You were first contacted by the family because dad has become mildly confused living at home.  He forgets to take his medication and can’t remember the last time he bathed.  After weeks of working with the prospective resident and his family the paperwork is done, a check written and a move-in date set.  The move goes well and after a few weeks the new resident is rapidly becoming an important part of the community. Then five or six months after occupancy this new member of the community begins to exhibit signs of increasing confusion and is occasionally confrontational with staff and other residents. 

You know that sometime in the coming few weeks you will be forced to move this new resident either into your memory care neighborhood, or to another community that can provide a higher level of care. In order to secure this resident, you spent money on marketing, paid your marketing director a commission and perhaps paid a few thousand dollars to a referral agency.  You know those costs along with other costs associated with turnover will be amortized over a too short period of time. Imagine how much better it would be for that resident, his family and your bottom line, if you could gain a few extra weeks or months before moving him to another community.

An Elegant Solution

A few weeks ago I traveled to Arizona to visit with Vigil customers and prospects.  I had the opportunity to visit The Stratford an Integral Senior Living managed assisted living community in Phoenix.  Stephanie Templeton the creative executive director developed an elegant solution to this problem. She was able to repurpose a first floor break room to create a new program she labeled “Passages”.  Passages became in essence a pull-out daycare program within the assisted living community.  Those residents who were experiencing a growing level of confusion are offered the opportunity to become a part of Passages where they have a higher level of supervision, activities that are specifically adapted to the needs of memory care residents, and in general a more structured daily routine that is known to improve the quality of life for mildly confused residents, who need structure to their day. 

These are the folks that come repeatedly to the front desk asking, “What do I do now?” The program provides five benefits:

1.  It allows the participants to stay in their familiar housing setting for a longer period of time.

2.  It is less expensive to families than full blown memory care.  They charge just enough to cover the cost of the program, with the primary benefit being the increase in length of stay and corresponding reduced turnover.

3.  It removes otherwise disruptive residents from the more alert general population.

4.  As happens in many communities, there residents who most of the time function quite well with the general community but have episodes of confusion and agitation Passages has provided an effective tool for resettling those residents, often in just a day or two.

5.  It provides a feeling of purpose, belonging, and community that provides much-needed security for these individuals. I want to thank Stephanie for allowing me to share this great idea.  If you are doing something unique and would allow me to write about it I would help the industry and showcase your community. Steve Moran

 Opportunities: 

In the past week I have been approached by two entities who have projects where they are looking for equity funding:

1. A planned assisted living/memory care community with entitlements.  They are looking for both additional equity and a management partner.

2.  The other is an existing assisted living community where they are looking primarily for equity capital, but where there is no management opportunity.

If you have an interest please send me an e-mail at [email protected]

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Finally: If you know anyone who is looking at emergency call systems I would appreciate the opportunity to talk with them about Vigil Health Solutions.