Senior-care Residences Create Homier Environments
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Assisted living and skilled nursing centers across the region are adapting to changes within, and demands placed on, the industry, many driven by a new generation of residents and their families, executives say.
Advances in technology, the trend toward resident-centered care, and innovative programs that encourage all residents to participate – all stand to enhance their residents’ physical and mental well-being, they add.
“We’re trying to be creative,” says Jill Cox, executive director at Paisley House, a nonprofit assisted living center on the west side of Youngstown.
Cox, Tamara Salvino of Shepherd of the Valley’s Howland community, Brian Kolenich of Park Vista in Youngstown and Tim Huber of Elmwood Assisted Living in Hubbard point to a rapidly changing service sector.
With just 20 residents, Paisley House is among the smaller senior assisted living homes in the Mahoning Valley, Cox says. However, Paisley delivers low, affordable rates for seniors because of strong community support in the form of contributions, sponsorships and endowments, she reports.
“All of the senior communities have their own niche,” Cox says. Paisley House was established in 1909 as a type of sorority house for elderly women. While it continues to house female residents, men are also welcome there, she says. “They adopted the assisted living concept more than 100 years ago,” Cox says. “They were way ahead of their time.”
Cox emphasizes the importance of residents engaging with the community and keeping them as active as possible. “One of the things I’d like to build up is a new exercise program and get them out of the building,” she says. “So, we’ve been scheduling outings once or twice a month.”
Last month, for example, Paisley House treated the residents of each dining table to the restaurant of their choice. “Every week, I took a different table out to dinner,” she relates.
To explore the autumn foliage, Cox organized a senior outing at Tippecanoe Country Club’s golf course. The residents rode in golf carts, instead of taking the typical bus tour. “Many of these women were once golfers,” she noted, “so they really loved it. The goal is to keep them active and healthy longer.”
The latest addition to take up residence in Paisley House is commanding plenty of attention. “We now have a community dog, Libby,” she says.
Other nursing and assisted living centers throughout the Mahoning Valley have made efforts to create a homier atmosphere, a trend in the industry that reflects more resident-centered attention. “We’ve taken away the nurses’ stations at our skilled-nursing facility,” reports Brian Kolenich, executive director of Park Vista Retirement Community, Youngstown. “It creates more resident space and a homelike appeal.”
Park Vista is a continuing-care retirement community that includes independent living, home health, assisted living and skilled nursing services. Today, nursing homes act as rehabilitation centers rather than solely places for long-term care, Kolenich notes.
“In 2002, we opened for short-term needs,” he says. The goal was to give residents therapy and treatment through skilled nursing after they underwent knee or hip replacement and then send them back home. “We also want to place the resident at the center of decision-making,” he says.
One of the benefits of a continuing care community is that residents in both assisted living and nursing have access to Park Vista’s therapy department, says Beth Ann Tabak, communications director at Park Vista. An example she cites is Park Vista’s therapy pool, which includes a treadmill at the bottom that can accelerate to 8 miles per hour.
“The only ones nearby that have a pool like this are the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Tabak says. “A lot of the residents think that this is unbelievable that we have such resources here.”
Park Vista has also adopted programs that give residents more say about their diets, surroundings and environment, Tabak adds. “They wanted a dog and a floor pet,” she says. “This is their home and we have to treat it like their home.”
Tastes have also changed over the past decade. Those entering assisted living or skilled nursing homes today, for example, tend to be older than the residents of 10 or 15 years ago. Moreover, their children are more vocal about making sure their parents are taken care of.
“Our goal is to make it homelike here,” observes Tamara Salvino, assistant director at Shepherd of the Valley’s Howland community. The first step – especially with skilled nursing – was to remove all of the stigmas the industry had.
“In the old days, if you came to a nursing home, breakfast would be served at 7 a.m.,” Salvino says, noting that everyone woke up (or was awakened) and ate at the same time. “Now, the residents sleep and wake at their own time, and breakfast is open from 7 to 10, so they can eat when they’re up and ready to eat.”
The objective is to give options to these residents in skilled nursing, whether it be dining, activities, therapy schedules or their plans for the day, Salvino says. Assisted living events, such as bingo or church services, are more routine and planned, she says.
One initiative Shepherd of the Valley has taken part in – called Second Wind Dreams – has also helped excite residents there. “The goal is to find out what their dream is,” she says, be it an event the resident would like to attend, or doing something he’s always wanted to do.
“We’ve done some very interesting things,” Salvino says. Recently, the Cleveland Browns donated tickets to a resident so he could attend a game and meet football great Paul Warfield. “It gets the community involved,” Salvino says. “We’ve taken residents golfing, ice skating, skiing. We try to make eight to 12 dreams come true a year.”
Meantime, new assisted living and skilled nursing centers are being developed to fit the demands of the next generation of residents, those born during the first years of the post-World War II “baby boom” era.
“There are different dynamics in this industry moving forward,” notes Tim Huber, general partner at JCTH Holdings, which is developing a new skilled-nursing and assisted living campus in Hubbard. “We’re diversifying what we do.”
JCTH is spending $8 million to develop the Elmwood Assisted Living and the Countryside at Elmwood, a skilled-nursing complex, Huber reports, and also has plans to renovate another skilled-nursing center in Warren.
“You need to have all of your facilities new,” Huber says. “It’s an entirely different climate than it was 15 or 20 years ago.”
Operators of assisted living centers in the region have “done a fantastic job” of building some of the most inviting and comfortable residences for seniors, he relates. “We’re doing what a lot of others are doing. You need to meet the demands of what they [residents] want in order to compete.”
The new Elmwood Assisted Living complex sits on five acres, would include 50 new beds, and is 60% completed, Huber reports. “We’re very excited about it.” The second phase of the development consists of another five acres where the 50-bed skilled nursing center will be constructed next year.
Both the skilled nursing and the assisted living buildings would be connected, making it easier for residents at Elmwood to visit a spouse undergoing short-term rehabilitation at Countryside, he says.
In addition, the partnership plans to invest another $2 million to renovate its Cedar Creek nursing home in Warren, then relocate 50 of those beds to the new Hubbard site when it’s built, Huber says.
“It will be a complete renovation from head to toe,” he reports. The nursing home, opened in 1972, was acquired by JCTH several years ago.
The company is eyeing future horizontal expansion and plans at least one additional acquisition early next year, Huber reports. This trend, he notes, is likely to continue.
“More acquisitions,” Huber says. “That’s our goal.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: First published in the MidNovember edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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