Busy but Interesting Week

Busy week but full of many unique projects that kept me hopping but never bored. That's actually a nice thing about my job, everyday is very different and I get involved with a variety of initiatives that represent the many varied aspects of an organization.

On Monday, Jean Boyle (Director of Development) and I participated in a conference call with a firm in Dallas, Texas (RSI) that specializes in assisting not-for-profit organizations with major capital fund-raising campaigns. It was a very productive dialog which resulted in our requesting them to submit a formal proposal for our further consideration. We will pursue similar proposals from other firms as we begin to plan for a future campaign to raise some serious funds (3-4 million) to help support our Kirkhaven Replacement project.

Tuesday was suppose to be an "office day" to enable me to get some project and desk work done. At noon I received a call from Channel 13 News and was asked if I would do an interview to talk about the recent State budget cuts being proposed by the Governor and its impact on nursing homes. I like Seniorsfirst to be seen as an industry leader and advocate for good public policy, so I often say yes. It's always a risk because you can't control what they will report or what pieces of the interview they will air. You also need to be careful with what you say because your audience will be policy makers, consumers and staff and each will listen and interpret your remarks differently. Looks like this budget issue will become a real dog fight with significant dollars at risk. Just one more thing to add to our "to-do list", like we need this to worry about!

On Wednesday, Scott Maar (CFO) and I were joined by legal and reimbursement counsel to meet with the Office of Inspector General for a 2 hour Exit Conference related to our 2003-2006 Medicaid rate audit. We were really organized and prepared with our arguments & documentation and believe we made considerable inroads in fending off several unwarranted audit adjustments. We won't know for sure until at least another month, but the final outcome should be significantly less than what the initial draft audit report attempts to recover from us.

Our Marketing team spent 3 days this week working with an outside firm shooting video for use in sales, marketing and fund-raising videos that are being produced for our future use. Several staff, residents and others participated and took their turn under the lights and in front of the camera to offer testimony and conversation about various elements of our communities and services. The coordination and process was very professional and well organized, not to mention intimidating. But everyone got through it (including me) and we can't wait to see the final products by mid October (premier showing at the Gala on October 25).

On Thursday, a team of 10 of us from Kirkhaven drove to Buffalo to tour the Beechwood facilities. Beechwood is another pioneer organization that has embarked on a culture change project similar to Kirkhaven. They are a few years ahead of us in many aspects and have completed some household units with others in progress. We met with our counterparts, toured the facility and engaged in group dialog for the entire morning. As part of their mission, their Board has directed them to openly share and help spread the culture change movement to others. We learned a lot and their contagious passion mirrors our own.

Can't explain it, but sometimes a CEO just gets too much going on inside and it begins to consume you. I haven't been sleeping well this week and have been waking up at 4 a.m. trying to think it all out until the alarm goes off at 6:30. Friday, I gave in and got up and went to work instead. I needed the office time to play catch up, meet with my staff and get organized before I leave for a week vacation up at the cottage in the Adirondacks. Summer is fading fast and it fades even faster up North. I plan to paint the camp (which I actually enjoy) in addition to my usual boating, swimming, hiking and other more leisurely activities.

Have a great week and thanks for visiting my Blog. I'll be back in another week with vacation pictures and an update on what's new at Seniorsfirst!