This Place is for the Birds!

I thought I would dedicate this Blog posting to shining the spotlight on our unique Assisted Living cottage and Adult Day program at Valley Manor.

I call them unique because they represent a relatively new trend and focus in the delivery of support services to seniors. With more and more interest and demand by consumers for support service alternatives other than nursing home care, assisted living and community-based services are gaining in popularity and attention.

Here on the campus of Valley Manor, located in the lovely East Avenue neighborhood, sits the cottage that houses our 8 apartment assisted living residence and our distinct adult day program community.

I stopped by recently to visit with the residents and clients to see what was new and exciting in their world, and wow, there is a lot going on! Let me share just a sample of what they shared with me and what I saw.

As I arrived at the cottage, I was greeted by a resident and staff having a quiet conversation in the foyer as they basked in the sunlight and warmth from the windows looking out on the neighborhood. They welcomed me in and graciously allowed me to take pictures and explore their cozy home.

I then met resident Beverly Fink sitting outside her dining room working diligently on a jigsaw puzzle. I wasn't much help to her with her puzzle but we did enjoy a nice conversation. Beverly lived in an apartment at Valley Manor for years before deciding to move into the assisted living apartments where she would have access to more aide support. She still has dinner at Valley Manor every Wednesday evening to stay in contact with her "woman's support group" that was an important part of her past routine. She has also rediscovered her love for playing piano and often plays during tea times and sing-alongs with her new friends at the cottage.

Ms. Fink insisted that I check out the gardens off the back patio so I then made my way outside. The residents had been busy in the weeks prior starting up their vegetable and flower gardens in the backyard and participating in the "Sage Project" (I'll blog on that project in the near future).

Other projects that the residents have been enjoying include creating centerpieces for their dining room tables, wreathes for each individual apartment door, baking for each others' birthdays and embarking on their daily exercise and wellness program.

But the newest and biggest news of the week was the addition of Pete and Kiwi to the cottage. Pete and Kiwi are parakeets that the residents have named and adopted as their new cottage pets. In addition to their beautiful colors and singing voices, the parrots provide a sense of companionship, responsibility and enjoyment.

I then wandered next door to to visit with the clients of the adult day program. Here I was greeted by a group of seniors seated in the bright, roomy dining room enjoying an afternoon snack and finishing up a card game. I asked who was wining all the money, but they just laughed and said "not them".

Outside in the courtyard I saw a large congregation of folks enjoying the warmth and sunshine (that does bless Rochester from time to time). I walked out to see what was going on and was immediately introduced to Tiddly and Wink, two other parakeets that the adult day program clients have named and adopted as their pets. The birds are awesome and will even sit on your finger, head or wherever and provide hours of enjoyment.

By the time I left the cottage, it was clear to me that this place is very special. The "smallness" of the community fosters a unique family atmosphere that is so much like home and nothing like an "institutional setting". Relationships, friendships, activities and person-centered support are obvious key components to the joy and laughter that was so evident to me in just my short, one hour visit.

As I left and walked out to my car, I thought to myself what a wonderful place to live or come to. This place may be for the birds, but it is also a delightful place for our elders.

Some Things Improve With Age!

Kirkhaven held a "Celebration of our Elders" event this past week in recognition of National Nursing Home Week. I was asked to give a special honorary toast to kick-off our resident celebration.

In planning for my toast and words to our elders, it occurred to me that aging in general seems to get a bad rap. You know what I mean. The car we bought 10 years ago doesn't run as well as it once did and what is that strange rattling noise coming from under the hood. Those fresh plump grapes I just bought last week now are turning brown and soft. And oh yeah, don't get me started about my lower back and knee joints.

So what exactly was I going to say to these elders that would be appropriate for a celebration rather than a precursor to a doctor visit? Then I got an idea! There must be some things that improve with age. So I did some on-line research and it turns out this aging thing ain't all bad.

Under the category of Food & Drink I submit the following:

• Wine & Cheese- sure we all knew that


• Eggs- turns out the older eggs are the better eggs


• Beef- remember to cure and age your beef for the best taste


• Casseroles- I love lasagna, but it always tastes better later reheated


• Cookbooks- the best are always your grandmother's old recipes

Under the category of Nature:

• Fruit Trees- my dad would know that the more mature trees bear the best fruit
• Soil- it takes years to "warm your soil"
• Shade Trees- that century old elm is the most majestic of them all
• Compost- isn't worth a dime without mother-nature and time
• Bird's Song- didn't know this but the older birds have a sweeter, stronger tweet

Under the category of Tangible Items:

• Antiques- well of course these become more valuable over time


• Real-Estate- don't you wish you bought that piece of property 20 years ago
  
• Leather- it only gets better with age


• Classic Cars- what we wouldn't give to own our father's first automobile now


• Photo Albums- the older the picture the better the memory

Under the category of Relationships:

