13. Where Do Senior Living Founders Come From?

How old is the typical Senior Living entrepreneur when they launch their business? What fields did they work in before launching that prepared them for taking the entrepreneurial leap? Are there any commonalities in their educational backgrounds? SLCP tries to answer these questions by taking the ASHA 150 Largest Providers list and pulling in research from past interviews, official company websites, newspaper features, and more.

0:06 Why I was uncomfortable posting during the pandemic

0:50 Intro

1:25 Methodology and why sample sizes differ

2:24 How old were the founders when they launched their companies? (Min, Max, Average and a few anecdotes)

4:15 Are founders getting older? See graph on the website (http://seniorlivingconceptspodcast.com/2022/03/28/13-where-do-senior-living-founders-come-from/ ) or the podcast’s LinkedIn Page

(Notes: 1- From a small sample size of 40 founders it appears that the average founder may be older at launch than in previous generations. There are some biases though since this is only looking at the current largest companies so there’s inherently a bit of a lag in capturing recent founder data)

4:30 What were the professional backgrounds of these founders?

8:00 Random fun backgrounds I wanted to include (athletes, a musician, and serial entrepreneurs)

9:12 Education Trends (Or lack thereof)

9:52 Wrapping Up

10:30 Why the past doesn’t necessarily predict the future in a changing industry

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12. Fahad Aziz, Cofounder and CTO of Caremerge

In this episode, Fahad Aziz shares his insights into his journey as Caremerge’s cofounder. Fahad offers great stories including what he learned from living in a senior living community, why “Facebook for health care” wasn’t such a great idea, and what advice he has for aspiring gerontechnologists.

0:42 What does Caremerge provide?

1:35 Where did the idea for Caremerge come from?

4:27 At what point did you start to expand into other technologies? Was this the plan from the beginning?

7:26 Was there immediate buy-in with voice activation technologies? Or did you have to elaborate on the value proposition?

9:00 What was the biggest surprise from living in a senior living community and how did it shape the way that you built your company?

11:15 How have you seen seniors defying ageist stereotypes and what is the next wave of technologies that seniors will use to improve quality of life?

13:40 How have you been using data to predict falls?

15:34 How will community personnel use this additional data that indicates high fall risks?

17:02 How has your role changed with Caremerge’s growth?

20:20 What advice do you have for someone who is looking to work in gerontechnology?

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11. Landing Your First Senior Living Job

The senior living industry wants young talent yet there is no defined path for college seniors pursuing entry-level positions. This short episode offers a few creative suggestions to help you get your foot in the door.

The ASHA 50 list that I reference can be found here: https://seniorshousing.org/filephotos/resourceLib/asha_50_august_2019-final-lo-res.pdf

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10. Vy Chazen, Manager of Virtual Programs at Mather LifeWays, Talks VR for Older Adults

Vy Chazen using VR with a Mather LifeWays resident. Photo courtesy of Lori Keenan

In her role as Manager of Virtual Programs at Mather LifeWays, Vy Chazen has been expanding perceptions of how older adults can use immersive technology.

She has shared her industry wisdom on many big stages, including as a speaker at Aging 2.0 and as a lecturer at Northwestern University. Vy even hosts her own VR Talk Show, The Hive with Vivian, and writes for VRespawn. She’s a highly respected expert in this space and she offers her insights throughout the episode.

If you’d like to connect with Vy, check out her twitter: https://twitter.com/vrchazen

1:25 How did you first get involved with Virtual Reality?

4:40 Explanation of the VR “Degrees of Freedom” Concept

5:50 What are some of the incorrect notions you’ve seen related to VR usage and how can we combat them?

15:40 How did the older adults react to Onward (A multiplayer shooter game)

17:00 Where does Mather LifeWays’ push for innovation stem from and how does the team avoid the trappings of complacency?

23:30 Considering your location near Northwestern University, have you created any University partnerships?

33:10 What are some unique skills that people can bring to this industry?

45:05 What are your parting words of wisdom for somebody who is looking to use immersive technologies with the older adult population?

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9. Danielle Lavallee, Director of Interior Design at Belmont Village

This episode we are joined by Danielle Lavallee, Belmont Village’s award-winning Director of Interior Design. She discusses her creative process, some oft-overlooked Senior Living design features, and her biggest lessons learned. This weekend is an especially exciting time for Danielle. Her latest project, Belmont Village Lincoln Park in Chicago, is having its grand opening and open house this weekend!

