Michelle Martinez leads dietary at Linwood Meadows in Visalia. Meet the self-described cat momma behind every meal on our residents’ trays.
Michelle Martinez started at Linwood Meadows as a cook in January 2024. By May, she was running the whole dietary department.
Today she’s director of dietary at Linwood Meadows Care Center in Visalia, CA. It’s the role most families know as a nursing home dietary manager. If your loved one is staying with us, Michelle and her team are behind every meal on their tray. She also works closely with our skilled nursing team on each resident’s dietary needs.
Healthcare Foodservice Workers Week ran October 4 to 10 this year. The week honors the people who feed patients and residents in hospitals and nursing homes, and Congress made it official back in 1989. It felt like the right time to introduce Michelle.
We asked her about her path into healthcare food service and her life outside the kitchen. Here’s what she told us.
From Cook to Director of Dietary
Michelle had worked in food service for many years before she came to Linwood Meadows. She was hired in January 2024 as a cook. About a month in, she was promoted to assistant dietary manager. In May 2024, she became director of dietary.
So the person running our kitchen has cooked in it herself.
“After being promoted to Assistant Dietary Manager in one month and then Director of Dietary in May of 2024, I’ve found my passion in healthcare food service,” Michelle says. “It’s been an incredibly rewarding journey, and I’m grateful to work alongside a dedicated team that helps improve our residents’ quality of life every day.”
Ask her how her time at Linwood Meadows has gone, and her answer is short: “it’s been a wonderful experience.”
If her story has you thinking about a career in healthcare food service, take a look at open positions at Linwood Meadows. You can also read how we help students start healthcare careers in Visalia.
Why Choose Healthcare Food Service?
For Michelle, healthcare was a way to bring cooking and caring for people together.
“I was drawn to healthcare food service because it combines my passion for nutrition and food with the chance to care for others,” she says. “Seeing residents enjoy their meals and knowing our team plays a role in their well-being is incredibly rewarding.”
Food in a care center has a harder job than food in a restaurant. A meal might need to fit a doctor’s diet order or a swallowing plan. It still has to taste good enough that people want to eat it.
A Day in the Life of a Nursing Home Dietary Manager
Michelle doesn’t work from a script.
“No two days are exactly alike in the dietary department,” she says. “My day usually involves coordinating with our dietary team, working closely with nursing to address residents’ dietary needs, overseeing meal preparation and tray service.”
That work with nursing matters more than it sounds. A resident coming to Linwood Meadows after a stay at Kaweah Health Medical Center, about three miles away, may arrive with a new diet order. That order has to reach the kitchen before the first tray goes out.
She also checks in with residents herself. “From time to time, I’ll check in with residents to make sure they’re enjoying their meals,” she says. “It’s a fast-paced environment, but I enjoy knowing that the work we do helps support our residents’ health, comfort, and happiness.”
What Mealtime Means to Michelle
When we asked what she’d want families to know, Michelle didn’t start with menus. She started with care.
“I want families to know that we truly care about their loved ones, and that mealtime is one of the ways we show that we care every day,” she says. “Food is more than just nutrition. It’s comfort, connection, and something residents look forward to.”
Her team takes the time to learn residents’ preferences and listens to their feedback. “Our goal is to create a dining experience that feels warm, welcoming, and as close to home as possible,” Michelle says, “because we know how important those moments around the table can be.”
Meals at Linwood Meadows are served restaurant-style. You can see more about dining at Linwood Meadows on our amenities page.
So tell us about your loved one’s favorite foods, and the ones they can’t stand. Michelle wants to know.
Life Outside the Kitchen
Away from the kitchen, Michelle loves spending time with her family.
“I love making memories with them,” she says, “whether it’s a family outing, or just enjoying time together when they come home to visit.”
When she’s not with family, she’s with her three cats. Their names are Duchess, Moon Baby, and Benny.
“I’m definitely a cat momma,” she says.
What Does a Dietary Manager Do in a Nursing Home?
Michelle’s day covers a lot of ground. Here’s a closer look at what a nursing home dietary manager is responsible for, and why the job goes well past serving food.