• Friends- the best friend is usually an old friend


• Grandchildren- if I knew grandchildren would be such fun I wouldn't have had kids
  
• Traditions- the older the tradition, the more meaningful


• Memories- they grow fonder over time
  
• Family- we grow closer and more appreciative as we grow older

Which brings me back to my "Celebration of Elders" toast. After sharing these tid-bits that improve with age, I raised my glass, as the elders and others in the room did the same, and saluted the top 10 benefits of aging under the category of Elders:

1. Vocabulary- we learn more words and how best to use them as we age
2. Common Sense- it doesn't come naturally, we learn it over time
3. Humor- it becomes more acute and important as we age
4. Emotional Stability- it takes time, but eventually we discover who we are
5. Perspective- the longer we live, the broader our outlook on life becomes
6. Resilience- we learn to handle whatever life gives us as time moves on
7. Acceptance- we don't sweat the little things and tolerate diversity as we age
8. Wisdom- the older we get the wiser we get
9. Faith- thank God our faith grows stronger as our years and fears grow longer
10. Soul- while our body might desert us, our soul remains with us forever

So here's to our Elders, may they age well and gracefully. SALUTE!

A" Beer" Story

Happy Mother's Day to all my Blog readers who are mothers.

Here in Rochester, we use this special day when we honor our mothers, to also remember and support our most senior and often frail mothers and grand-mothers who reside in senior care homes. Mother's Day is designated "Homes Offering Day", where our local Presbyterian church congregations take up a special offering to help support Kirkhaven's mission.

You know, whenever I tell people what I do for a living, I often still get the response, "Jim,I'm sure you run a nice facility, but if I ever get to the point where I need a nursing home, just shoot me!"

Yes, it is pretty obvious that despite our best intentions to provide quality care for seniors, something is still wrong. As I have Blogged about before, with its typical hospital furniture, sterile rooms and endless routines day after day, there is nothing even remotely like home about the traditional nursing home.

But thankfully, things have begun to change and Kirkhaven is leading the way here in Rochester. As I have shared with you before, the keystone of this culture change is person-centered care, where seniors are empowered to direct the decisions that affect their daily life.

By providing them with the opportunities to live their lives in a similar manner to how they always did, pursuing the same type of activities, routines and rhythms of daily life, that is what culture change is all about.

On Mother's Day, I spoke at my own church, Summerville Presbyterian, and shared this true story which I think helps define culture change to a tee.

This past Friday, I volunteered as a celebrity bartender at Kirkhaven's weekly Friday afternoon resident Happy Hour. We were about 15 minutes into the Happy Hour and I had set everyone up with their first round of drinks and bar snacks, when a young man, probably around 35-40 years old, walked into the lounge wearing jeans, a Buffalo Bills jacket and a ball cap. He looked around the room for his mother and then saw her sitting at a table with some friends, a beer and a bag of chips in front of her. He strolled on over to her and pulled up a chair as the waitress came over and asked him if he would like a drink. He looked around with this look on his face that said, "Where am I? Am I in the right place?", and then gladly ordered up a beer. I popped a top and poured him a tall , cold beer and set it down next to him. "What's the matter buddy," I said to him. "Aren't you used to coming in to the nursing home for a frosty beer and some fun." He just looked at me and said, "I love this place! I'm just going to sit here, relax and share a beer and some conversation with my mom."

Now that's the response I'm looking for!

It's not just about Friday afternoon Happy Hours, but it's about nursing homes looking and feeling like home, where residents can pursue their life-long interests and routines. It' s about person-centered care.

Kirkhaven is on the Pathway to this remarkable evolution and you can help. The Mother's Day Homes Offering is an opportunity for anyone to make a donation towards supporting this journey. I invite my Blog readers to click on the Kirkhaven website link to the right of my Blog and then click on the Seniorsfirst Foundation button at the top of the web page. You can make an on-line donation (or mail in a donation) to the Directors' Discretionary Fund in honor or in memory of your own mother to help make a difference in the lives of our seniors.

On behalf of the current and future residents of Kirkhaven, I thank you for your support!

Evaluating Your Supervisor

Most organizations conduct an annual routine whereby supervisors conduct a performance evaluation of each of their staff, but only a few have the courtesy and courage, like Seniorsfirst, to give staff an opportunity to evaluate their supervisor.

I have always been a big supporter of this program and lead the way by encouraging my own direct report staff to participate and provide confidential feedback on my leadership and supervision performance. I use the feedback to monitor my strengths and potential for improvement. I always report back to them the collective results and any action plans I develop to follow-up on their feedback.

