In this week’s episode of LTC Heroes, we speak with Donna Kelsey, CEO at American Senior Communities. American Senior Communities offers retirement communities for seniors in your local area.

Donna has an impressive professional background in health and long-term care. The episode begins with an icebreaker of Donna sharing her hobbies before she explains what she would change in the long-term care industry. We also learn what the most significant change is that Donna has seen in the sector over the years.

A focus of the episode is strategic turnarounds in long-term care. Donna explains what the concept is and what her biggest strength is in strategic turnarounds in the industry.

She speaks about the processes used to gather information on improving an establishment and discusses the common key priorities of a project.

Donna also highlights the lack of diversity in the long-term care industry and discusses ways to improve diversity in the sector.

We learn how Donna keeps herself in check personally to make sure her quality of life is high, as well as ensuring the same for the residents of her retirement communities.

Do you want to learn all about strategic turnarounds in the long-term care industry? Then tune in to this week’s episode of LTC Heroes with Donna Kelsey, CEO at American Senior Communities.

We appreciate you listening, and we are motivated by your feedback. Visit LTCHeroes.com to join our exclusive Facebook Group for Nurses, and our exclusive Linkedin group for Long-Term Care Owners. We look forward to seeing you inside the community.

This episode is brought to you by Experience.Care, the only long-term care EHR backed by guarantees.

Your profitability is our priority and your compliance is our cause. Since 1969.

In this week’s episode of LTC Heroes, we speak with Randy Gasser, Executive Director at Woodhaven Retirement Community, and Angela Feldbauer, Director of Admissions and Marketing of the same company.

The Woodhaven Retirement Community is located in Livonia, Michigan, and offers personalized full-service care for adults aged 55 and older.

Most of the episode focuses on the skilled nursing license placed in escrow at Woodhaven during Covid-19, and we learn about the risks and challenges this introduces.

We hear in-depth about the transformation the community has gone through, and also how they worked through Covid-19. This year, 32 skilled nursing and rehabilitation beds were licensed for luxury living and long-term care.

Randy also speaks about the people who inspire him in the LTC industry and how his current self differs from his past self.

Angela discusses the community’s marketing strategies in detail, explaining the techniques that have worked and how the methods have progressed and changed over the years. Toward the end of the episode, Angela reveals what the company’s primary marketing goal is.

Finally, Randy is asked if there is anything the team would have done differently during the significant changes made at Woodhaven Retirement Community.

Learn about the recent big changes made at Woodhaven Retirement Community by tuning in to the latest episode of LTC Heroes with Randy Gasser, Executive Director at Woodhaven Retirement Community, and Angela Feldbauer, Director of Admissions and Marketing there.

Resources:

We appreciate you listening, and we are motivated by your feedback. Visit LTCHeroes.com to join our exclusive Facebook Group for Nurses, and our exclusive Linkedin group for Long-Term Care Owners. We look forward to seeing you inside the community.

This episode is brought to you by Experience.Care, the only long-term care EHR backed by guarantees.

Your profitability is our priority and your compliance, our cause. Since 1969.

Get your profitability consultation today at Experience.Care/guarantee. Our website is .Care for a reason. We care about your care. Visit us at Experience.Care.

In this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Michelle Gramoglia, President and CEO of Woodland Pond at New Paltz joins us to discuss how LTC organizations can effectively collaborate with their wider community.

Michelle explains that when your organization has a strong presence within a community, it’s important to develop symbiotic relationships with other organizations, businesses, and community members. By forming collaborations with entities like banks, clinics, schools, and other businesses, you can have a greater impact in your community and benefit your residents while doing so.

She gives us some examples of her organization's current collaborations and highlights how to find success with these collaborations. She notes that being transparent and gaining buy-in from all stakeholders is a key priority when forming these relationships. She also mentions the importance of gaining clarity on the responsibilities within a collaboration in order to find the best possible way to work together.

Michelle also discusses Woodland Pond’s lifelong learning center, which is a collaboration with the New Paltz State University of New York. She says it’s a great way to encourage residents to stay engaged while also providing the opportunity for other community members to enjoy learning something new.

Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com

In this week’s episode of LTC Heroes, we speak with Patty Talley and Pam Doshier. Both work at Dogwood Village: Patty as a Customer and Community Relations Director, and Pam as an Administrator and Executive Director.

Dogwood Village is a retirement and assisted living facility in Orange, Virginia. Incredibly, the facility went through the Covid-19 pandemic without having a single resident become infected with the virus. Because of this, how the team fought and protected its residents against the pandemic is the main focus of this episode.

We learn how the team at Dogwood Village immediately started training their staff about infection control practices, social distancing, and the importance of wearing a mask as soon as Covid-19 began to spread.

Aside from discussing Dogwood Village’s battles against Covid-19, we also learn Patty’s thoughts on staff burnout and the importance of a healthy work-life balance. She also discusses her thoughts on innovation and improving processes in a facility.

The hour-long episode wraps up with Pam and Patty answering a question on what advice they would give to themselves 40 years ago, before they entered the industry of long-term care.

Do you want to learn how one retirement and assisted living facility managed to avoid a single resident contracting Covid-19 during the pandemic?

Then tune in to this week’s episode of LTC Heroes with Patty Talley and Pam Doshier from Dogwood Village.

We appreciate you listening, and we are motivated by your feedback.  Visit LTCHeroes.com to join our exclusive Facebook Group for Nurses, and our exclusive Linkedin group for Long-Term Care Owners. We look forward to seeing you inside the community.

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This episode is brought to you by Experience.Care, the only long-term care EHR backed by guarantees.

Your profitability is our priority and your compliance, our cause ― and this, since 1969.

Get your profitability consultation today at Experience.Care/guarantee. Our website is .Care for a reason. We care about your care. Visit us at Experience.Care.

In this week’s episode of LTC Heroes, we speak with Troy Bell, CEO at TanaBell Health Services.

TanaBell is based in Idaho and provides high-quality health care in Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living facilities.

The hour-long episode begins with an icebreaker, with Troy telling us what his favorite hobbies and interests are. He also answers how his current self differs from his past self.

Then we learn about Troy’s first job in the long-term care industry. He goes on to answer what he would change in the industry if he was given a chance.

Troy believes that some of the best advice he can give to those working in the long-term care industry is to remember the importance of finding joy in the journey, no matter how difficult the job may be.

As well as this, Troy speaks about the perception of long-term care work among the public.

Marketing is also heavily discussed throughout the episode. Troy talks about the business’s marketing budget, and we learn how involved he is in the company's marketing. He explains how essential marketing is in the long-term care sector and explains the brand’s Facebook advertising methods.

Do you want to learn about the marketing efforts of a successful long-term health care company? Then tune in to this week’s episode of LTC Heroes with Troy Bell, CEO at TanaBell Health Services.

We appreciate you listening, and we are motivated by your feedback. Visit LTCHeroes.com to join our exclusive Facebook Group for Nurses, and our exclusive Linkedin group for Long-Term Care Owners. We look forward to seeing you inside the community.

In this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Jay Moskowitz, CEO of Vivage, joins us to discuss what you should look for when acquiring LTC facilities, and how he goes about making improvements to these facilities.

Jay says any acquisition that you’re interested in needs to make sense for you and your team. In his mind, an acquisition makes sense when the facility is in a market you can serve and you’ll actually be able to stabilize and improve the facility.

Other factors you should consider when acquiring a facility are the longevity of the staff and leadership, survey history, and if the case mix is what you’re looking for.

Jay shares with us the importance of making time to meet with your leadership team(s) when operating multiple facilities. He points out that he meets one-on-one with each of his leaders throughout the week in order to align on agendas without inconveniencing each other amidst other duties.

Jay also notes that when thinking about making improvements to a facility, be sure to consider the ROI and prioritize your projects accordingly.

Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com

In this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Rosale Lobo, Assistant Professor of Nursing and Health Policy, sits down with us to discuss her approach to nurse training and the importance of nursing documentation.

Rosale shares that when training new nurses, she first teaches them about empathizing and understanding people. Without this foundation of interpersonal skills and an ability to see nuances about a patient, other nursing duties such as documentation become much more difficult.

