What can a Division I offensive lineman teach us about leadership in nursing homes?

In this episode, Ryan Turley shares how his experience playing football at The University of Arizona shaped his approach to building culture, developing people, and leading high-performing teams. We discuss the lessons he carried from the football field into nursing home operations, why attitude matters, and what separates good teams from great ones.

Whether you're an administrator, department head, AIT, or simply interested in leadership, Ryan offers practical insights from years of building successful teams and creating cultures where people want to succeed.

After 30 years in nursing homes, Rob Zitsman has seen what works, what fails, and what can land a facility in serious trouble.

In this episode, Rob shares lessons from his career as an administrator, operator, and expert witness, including why new administrators need to “be a sponge,” why “nobody has a monopoly on bright ideas,” and the mistakes nursing homes keep making.

The podcast is an exploration of nursing home life, featuring real stories and experiences from administrators, nurses, CNAs, and more. It covers a wide range of topics, from census and staffing to leadership, family, and even conspiracy theories. The show aims to capture the unpredictable nature of working in a nursing home, with its funny stories, gritty moments, and hard-earned lessons.

In the first episode of The Nursing Home Operator, Devan sits down with fellow nursing home administrator Clint Nielson for a funny, honest conversation about what it is really like to run a nursing home.

Clint shares how he got into skilled nursing, what surprised him as a new administrator, and why nursing homes are anything but boring. The conversation covers first-building chaos, growing census, small-town recruiting, morning meeting routines, building culture, and the kind of moments that make administrators wonder what they got themselves into.

And yes, Clint tells the story of how growing census somehow led to him taking home a 14-year-old three-legged dog.

This episode is about the real work, the weird moments, and the hard-earned lessons that come with nursing home life.