Seniorsfirst has been conducting this program for years, but not without some controversy. Some managers argue that at times you have to be stern disciplinarians or conduct employee counselings that obviously leave their staff resentful or angry. "How can I do my job as a supervisor and still expect my staff to like me?" they might ask.

I'm a stern believer that in most cases you can and that is what all great leaders should strive for.

We use the results from our "Evaluate your Supervisor" program to identify both individual and organizational leadership training and support needs. Our objective is to help ensure the proper development of our leadership so that our staff feel properly supported.

I am delighted with the collective results and scores of our leadership team. At Kirkhaven the average leadership performance rating, based on 10 specific leadership skill questions and a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being highest), was 4.1 and at Valley Manor was 4.4.

These scores represent a slight increase in our previously consistent and high supervision and leadership skills. Supporting our staff and ensuring their satisfaction leads to a direct correlation of their quality service and resident/client satisfaction.

Here are some photos of a recent resident art show at Kirkhaven:

Here is a nice photo of our honorary nurses at a recent Nurses Recognition Luncheon:

Here are some fun photos of my grandson Logan playing basketball with our dog Jessi:

Thanks for visiting my Blog. See you next week.

The CEO takes a Vacation!

Everyone needs a break from the day to day work routine including the CEO, so my wife and I rented a beautiful lake house for a week on Lake Anna located in central Virginia. "Welcome to the Good Life", boy they weren't kidding.


We left on Saturday at 6:30 in the morning and drove 7 hours where my wife dropped me off at a sport's bar so I could watch my beloved Buffalo Sabres play a hockey game while she continued on to the lake house to check in and unpack. Fortunately, she willingly drove back the 45 minutes to pick me up after the game to bring me back to this fabulous home.


The back of the house had great views of the lake from every room and the wrap-around deck. There was even a Wegmans not too far away where she picked up groceries and we were relaxing and enjoying the good life within a short time after our arrival.

The lake and dock were just a few steps down the waterfront where every evening the sun set slowly in the sky over the Lake Anna State Park located directly across from our home for the week. The weather was clear, sunny and warm every day. I even jumped in the lake for a swim on more than one occasion and enjoyed my early morning kayak trips exploring the vast lake and coves.

In addition to enjoying our time relaxing by the lake, we also drove the short distances to both Richmond and Fredericksburg to take in the historical tourist attractions, shop and dine. We thoroughly enjoyed the Virginia area.

One of the reasons we chose the Lake Anna region for our vacation destination was because we are interested in possibly retiring someday to the area. We figured we needed to visit and check it out if we were really serious about it. We looked at several lakefront homes for sale to begin to evaluate future opportunities. We found our dream home, but the sale price may keep it just a dream. Oh well, even dreams are fun and you never know?

By the end of the week, we were sort of ready to come home. I knew I would have a slew of e-mail, voice-mail and snail-mail waiting for me back in the office as a welcome home. I'll get to it eventually and should be caught up by the end of the week, but you'll have to excuse me if I seem a little more relaxed than usual. You see, I'm still basking in the after-glow of the "good life".

To check out more on Lake Anna click on: http://www.lakeannaonline.com/

We Give You Bob (and more)!

Many of you have probably seen our most recent Valley Manor television ads that have been running over the past few months. Our most recent ad featured "Bob" as just one of the many helpful staff that go out of their way to make Valley Manor Rochester's premier senior living retirement community.

Our next ad will expand on this feature and include a glimpse at the nearly 100 dedicated employees of Valley Manor, all of whom work tirelessly to ensure our residents experience the positive customer service we are renowned for.

Here are some still shots taken while the marketing production crew were at Valley Manor shooting the video for our next advertising campaign.

There are many senior retirement community options available to people and thus it is important to pay attention to what differentiates us from the competition and defines our unique brand and culture. When we researched this and asked our customers, this is what they told us:

• Location- Valley Manor is located in the heart of Rochester's Arts & Cultural District in a real neighborhood, just a short walk to shops, restaurants and many of the city's finest attractions.


• High-Rise Convenience- Valley Manor's high-rise convenience with one-foot thick concrete walls provides unparalleled easy access to amenities, privacy, security and safety.


• Custom Apartment Homes- Valley Manor apartment homes are as individual as our residents! In addition to 10 primary layouts, Valley Manor allows you to fully customize your home. Not just paint and carpet, but complete floor plan reconfigurations.


• Arts, Culture and Lifelong Learning- Valley Manor offers a full calendar with special interest groups, wellness programs, social events and day trips in collaboration with leading arts and cultural venues.

Hey, there is a reason we have been Rochester's premier senior living retirement community for nearly 40 years. Experience has taught us what our residents want and nobody does it any better than Valley Manor.