To follow Danielle’s incredible Senior Living design work, visit her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d4designed/

Show Notes:

0:48 How did you end up in Senior Living?

2:13 What is your day-to-day like?

5:32 How do you piece together the themes on your projects?

10:00 Do your ideas typically stem from one idea, like at your Berkeley Project, or are they derived from an amalgam of ideas?

14:02 What are some subtle design features you’ve implemented that the average visitor may not notice?

18:30 What are some of the big lessons you had to learn early in your career after entering this space?

21:10 What are the emotions of a grand opening like as a designer?

23:23 Are there any signatures or common threads in your work?

24:35 What advice do you have for others who are pursuing careers in Senior Living design?

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Episode 8: Anthony Ormsbee-Hale, VP of People Operations at Civitas

Anthony Ormsbee-Hale explains his start in the industry, talks employee retention, and offers advice to the next generation of Senior Living leaders.

Show Notes:

0:57 How did you end up in Senior Living?

2:40 How did your Community Relations experience impact your perspective of the industry?

4:27 How did you become an ED so quickly, and what challenges did you face as a young leader in your community?

6:33 How did you win over the team?

8:30 Can you explain what your job is like?

12:15 How do you make employees want to stay?

13:30 What is the goal for the Texas Assisted Living Association’s Young Professionals Network?

17:00 What advice do you have for the next generation of Senior Living leaders?

20:00 Parting words of wisdom

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Episode 7: Greg Bearce, HumanGood Chief Regional Officer and USC Professor

Greg Bearce explains how he entered Aging Services, highlights the learning curve he faced, offers advice to newer senior living professionals, and explores higher level topics like the HumanGood rebranding.

Show Notes

2:00 How Greg Bearce entered the Senior Living industry

5:10 How to learn about the industry as a young professional

8:10 The importance to keep learning

9:40 How his MBA has aided his career

12:35 How to evaluate and distinguish high performers

15:55 What skills does Greg look for in new hires

18:40 What were some unexpected challenges resulting from the HumanGood affiliation?

23:45 How did HumanGood successfully implement a new culture amidst change

25:30 Parting advice for the next generation of Senior Living professionals

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Episode 6: Town Square Concept with Scott Tarde, CEO of George G. Glenner Alzheimer’s Family Centers

This episode features an interview with Scott Tarde, the Chief Executive Officer at George G. Glenner Alzheimer’s Family Centers, Inc. If you haven’t already heard of Glenner’s innovative Town Square model, do yourself a favor and check them out before this episode. The concept has already been featured on the Today Show, ABC, NPR, the Wall Street Journal, among countless other internationally recognized publications. As Scott describes, Glenner’s concept utilizes proven Reminiscence Therapy to assist individuals suffering from dementia. The concept has been proven to improve mood and reduce agitation through the power of eliciting memories.

Show Notes below:

What is the Town Center model and where did the Idea come from? 0:40

What led you to this industry? 3:45

What challenges did you face by being young and in a leadership position? 6:20

How do you pull from your ED experience as a CEO? 8:10

How did the design come together, and what features might people initially overlook? 17:00

How do you group your residents together? 21:00

At what point will Glenner need to redesign storefronts to accommodate residents from a different era? 22:15

What has been your biggest surprise so far? 28:00

What is your advice for young professionals in aging services? 31:00

Following the interview, I toured the space with Scott. They’ve rightfully received a lot of press and I read everything I could before the interview. Despite my preparation attempts, several well-thought out details caught me by surprise. I focus on these unexpected yet appreciated details in my post-interview commentary. 34:25

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Episode 5: Sun City in 1960 – How Del Webb’s Team Marketed America’s First Massive Retirement Community

How would you market a retirement community… if your prospective residents had never heard of a retirement community?

That’s the challenge Del Webb faced in 1960 as he geared up to build out and sellout his 10,000 acre gamble in the Arizona desert. 

This episode is all about Sun City, AZ – America’s first HUGE Retirement Community. We’re going to explore how Webb conceived of this idea, how he established key mutually beneficial partnerships to make it work, and how they reached their audience on a national scale.

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Episode 4: Sweden’s Storied Century of Senior Living

Sweden’s Senior Care in 2019 relies on a mix of family care, central government, local government, and private business… but this wasn’t always the case. At different phases in this industry’s lifetime, Swedish senior care has been either entirely family-oriented, entirely public or largely privatized.

Why did their Senior Care offering evolve so much in the last century? What factors led Sweden to today’s eldercare policies? And how does this relate to Senior Housing in the US? All this and more in this episode!

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