At HC-One’s
Fieldway Care Home, in Mitcham, Kitchen Assistant Helena Dapaah took part in a specialist masterclass with renowned chef CJ Jackson at Billingsgate Fish Market in London.
Helena Dapaah was nominated to take part in the day by Alexandra Albu, Home Manager at Fieldway Care Home, in recognition of her outstanding passion and the dedication Helena has shown to developing her skills in providing nutritious food and kind care to Residents living at Fieldway Care Home.
Helena developed her expertise in older people’s catering, as she was shown the best ways to prepare fresh fish by CJ Jackson.
There are many benefits to including different fish in older people’s diets, including research that suggests that oily fish can contribute towards slowing down of dementia symptoms. As the next generation of care home catering professionals, the Kitchen Assistants enjoyed discussing these various benefits with Jackson during their tour of the market and private masterclass.
The training day comes as HC-One have developed a new programme of progression for their catering Colleagues across their 269 homes, including through their Group Development Chef scheme. The scheme supports catering Colleagues of any level to progress to senior roles with additional leadership, strategy and innovation responsibilities.
Helena Dapaah, Kitchen Assistant from Fieldway Care Home, said:
“I had a wonderful experience, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I would be happy to do it again and thank you for the opportunity.”
Mark Meacham, Head of Catering and Housekeeping Support Services at HC-One, commented:
“The Kitchen Assistant training and development day at Billingsgate Market was a great success. Thank you to everyone involved including Robot Coupe for sponsoring the day and to CJ Jackson for providing such excellent and informative sessions. The day has provided an opportunity to recognise the hard work and dedication of Helena and some of our other fantastic Kitchen Assistants who are such vital parts of our care homes. It was a joy to be able to provide them with the chance to learn and expand their knowledge as we support them to go from strength-to-strength in care home catering careers.”