The federal requirements for nursing home food and nutrition services say every resident should get a nourishing, palatable, well-balanced diet that meets their daily nutritional and special dietary needs. Most of that work lands on the nursing home dietary manager and their team. Federal rules also require a member of the food and nutrition staff on each resident’s interdisciplinary care team. At Linwood Meadows, that team of nurses, therapists, and dietitians reviews each resident’s progress every week.
Turning Diet Orders into Meals
Some of the most important meals in the building are the ones a doctor ordered. Therapeutic diets, like a lower-sodium or carb-controlled diet, are prescribed by a resident’s attending physician. Federal rules let the physician hand that task to a dietitian when state law allows. At Linwood Meadows, our full-time, in-house registered dietitian designs residents’ diets, and Michelle’s team turns those plans into meals.
Food also has to come in a form that works for each person. For a resident working with our speech therapists on swallowing, that might mean softer foods or thickened drinks. Allergies and intolerances count too, and so do personal preferences.
Nutrition shows up in other parts of care as well. When our clinical team builds wound care plans, they look at nutrition along with medical history and mobility. You can meet one of the nurses behind that program in our spotlight on wound care nurse Navil Muñoz. Unplanned weight loss is also one of the long-stay quality measures Medicare tracks for nursing homes. Our post on how Medicare’s 5-star quality ratings work explains more.
Food Safety for Older Adults
People 65 and older are at increased risk for food poisoning, according to the CDC. As we age, the immune system and organs don’t recognize and clear out harmful germs as well as they used to. Nearly half of adults 65 and older with a lab-confirmed foodborne illness from Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, or E. coli end up in the hospital.
That’s why food safety sits at the center of a nursing home dietary manager’s job. Federal rules require nursing homes to store, prepare, distribute, and serve food according to professional food safety standards. In practice, that usually means:
- Buying food only from approved sources
- Keeping cold food cold and hot food hot, from storage to the resident’s tray
- Labeling and dating stored food so nothing is served past its time
One part of food safety involves you. Nursing homes have to keep a policy on food that family and visitors bring in. If you’d like to bring your loved one a favorite homemade dish or a slice of birthday cake, check with the nurse or the dietary team first.
Sanitation Behind the Scenes
Sanitation is the part of the job families almost never see. In a nursing home kitchen, it usually includes:
- Handwashing and hair restraints for everyone who handles food
- Cleaning and sanitizing dishes and every prep surface
- Getting garbage out of the kitchen and disposed of properly
You won’t see most of this from the dining room, and that’s usually a good sign.
Dietary Manager vs Dietitian
Families mix these two up a lot. A dietitian is the clinical nutrition expert. Under federal nursing home rules, a qualified dietitian needs a bachelor’s degree or higher in nutrition or dietetics plus at least 900 hours of supervised practice. They also need a state license or national registration.
A nursing home dietary manager runs the food service itself. That covers the kitchen, the staff, the food safety program, and getting the right meal to the right resident. Nursing homes without a full-time dietitian need a director of food and nutrition services with specific credentials, such as a certified dietary manager. Linwood Meadows has both roles on staff, and Michelle works alongside our registered dietitian.
Mealtime Rules Families Should Know
Federal rules also set some basics for mealtimes in every nursing home:
- At least three meals a day, served at regular times
- No more than 14 hours between dinner and the next day’s breakfast, or 16 hours if a nourishing bedtime snack is served and a resident group agrees
- An appealing alternative of similar nutritional value if your loved one doesn’t want what’s served
- Menus that reflect residents’ religious, cultural, and ethnic needs, based on resident input
Why We Love Michelle
For Michelle, the best part of the job happens at the table.
“The best part of my job is building relationships with our residents and knowing that something as simple as a good meal can brighten their day,” she says. “Seeing a resident smile, hearing that they enjoyed a favorite meal, or knowing we’ve helped make them feel comfortable and cared for is incredibly rewarding.”
Families in Visalia and across Tulare County can call Linwood Meadows Care Center at (559) 627-1241 with questions about meals or special diets before a stay. You can also schedule a tour or meet the rest of our leadership team.