Cooking with Excellence: Lori Stager leads her kitchen staff each and every day with a strong work ethic and a huge passion for her residents and job

Every year, LeadingAge Pennsylvania hands out the Staff Member of the Year Award as one of their eight honorary Distinguished Service Awards. It is an award of excellence, as it is given to a staff member who “serves as an outstanding role model and stands tall in their team.” It is someone who remains committed to their residents, their teammates and their superiors, as well as the community all around them.

This year, LeadingAge PA has chosen Lori Stager, who works in the Dining Services Department at The Lebanon Valley Home, as the 2024 recipient. Lori has brought her cooking prowess and her overall work ethic to the community for almost three decades, and this is a great honor to show just how much she is truly appreciated by The Lebanon Valley Home.

“Lori, like most adults in this world, wakes up each morning and goes to work,” The Lebanon Valley Home Clinical Dietitian Nicole Enigk said. “But unlike most adults in this world, Lori doesn’t just do her job, but rather she does her job and then some… and then some more.. .and then (you guessed it) even more! She holds herself to a higher standard than most and never fails to ensure that things are done efficiently and effectively each day. From organizing shelves to cleaning the oven, she does it all.” 

Stager knows what needs to be done each day, and she gets these things done and then some. And she does it without complaint and without asking for any sort of pat on the back. She does it because she loves her job and because she wants to do what is best for The Lebanon Valley Home.

“Lori is a cook in our Dining Services Department, but she does so much more than just cook,” The Lebanon Valley Home Executive Director Meredith Schell Fields said. “She is a constant in the department. For 28 years she has lived our mission of providing care and services to the elderly with acts of love and compassion. She takes her role in this mission statement very seriously. She holds her department peers to high standards and directs others how to apply the mission statement to their work in the kitchen.”

Stager stands out for many reasons. She goes above and beyond at her job, and she also has the residents’ best interests in mind. She loves serving the residents within the Lebanon Valley community, and she is also the kind of coworker who gets along with everyone.

Stager just really takes her job very seriously. She is a phenomenal cook and people love eating anything she puts in front of them.

“Lori is steadfast in her focus to complete her work properly and timely,” The Lebanon Valley Home Food Service Director Emily Enright said. “She is a perfectionist, and the meals she produces are proof of the pride she takes in each task for which she is responsible. To know Lori Stager is to know good food. In my career, I have not met a cook with such longevity and excellent food. Each day Lori’s meals are consistently hot, tasty and exactly what is needed for our Residents.”

Too often, having the same cook in the kitchen can get very stale. The quality of food takes a downgrade, but this is not the case with Stager. She has provided the same level of care and quality that she provided during her first day.

“During her 28 years of service, Lori’s high standards have a great impact on our entire kitchen team,” The Lebanon Valley Home said. “She willingly coaches the other cooks on recipes and presentation techniques to provide consistently excellent meals. She has the strength and ethics to hold each team member accountable for their work in the kitchen. Because of her example of steadfast commitment to sanitation and quality, we are able to take great pride in the cleanliness of our kitchen and each product that leaves our doors.”

Stager has a certain standard she holds not only herself to, but to everyone who works in her kitchen. She expects nothing but high quality and the best from everyone.

Along with that, Stager is a leader by example. She steps in and helps guide her colleagues in every stage of the preparation and cooking process, along with every other aspect of their jobs. She is the kind of leader that people appreciate and love working with, and that is why The Lebanon Valley Home has been able to have a certain reputation in the kitchen.

Stager is someone who is able to adapt on the fly as well. No situation she gets put in flusters her or makes her feel like she cannot overcome it.

“Another example of how critical a role Lori plays at this facility occurred during the peak of COVID times when everyone working in healthcare was burnt out,” Enigk said. “Our Director of Dining Services took a leave of absence that eventually led to her resignation, and we lost almost half of our 13-member kitchen staff due to various reasons. This left us in a position that would have been impossible to manage had it not been, in part, for Lori.”

Stager stepped right in without thinking twice about it. She just wanted to do what was best for her residents, as she has done throughout her entire career.

“Lori’s commitment to the safety and sanitation of our kitchen has inspired every one of her teammates to maintain a top standard of cleanliness,” Enright added. “Once her meal is complete, you will find Lori scrubbing the oven, deep cleaning a steam table or dish machine and keeping all supplies meticulously organized. This sets the example and the pace for the rest of the team – not only to maintain our standards, but to join in and assist with improving cleaning or cooking tasks.”

Stager is always working hard and putting her best foot forward. She works hard and then some, and she is being recognized for that.

“Lori steps up in every crisis, assisting in any way she can to ensure the residents always have quality meals and that their requests are heard and honored,” Fields said. “She will inventory, order and assist in receiving food when needed all while managing her own responsibilities. She will not let the ball drop!”

“In the three months it took to hire a new Director of Dining Services and to fully staff our kitchen, not once was the quality of food, or the variety of food compromised,” Enigk said. “While this success didn’t come from Lori exclusively, she was the one leading the way. She worked 12 days in a row more than once to cover shifts and made sure the appropriate food and supplies were always in the building. I watched Lori step up in so many ways over the time I’ve had the pleasure of working with her. I am proud to work with her.”

If Stager does not directly represent what the LeadingAge PA Staff Member of the Year Award is all about, we are not sure what does. She embodies it well, and that is why she is the 2024 winner.