Imagine if Emeritus CEO, Granger Cobb, would have said, “I am 100% confident in the training, care and services that we provide. That is precisely why my own mother lives in this community.”
Imagine if Emeritus CEO, Granger Cobb, would have said, “I am 100% confident in the training, care and services that we provide. That is precisely why my own mother lives in this community.”
A follow-up commentary on the PBS Expose of Emeritus and Assisted Living
Last week, officials at the IRS proposed changes that would exempt themselves from the new Affordable Care Act; the very law that they are now empowered to enact and enforce.
Make sense?
The law is apparently good enough for the goose, but the gander want no part of it. In fact, in testimony to Congress last week, acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel, said exactly that.
Quoting, “…I would prefer to stay with the current policy that I’m pleased with rather than go through a change if I don’t need to go through that change.” Uh huh. Builds your confidence, doesn’t it?
Let’s go into an alternate universe for a moment. What if Mr. Werfel pledged to be the first person, and his family – the first – to be subjected to the rules and provisions of the Affordable Care Act?
Furthermore, that each employee of the agency, charged with its implementation, would be subject to the Act before any other citizen. Hmmm…OK, then. Better. The analogy is sound, isn’t it?
If every CEO of every senior living and healthcare company would have the confidence and certainty in his or her company’s training, systems, policies and staff so as to have their own family members living in the communities over which they have charge; how much more confidence would the public have in their communities?
How much stronger would Emeritus’ position have been in the recent PBS expose, if each of their corporate team would have said the same? Hmmm…OK then. Better. Much better. I know, I know…how naïve of me.
How silly a concept: to have the leaders of companies, industry and government, be willingly subjected to the very policies, rules and services from which they make their living. Well, that would require earnest belief in what was being sold. That would require truth, integrity, and the courage of one’s convictions. It would require the knowledge – the surety – that those very convictions and beliefs were being lived out at every level of one’s company, or agency.
Last week, PBS aired an expose on several disturbing incidents at Emeritus communities. Like many of you, I watched, waited and desperately wanted for that moment when I could say, “Ah ha! See there?! ‘That’ counters your biased claims! ‘That’ speaks volumes of truth that drown out the accusations and insinuations!” But “that” moment never came.
I don’t know where Mr. Cobb’s family resides. Nor where most of our industry captains’ families reside. That is absolutely a private and very personal choice. We absolutely have no right to that information. But I do know that Bill Gates uses Windows. I know that Richard Branson flies on Virgin Atlantic. So do their employees and their customers. That knowledge speaks volumes about their belief in their product.
That gives testimony to the conviction of their services. “Hello, my name is Naïve, and I was just wondering…where does your family live?”
I know of almost no executives working in the entrance fee CCRC industry, who plan to move to a CCRC as their retirement home. What do they know that their marketing departments aren’t telling gullible shoppers?
John, your question has haunted me since you asked “where does your family live?”. The answer brought back a flood of memories. As I sit here typing, there is a gentle smile on my face. But that was not necessarily the case at the time Molly, my mother-in-law, lived in one of my AmericanWay homes. Seeing my business through the eyes of my customer (both her eyes and my own) was enlightening, challenging and sometimes, downright comical. Molly was an intelligent, independent and engaging woman. On some days those same qualities came out as: know-it-all, hard headed and self-absorbed! She was so unique. Sometimes she was loveable. Some days I wanted to wring her neck. But the staff members accepted her just as she was. And that was the key to quality care at the end of her life. It wasn’t about healthcare (of which she needed a lot). It was about being accepted and adored for the unique person that she was. Her emotional needs were met better in the last few years of her life in assisted living than at any other time. Here was my post on the AmerricanWay company blog at the time of her passing.
Coming to an End
by Janis Nowak on 3/24/2012
Sometimes the irony of life is startling. This week my two year term as President of the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association (WALA) ended. As the WALA conference (at which I would turn over the president’s gavel) kicked off Tuesday evening, my mother-in-law Molly, who lived in the AmericanWay home at 613 Albert Street, passed away. Thus, my term as WALA president and my position as assisted living customer ended at the same time.
Many of you know that my husband Dave and I virtually kidnapped my in-laws and brought them to Wisconsin a few years ago. We settled them in at the 613 Albert St home because my father-in-law (Len) was experiencing signs of dementia. Len passed shortly after the move but Molly thrived under your care. She became more social, she ate better and she seemed to me to be 10 years younger than when she was living in her own Cleveland home. She adored being assisted!
Molly went to the hospital on Monday for surgery. When I visited Tuesday morning she told me about her hospital breakfast. They served “mother’s oats” (that is what she called oatmeal) and a slice of toast. “Oh good” I thought, knowing this was a favorite breakfast of hers. She enjoyed good food all of her life and could be very particular. Her take on the breakfast was “they didn’t cut my slice of toast. They don’t know what they are doing here!”. And I think that her experience in assisted living was what gave her that spoiled attitude. She had been treated so royally throughout her stay in assisted living that she thought someone cutting her toast was to be expected – not necessarily a luxury!
I am so grateful and thankful to work with all of you AmericanWay employees. You enhance the lives of so many people. You often have to put up with challenging attitudes and behaviors. Yet you smile right through it all! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am proud to know each and every one of you….
The mother of our CEO does live here!
Our former CEO and his wife just moved in here.
And we have several second generation families…
ਸਊਣ ਰਿਸਤਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਮੈ ਓੁਸ ਕੌਲ ਆਈ ,
ਜਿਹੜਾ ਰਿਸਤਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਪਿਆ ਖ਼ੇਲਦਾ,
ਨਿਰਮਲ,This is a Punjabi words shayri,,, poetic words
I write it have a big massage. We can not trust on wrong people.
Hello, My name is none but I love the laws that are going to put in force. Poor home cares companies are going to rest because they have made enough money. Lets work on it, I want to do it too. All those years, my head was into a home care book, and write a guess report. They were calling me
you cheat ,
you hate me
you will miss me
I know you will not like
But I know you like me
if you work for me
I know , you do not like me.
In any way
I know you will not like me
if I am old
I know you will not like me.
when I am old and lonely.