Seniorsfirst Musicfest

A very busy week with our 3-day annual Seniorsfirst Musicfest on the grounds of Valley Manor. Attendance was great as we estimate we had over 300 attendees on day one for the Mercury Opera performance, and 500+ attendees each for day two and day three for the RPO and Johnny Matt Big Band performances.

Everything went marvelously and we even managed to withstand a brief rain storm at the start of the RPO performance on Wednesday. Our staff really did an amazing job organizing and pulling off this elaborate event. I am no longer amazed,but continually in awe of their talents and dedication. They always step up to the task!

RPO video at the Seniorsfirst Musicfest (click on the arrow to play).

We were somewhat disappointed with the Greystone final report and recommendations presented July 22nd to an ad-hoc committee comprised of both key leadership and board. It was weak in substance and recommendations, but I have spent significant time with them since and hope that our constructive feedback will result in some enhanced revisions. Despite our disappointment, they did provide us with some extensive data that we can build upon in developing our own strategic objectives and action plans.

Great news we think with respect to our purchase offer on the land we are interested in for the Kirkhaven replacement project. Our draft purchase offer was reviewed by the seller and their attorney and they have only made a hand full of suggested revisions that we don't believe are unreasonable. Once our attorney reviews and signs off on them, we should have a purchase offer document signed and agreed to within the week.

Our new pharmacy vendor (Kinney Drugs) started June 1 at Kirkhaven. We experienced a few glitches and are still ironing out a few others, but the transition is a good one for us and our first month's pharmacy bill was back under our monthly budget.

Speaking of expenses and budgets, I have been working with our facility directors at both Kirkhaven and Valley Manor (Jim Dietz and Eric O'Connell) in reviewing and locking in our utility gas prices for 2009. This is worse than trying to figure out the stock market. We are working with our gas broker and finally decided to lock in 25% of our estimated future therm needs. We will continue to monitor and lock down the remaining 65-75% in the near future as pricing dictates. We were told by our broker that our previous years decisions resulted in some of the lowest fixed gas rates of any of his customers. Not sure if that was a result of plain dumb luck or skill, but I hope our streak continues.

I thought the staff picnics at Kirkhaven and Valley Manor last week were great. Staff seemed to enjoy the games, food and fellowship. We also had a resident picnic at Valley Manor last week which was well attended and enjoyed by all, and at Kirkhaven we have had resident picnics by floor out on the patio (weather permitting) for the past several weeks. I just love summer and picnics. Anyone notice I haven't worn a suit in the month of July?

Amanda and I toured the household model at Fairport Baptist Home this week and were quite surprised by how nice they were. We were able to learn and see a lot that we will incorporate into our own facility design for Kirkhaven.

Next week is our Seniorsfirst Board meeting and our primary agenda is to hear and discuss the Greystone strategic plan analysis. On Monday, I will participate in a conference call with Jean Boyle, Jim Genthner and a fund-raising firm (Benevon) to discuss a potential engagement to assist us in training and procedures for a future major capital campaign to support our Kirkhaven Replacement project. We also have a high-powered focus group on Wednesday, that includes some of the wisest and renown "culture change" pioneers in the area, meeting with Amanda and I to discuss our Kirkhaven project vision. Should be an awesome session! Additionally, I have a meeting of the board of our Workers Compensation self-funding group and an exploratory meeting with a potential physician group interested in serving Kirkhaven's needs upon the retirement of our current medical director (John Jurik and his group).

Lastly, we have yet one more picnic on Friday- our joint leadership team at Valley Manor and Kirkhaven (did I mention I love summer and picnics) and a Kirkhaven project design meeting with our architects. I also plan to golf in the GHFA (Rochester for-profit nursing home group) golf tournament on Monday out at Midvale C.C. I haven't been golfing much this year, but I like this opportunity to network with some of my for-profit peers.

In closing here are few more still shots taken at the Musicfest. Enjoy....

Survival of the Fittest

It is starting to be a rough summer for my support staff. First Jean Boyle goes out on leave for surgery, followed by Cheryl Smith for some surgery of her own. This weekend, Scott Maar slips and falls while exploring a creek bed on his camping outing and breaks his left arm.

