Transform - Senior Housing News

Jerry Finis, Pathway to Living CEO by Senior Housing News

To reach the baby boomers, senior living operators are going to have to offer them something more than engagement. Instead, the baby boomers will want the flexibility to make their own choices about how they live their lives. That's the belief of Watermark Retirement Communities President David Barnes, and the thesis behind the company's Elan and Elite collections of luxury senior living communiti...

The sky-high cost of building materials is making life hard for senior living developers in 2021. Confluent Senior Living is no exception. The developer has even resorted to stockpiling lumber to save money, a risk that Confluent Managing Partner John Reinsma says the company wouldn't normally take. But there is a silver lining in the fact these challenges have forced Confluent to slow down and re...

It’s been said that the Covid-19 pandemic has put much of the senior living sector back into lease-up --- Heritage Communities COO Amy Birkel knows this all too well.    For the Omaha, Nebraska-based senior living operator’s 14 communities, the pandemic has turned back the clock on occupancy to the point that Birkel says it's like managing a portfolio of new buildings. But she also believes that t...

Larry Cohen, CEO, Trustwell Living by Senior Housing News

Marquis Companies CEO Phil Fogg, Jr. has a philosophy: anything that improves outcomes for long-term care residents is worth owning and doing. That helps explain why Marquis has its hand in so many service lines, from senior living and long-term care to rehab and an in-house pharmacy. Being a population health company has benefitted Marquis, and the organization is still expanding its capabilities...

Senior living providers will need to come up with a new playbook to attract the baby boomers in the post-pandemic world — and boutique hotels could provide a roadmap for that reinvention. Danette Opaczewski, executive vice president of resident experience and COO at Revel Communities -- the senior living brand of The Wolff Company -- knows this better than most. She joined Revel in January 2020 af...

This episode of Transform is sponsored by Medication Management Partners. The Crestwood, Illinois-based company provides medication management and is a dedicated pharmacy partner for assisted living, memory care, and behavioral health communities across the country. Over the past few months, MMP has helped its senior living partners hold vaccination clinics --- and Director of Partner Success Patr...

Pacific Retirement Services (PRS) was in talks with eight different universities last year when the pandemic hit, putting forward progress on ice. But the Medford, Oregon-based organization's new CEO, Eric Sholty, believes demand for these types of projects will come back when conditions in the senior living industry return to normal. In addition to its portfolio of 12 CCRCs, PRS is looking for sm...

Paul Griffin III, Founder, CEO, and President of Griffin Living by Senior Housing News

Revera is one of the biggest names in North American senior housing, serving 20,000 older adults in long term care homes and retirement residences in Canada, and as the majority shareholder in Sunrise Senior Living. Like senior living providers of all sizes, Revera was affected by the Covid-19 in myriad ways. In an effort to understand what happened in the pandemic’s first months, and to be better...

John Atkinson, Executive Vice President and Managing Director for Willis Towers Watson by Senior Housing News

Cadence Living entered 2020 thinking it would pursue some interesting acquisition opportunities. That was before the pandemic. But Cadence managed to grow last year in other ways, such as by inking new third-party management agreements, according to Principal Rob Leinbach. Today, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company has 26 communities in its portfolio and six more coming down the pike. Cadence is...

When Chris Guay founded Vitality Living, he was frustrated at the industry’s slowness to innovate. Now, he believes that more operators have started “think differently” — and he anticipates that the next 10 years will bring significant, positive change. Vitality itself is changing, by opening its first active adult project. The company is also taking stock of lessons learned during the pandemic to...

Like other senior living providers, Generations LLC has faced lower occupancy rates and higher expenses due to Covid-19. But Executive Chairman Chip Gabriel is optimistic about what is in store for the Clackamas, Oregon-based provider. In particular, he is bullish on its slate of intergenerational and middle-market projects. And he believes that future operating models shouldn't focus solely on Co...

Randy Bury, president and CEO of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, is looking forward to 2021 for one simple reason: It has to be better than 2020. More specifically, Bury is optimistic about the prospects for a Covid-19 vaccine, and is focused on restoring consumer trust and confidence. But in this episode of Transform, Bury is also frank about the challenges facing Good Sam and th...

In the post-pandemic age, prospective residents and their families will crave more information than perhaps ever before. In turn, providers should prepare to be more transparent about infection rates, safety protocols, vaccination rates, and other quality indicators, according to Marvell Adams Jr., COO of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania-based The Kendal Corporation. Adams has been working to safeguar...

Covid-19 has made risk management more critical for senior living operators — but, challenges that existed prior to the pandemic have not gone away. Arbitration agreements, fall reduction and response, communication and documentation practices, and early claim resolution are among the “Risk Management 101” topics that Tara Clayton, senior claim consultant at Willis Towers Watson, addresses in this...

Ascension Living knows the value of health care services in senior living. The organization, the senior care subsidiary of St. Louis-based health system Ascension, has leaned on its parent organization for help sourcing crucial resources and broadening telehealth access for its residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ascension Living is also evaluating its communities for new opportunities to best...

Jayne Sallerson, COO, Partner at Charter Senior Living by Senior Housing News

Mitigating the impact of Covid-19 is no easy feat, and the senior living industry has been forced to adjust and innovate a rapid pace in 2020. But for Pegasus Senior Living co-founder Chris Hollister, there’s no substitute for executing on the basics. Hollister believes that common sense and consistency can go a long way in keeping residents healthy and safe amid the pandemic. And, it helps to mai...

Regularly testing senior living residents and staff for Covid-19 is not cheap. And yet, it is among the industry's best tools for limiting the disease's spread. Just ask Lynne Katzmann, Founder and CEO of Bloomfield, New Jersey-based Juniper Communities. She believes that senior living providers must test their residents and associates early and often in order to develop an effective battle plan -...

Vi President Randy Richardson is an optimist, but he finds it hard to maintain a bright outlook in the midst of Covid-19 -- in fact, he fears that the worst is yet to come for senior living. But Richardson is still bullish on the industry's long-term prospects. Vi was able to adapt its operations, sales and marketing in order to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 to its 10 high-end CCRCs. All told, t...

Covid-19 could act as an accelerant for senior living trends that were already underway. For example, these challenging times could prompt more non-profit providers to find new and creative ways to affiliate or partner, or to increase annual technology budgets. Ingleside, a Rockville, Maryland-based senior living nonprofit, is currently exploring ways to do both. The organization invests 3% of its...

Scott Stewart, Founder and Managing Partner of Capitol Seniors Housing by Senior Housing News