delivered across a system of 140 hospitals and more than 2,200 care centers serving 24 states.