Cheryl's surgery went very well and she expects to return to work this week. Jean is doing well also on her new hip and is planning to return part-time on August 4th. Scott is having his arm/shoulder evaluate by an orthopod this week and expects to be back in the office this week but with limitations (does a one-armed accountant only make one-sided entries?). Of course Rebecca will be out later in the year with a more enjoyable leave when she gives birth to her baby.

I have been bothered by a nagging groin pull and leg soreness. My jogging and water skiing is slowly "killing" my aging body but I'm too vain and stubborn to slow down. I was already sore before I went out on Irondequoit Bay this Saturday with my son and son-in-law and had to show them that I could keep up with them on skis. I paid for it dearly on Sunday!

So Amanda, Cass and Jim III, please be careful and stay healthy.

Kirkhaven received its results from the annual Health Department Survey of a few weeks ago. With so many codes, regulations and procedures to adhere to in every resident interaction, it is a daunting challenge to have surveyors peering over your shoulder watching and reviewing your every actions-past and current. After 4 days of intense scrutiny, they issued 4 very minor resident care deficiencies of minimal scope and severity that do not constitute sub-standard care by their definition. While no deficiency is welcomed, we are elated with the survey results. Congratulations to Amanda and her entire support staff team!

On Tuesday, this week, a group of staff and board will be meeting with the Greystone Team to hear their findings and recommendations from the Valley Manor repositioning project. I am so anxious to learn what they have to say and only hope that it includes comprehensive and specific recommendations that are reasonable and attainable. We are all prepared to do whatever it takes and are looking for some professional expertise to simply guide us so we can use our own talents to turn Valley Manor around for the long-term.

This week is "Picnic Week" for our staff as we celebrate summer and our staff with our "We are Family" staff picnics at Valley Manor on Wednesday and Kirkhaven on Thursday. Human Resources always does a great job coordinating these events but I appreciate the support you all provide to assist Cass and her staff.

Jim III and Cilla have been very busy as they finished up our 2007 Annual Report which was mailed out recently. It looks great! They have also begun work on an engagement with an outside firm to produce a series of short CD videos for use with marketing, sales and development. One objective is to create a video to show at our October annual Gala. Lastly, they have been working feverishly to coordinate and prepare for the upcoming Musicfest and they are beginning to gear up for a Seniorsfirst website upgrade. Welcome to the team Jim!

FYI, our legal counsel and broker have been working on developing a purchase offer for the property discussed at the last board meeting. This is a complicated document and needs to be done carefully and professionally. We expect to have something to offer the seller this week and I will keep you posted.

Additionally, we have our Senior Leadership Team meeting this week and I will be meeting with Scott and Department of Health Medicaid auditors to review their Medicaid rate audit findings. Scott and I also have a board Investment Committee meeting and Amanda and I have a Pharmacy Committee and Infection Control meeting. On Thursday, Cheryl and Jim III have a Valley Manor resident/management meeting. Should be a busy but productive week.

If you see Cheryl Smith this week, be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday on Friday. In leaving here is a nice picture taken this past weekend when my son and his family were visiting us from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Here are my 2 "kids" with their spouses and my grandsons

Summer Vacation

I had a very nice vacation at our cottage in the Adirondacks. On the way to our camp we saw a boat for sale and stopped to check it out. I loved it and we needed to replace our old one which was getting beat up, so we bought it and I had a new toy to play with all week.

The weather was really hot for the first 5 days and then we had 3 days of rain and cooler temperatures. I got in most of the things I wanted to do including some golf, kayaking, swimming and sunning. We also took a day trip to Lake Placid for lunch on the lake and shopping.

Included in our vacation week was a 60th wedding anniversary for my parents and a 3-day weekend visit by my daughter's family. There was always family around and plenty of activity to keep us busy.

I hope to get up to camp at least once more before Summer ends. We trailered the boat home so we can use it to explore the many lakes near by, but I still like boating on our camp lake the best.

So now I'm well rested and it's back to work to play catch up with all the correspondence and get back on track with all the work in progress.