Nutrition Assistant 2

CommonSpirit Health; Live Oak (CA); On-site; USD 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, California, is seeking a Nutrition Assistant 2 to interact with patients and visitors, ensuring dining areas are sanitized, well-stocked, and meals are prepared per dietary orders.

You will serve nutritious meals, set up patient trays, monitor portions, and support the food services team while maintaining safety and high service standards in a fast-paced healthcare environment.

Qualifications

• One year of food service experience is required.
• High School Diploma or GED or equivalent.
• Equivalent combination of education and experience.

Responsibilities

• Prepare and serve food within menu and dietary guidelines, using required utensils and equipment.
• Maintain safe, clean dining and food handling areas and ensure proper labeling and storage of food.
• Ensure accurate portioning and appealing presentation of meals.
• Assist other food services staff and handle dish collection and cleaning.
• Follow nutrition/diet orders, collect patient preferences, and communicate questions to clinical support.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Attention to detail

Food safety knowledge

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Job description

Job Summary and Responsibilities

As our Nutrition Assistant 2, you will directly interact with patients and visitors, ensuring all dining areas are safely sanitized, well‑stocked, and food is appropriately prepared, taking pride in offering comfort and support.

Every day you will serve nutritious food, meticulously setting up patient trays per menus and requests, including dietary restrictions. You will maintain sanitized food handling areas, accurately portion meals, support team members across food services functions, and manage dish collection and cleaning.

To be successful in this role, you will possess strong knowledge of food preparation and production, enjoy helping others, and thrive in a fast- paced environment, demonstrating keen attention to detail and a commitment to safety and excellent service.

• 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.)

Job Requirements

Required

• One (1) year food service experience and
• High School Graduate General Studies; or
• High School GED General Studies; or
• Equivalent combination of education and experience.

Founded in 1941, Dignity Health - Dominican Hospital is a 188-bed, acute care, nonprofit hospital located in Santa Cruz, California. Serving over 80,000 patients annually, the hospital offers a full complement of services including heart care, orthopedics, and a Family Birthing Center. Additionally, Dominican Hospital has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality High Performer by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. It is a Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Center, and has been awarded the AMA/ASA’s Get the Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to providing the best stroke care.

One Community. One Mission. One California