Take a look for yourself by clicking on the link below to view our most recent marketing materials and Valley Manor website. Experience the Valley Manor lifestyle!

http://www.seniorsfirstonline.com/valleymanor/video_tour.htm

Meet "Imajean Resident"

Once a year, Kirkhaven is required by regulations to provide staff sensitivity training on resident rights. It is always a challenge to come up with yet another innovative and interesting way to present this important material, but our social work department seems to be up to the task every time.

This year, Paula Henry (Director of Social Work) introduced us all to Imajean Resident (but everyone calls her Ima). Ima Resident spoke directly to the staff and shared her unique perspective on being a resident at Kirkhaven. Her message was a great reminder to us all about how important it is to be respectful of every resident's rights, dignity and individuality.

To follow is some of the message that Ima shared:

Hi Folks..........my name is Imajean Resident, but everyone calls me Ima for short, Ima Resident. I have been living here at Kirkhaven for about 5 years now. I moved here from Pennsylvania to be closer to my family. I didn't want to move, but it turned out okay and I have met some great people and have made some good friends. Maybe you know some of my friends. Do you know Alice, who lives on the 2nd floor? Alice is a wonderful woman and I just love her room. Speaking of rooms, I do wish mine was larger and more private. Don't get me wrong, the staff is very good at knocking before they enter and pulling what they call the privacy curtain, and I do like my roommate. It's just her TV volume that gets to me. Sometimes staff has to remind her to wear her head phones, it's a constant battle and yet we manage. Still a private room would be nice.

Do any of you know Lula who lives on the 5th floor. She moved here from Florida and did you know she was the first woman cab driver in the state of Florida. One of my best friends from the 4th floor is Lillian. Lillian is on Hospice and failing, but you know, she still has a great attitude and whenever I see her she is as friendly as ever. Lillian's friendliness smiles through her eyes. Then of course there is Bill on the 5th floor, the former Mayor of Avon who also spent over 50 years volunteering for the ambulance and fire departments in Avon. It makes a huge difference when people take the time to know how you lived your life before moving to Kirkhaven so we can continue to pursue our life-long interests. One of the staff the other day asked me what my favorite book was because she knew I loved to read. We had a great conversation.

Ok, enough about me and my friends. I want to take a few minutes to talk to you about this Pathway you all are on. There seems to be a lot of good things happening here to move away from an institutional feel to more of a feeling of home. Of course, going "bibless" was fun and we elders gave our input. I was one of the elders who voiced a concern that even though I liked the linen napkins, I missed the good old-fashioned paper napkins. The linen napkins do look nicer than the old "bibs", but thank you for listening to us and also giving us back our paper napkins to wipe our mouths on. Those linen ones were just too slippery. I also know that I can refuse a linen napkin if I want, just as I can refuse other things if I want. Did you know I refused to give up the shoes I am wearing. Some staff thought I would be safer in flat heeled shoes. I said Baloney! This is what I have always worn and will continue to wear and I am willing to risk a fall. They listened and you can see I am still wearing my favorite heels. Occasionally, I will still meet someone who thinks they know better than I do about what is best for me and they want to treat me like a child. They act like they are the boss over me, but I must say this seems to be happening less and less, and that's a good thing. I don't need "bosses" and I am certainly not a child, so I don't need anyone to act like my parent.

The best part of this changing the institutional culture is that I understand it really put us elders in the center of thinking and more importantly, includes us in the thinking. Nursing homes have always historically kind of done things to and for elders, so seeking more and more input from us and asking us what is best for us only makes sense. When I was in my own home, I made decisions every day and no one told me where to go, or when to sit down, or when to go to bed, or when to get up, or what to eat, or what activity to attend.

You know, there are a lot of fun activities here and it is nice to see more people helping us get to things. I am lucky I can still walk and get there myself, but I fear one day this may change, so I especially like that more and more people seem to be getting involved to help. I didn't get to attend any of the Celebrity Chef programs on the 5th floor, but I heard it was a lot of fun and I love the people volunteering to be Celebrity Bartenders for Happy Hour every Friday afternoon.

Lastly, I just want to say that I know that many of you have been working to change the language around here and I like this. I used to hear words like feeder more than I do now. I never want to be known as a "feeder". I just want to be known as Ima, the nice woman who had a wonderful family, was a great teacher and likes to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every evening. I also used to hear the phrase, "that's not my resident", but I don't hear that so much anymore. That speaks to great teamwork and resident-centered care. Also, I like the word community. I much prefer living in a community and being part of a neighborhood, instead of living in a "facility".

Change is rarely easy, and I know that things will never be perfect. Perfection does not exist. However, the Kirkhaven way has always been great and it keeps on getting better and better. So, stay on the Pathway, continue to work together to build relationships with us elders and with each other. Celebrate the Kirkhaven Way and please know that we residents so appreciate all that you do to ensure our wellness, dignity, individuality and rights.

God bless you all.....................Ima Resident.