Without a big picture view of your patients and knowing what qualitative data to capture, she says, nurses will struggle to understand how their documentation contributes to the overall care of their patients.

Rosale highlights some key challenges around documentation, including that EHRs are rarely aligned with the workflow of nurses, nurses don’t have enough input in the design of EHRs, and EHRs often don’t reflect the human element of nursing.

When it comes to poor documentation habits, Rosale cites a lack of details and vague language as the main offenders. Without precision when nurses are charting, it's difficult to truly gain the big picture around a patient. This can also lead to issues in concerns with litigation and regulation.

Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com

In this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Gretchen Brown, President and CEO of Stonehill Franciscan Services joins us to discuss how to develop an organization by breaking down silos and supporting staff in a productive way.

Gretchen talks about her experience at Stonehill and highlights the importance of forming strong relationships right off the bat with your staff as a new CEO. She also points out that if there are fragmented elements of an organization, realigning them should be a top priority as you begin your journey with an organization.

When it comes to breaking down silos, Gretchen says it’s vital to include all departments and voices in your discussions in order to truly improve. You not only need to listen, but actually implement solutions that will help support the culture you want to establish within your organization.

Gretchen notes that setting proper expectations for employees and following up with them on those expectations goes a long way toward employee satisfaction. They need to feel like their responsibilities are actually in line with their assigned position, and they also need to feel that the behind-the-scenes logistics of their position are being taken care of properly.

Gretchen also shares some great insight on the tools and metrics she uses to gauge success within her organization, and these can be explored in the resources section below.

Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com

In this episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Bob Hurlbut and his son Robert Hurlbut of Hurlbut Care Communities join us to discuss some concerning bills being passed that will impact the LTC industry. They also share a variety of tips for running multi-facility LTC communities.

With Bob currently serving as the CEO and President of Hurlbut Communities, and Robert serving as an Administrator, we start off the show talking about their experience of working in a multi-generational LTC business.

According to Bob and Robert, some of the keys to their success are putting a focus on staff morale, spending quality time with their residents, being good listeners, and staying flexible with their operations while also creating as much standardization as possible.

Bob shares his experience of working in LTC policy and the importance of getting involved with legislation that negatively impacts the industry. Bob discusses two current bills in particular that don’t make sense for the current state of the industry and need to be addressed.

When facing these challenges, Bob says you shouldn’t be afraid to face off with legislators and make it known why the bills or policies are wrong.

Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com

What actionable advice or topics do you believe we’ll cover in today’s episode?

Bob: Family is obvious because we grew up in it, but also taking care of the elderly—with numerous lawsuits against the state of New York—because it's getting very difficult in this day and age to take care of loved ones, and finding staff. And there are two particular bills that were just passed that are not going to be good for this industry.

Who is one mentor that has impacted the way you deliver care in our industry?

Robert: Probably be my grandfather. He also illustrates my dad, too. But my grandfather, he is just so passionate about this industry. And you can see him, I can picture him walking into a nursing home and kind of lighting up the room and making sure all the residents are cared for, like he's there for the residents. But he's also there for the staff, from the manager to the housekeeper.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Bob: Listen more, be calm, and manage your emotions.

In the episode of the LTC Heroes podcast, Charles Oliver, Director of Customer Success at Experience Care, and Ayisha Bradley, QA Informatics Technician at Care Centers Centers Management, sit down with us to discuss the benefits of electronic health records and how to implement them properly.

With Ayisha and Charles both having experience in nursing, they talk about what life was like before switching to paperless operations, noting that once you get over the learning curve of a new EHR, daily workflows become much more efficient.

Ayisha and Charles both say that one of the biggest challenges when implementing an EHR is getting the nursing staff on board with the solution. Part of the challenge is getting nurses off of the floor to learn how to operate the system. The other part is properly educating the nurses about how the EHR will positively impact their patients, because that’s what truly matters at the end of the day.

To find success with EHRs, Charles describes the importance of gaining input from all users in order to use the EHR to its full capacity. Without this big picture consideration, organizations often create more work for themselves instead of experiencing the benefits of EHRs.

Learn more and sign up to be notified about future episodes at LTCHeroes.com