THE WORK WE DO: FOOD & NUTRITION

Between them, the 125 staff members who work in the Food and Nutrition department at Maimonides Medical Center in South Brooklyn serve roughly 500 meals a day, both at the bedside and in the cafeteria. The hospital complex is the largest in Brooklyn, the most populous of New York City’s five boroughs.

Throughout the pandemic these dedicated 1199 members showed up to work every day, risking their lives to serve their patients just like thousands of other healthcare workers across the city. However, these food service members, along with those who work in environmental services and transport, were excluded from the $3,000 bonuses for New York healthcare workers announced by Governor Kathy Hochul in her March 2022 budget. The Union has launched a campaign to force an expansion of these bonuses to these excluded workers under the slogan Respect Us All, Protect Us All, Pay Us All.

1. Wendel Rigaud is the First Cook at Maimonides, which means he’s the second in command in the kitchen after the chef. “About 70 percent of our patient population are Jewish, so we have a team of rabbis to guide us in preparing kosher meals,” he explains. “The hospital is building a second kitchen now, which we hope to move into this summer. That should make it easier for us to prepare a wider variety of food.”

4. After working at Maimonides for a few years, Claudia Bowen-Hosten, the Team Leader of Food & Nutrition, recalls: “One of my friends here inspired me to become an 1199 Delegate. At the time, it was all very new to me as I had never been in a union before. She showed me that you have to read the contract, or management will ask you to do things that are not in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Being a Union Delegate makes me feel empowered.”

2. Julio Alix, Secretary 3, works in the back office doing payroll for the more than 125 people employed in Food and Nutrition, which includes the kitchens, cafeteria and a kiosk selling cappuccino and light snacks that was recently opened in the nearby Maimonides Doctors Pavilion.

Alix also manages the paperwork for long-term leave. “Since the pandemic,” says Alix, “several staff have had to take long breaks from work.”

5. “My job is to look after patients who don’t eat solid food—the people who are on feeding tubes,” says Evelyn Asomaning, a Food Service Worker. “I make sure [each patient] has the right mix of nutrition for their condition.

“It was hectic here during the pandemic. I was very worried about bringing the virus home to my husband who is elderly. I also have children and grandchildren living in the house, so I would take off my clothes outside the apartment. My daughter did catch COVID- 19, but she was okay.”

3. “I worked here all throughout the pandemic,” says Dwight Wilson, a Dietitian Assistant. “I volunteered to go into patients’ rooms to bring them food. I saw myself in them and knew I would want someone to help me. I was a little nervous at the beginning, but I never tested positive.” When the vaccines came out last year, Wilson got his shot from the first batch on December 18th and then went on to convince other members to get vaccinated, too.

1199 Magazine: May / June 2022