Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / From Generation to Generation: Jay Solomon's Journey in Senior Living | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care

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From Generation to Generation: Jay Solomon's Journey in Senior Living | Nursing Home Series | Senior Care · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:12
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:15
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi and
0:17
today's guest is Jay Solomon, president and CEO of Aviva
0:22
Senior Life. They are Sarasota's only single
0:26
site not-for-profit rental community offering a full
0:30
continuum of care for older adults.
0:33
The organization is committed to helping seniors live
0:36
extraordinary lives by focusing on Wellness, life enriching
0:40
activities and strong social engagement guided by Jewish
0:45
values. With over 40 years of senior
0:48
living experience, Jay has been with Aviva for eight years,
0:52
guiding the organization with a steadfast commitment to
0:55
enhancing the well-being of every resident.
0:57
Under his leadership, Aviva has cultivated A vibrant culture and
1:01
received recognition for its innovative care programs.
1:05
Jay's background in senior living management, along with
1:08
his passion for active engagement and quality of life,
1:11
has helped build a close knit community dedicated to
1:14
supporting seniors and mind, body, and spirit.
1:18
I'm excited for you to hear his journey, the lessons he's
1:20
learned, and how he continues to adapt in a changing healthcare
1:23
landscape. Now before we get into the good
1:26
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AD back benefitsagency.com. All right now back to our guest
1:57
today, Jay Solomon, Leader of Aviva Senior Life.
2:02
I appreciate you making the time to Share your story today.
2:05
Thank you, Anthony. I really look forward to
2:08
spending the time with you today.
2:10
All right, let's just jump in. Jay, how did you get your start
2:14
in this profession? What first drew you to this?
2:18
My story is a little bit different because I started
2:22
truly at the age of 10. My dad was the executive vice
2:27
president of a not-for-profit senior living nursing home in
2:33
Somerset, NJ and when he got there in 1972, there was nothing
2:39
more than a hole in the ground. And so there were many times on
2:45
the weekend where I would actually go with him to the
2:49
construction site to walk it, see what was going on and to
2:54
learn more and more about how this building was going to come
3:00
about. And from that point on, there
3:04
was always dinner conversation. You know, my sister, who's five
3:10
years older than me, also caught the bug, so to speak, and she
3:15
became a speech therapist. So I guess you could say that,
3:19
you know, my dad really taught us the value and the importance
3:24
of caring for people. And so, you know, when I went
3:29
into high school, I knew that I wanted to be in healthcare
3:33
administration. And but when I went on to
3:37
college, healthcare administration was a foreign
3:41
topic. Nobody even knew what healthcare
3:44
administration was. And actually, when I went to
3:49
college, my degree is actually in health education and public
3:54
administration because it was the only way to to mix both the
4:00
understanding of healthcare needs and governmental.
4:04
And then when I went on to Graduate School, it was the
4:08
other way around. I got a degree in public
4:11
administration specializing in healthcare.
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And so that's different today. Today you can get a degree
4:18
that's more focused on this area. 100% There are numerous
4:24
academic institutions that offer both bachelor's and master's
4:29
degrees in healthcare administration.
4:32
You know from a master's degree, there's a master's in healthcare
4:36
administration, there's a master's in public Health
4:39
Administration. So there is numerous ways now to
4:45
actually get the formal degree in understanding all of the
4:50
various aspects of healthcare, not just senior living, but
4:54
hospitals in terms of acute care, understanding the ever
4:58
changing insurance world, which sounds like you're an expert in
5:03
that. We may have to talk about that
5:05
later, but you know, at this point, young people can truly
5:11
enter into the world of healthcare administration.
5:16
OK, so back in your day, when you were going to get your
5:19
college education, you had to kind of cobble together the
5:22
degrees to prep you for the field that you wanted to enter
5:26
into. And then as you're graduating,
5:29
as you're getting your master's degree, what did the job
5:34
landscape look like? What?
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Where did you go first? Again, a little bit different.
5:39
When I finished my undergraduate degree, I actually sat for my
5:46
New Jersey nursing home administrator's license.
5:51
And so then when I went to Graduate School, they actually
5:55
waived the internship and the practicum because I had this
6:00
license. But I felt very strongly at that
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point. And we're talking about 1985,
6:08
that it was the beginning of people talking about
6:12
diversification of hospitals, diversification of healthcare.
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And so I decided that I wanted to learn more about hospitals
6:24
and acute care. So I actually went and did what
6:27
they call a administrative residency at a hospital in New
6:33
Jersey. And it gave me the opportunity
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to learn the inside outside of a major hospital.
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And it gave me the opportunity to branch out from senior living
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to understanding at that point was relatively new outpatient
6:54
services that were not on a campus of a hospital, for
6:58
example, opening up a a renal dialysis center or today we have
7:03
these medical arts buildings. And I had the opportunity to
7:07
design and implement a new medical arts building.
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Or, you know, we were talking in in that period of time about
7:17
addiction recovery. And at that point there was a
7:20
great deal of discussion about eating disorders and I was able
7:24
to take a small paediatric unit, a piece of it, and create it
7:28
into an eating disorders unit. So I got to really open up my
7:35
experience beyond senior living and be able to then in my
7:43
career, later on in my career, actually work for acute care
7:47
healthcare systems in their diversification of their
7:52
business models. And so diversification means
7:55
being able to sort of tailor your care to some of these
7:59
individual need groups, for example, like the the eating
8:02
disorder clinic that you were able to spearhead.
8:06
Absolutely. When you talk about
8:08
diversification in today's day and age, you know, you talk
8:12
about healthcare systems that employ physicians or healthcare
8:18
that have freestanding dialysis centers, freestanding outpatient
8:23
rehab centers, you know, you name it.
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In today's day and age, if you look at most hospitals, they are
8:33
part of a larger organization, whether it's through a loose
8:39
affiliation or now a straightforward ownership.
8:43
And even, you know, in 1990, something I had in My Portfolio
8:56
of administration, one of the first urgent care centers, which
9:02
in those days we called them Doc in the boxes.
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And the one that I was lucky enough to work with was
9:10
literally right next door to a McDonald's.
9:12
So it was truly a Doc in the box.
9:16
That's funny. OK, Before we get further along
9:21
with sort of your career trajectory and healthcare
9:24
management, I want to actually hit the rewind button because I
9:28
understand that there was something pretty formative that
9:32
happened when you were just eight years old.
9:35
What was that, Jay? Anthony, thanks for bringing it
9:39
up. At 8 years old, I was diagnosed
9:43
with a disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which is still
9:48
considered a orphan disease throughout the United States and
9:54
the world. And there is no cure for the
9:57
disease. And the disease unfortunately
10:01
causes the retinas in your eyes to literally dissipate, where
10:07
normally, you know, a cell dies, another cell replaces it.
10:11
In RP, that doesn't happen. So 8 years old, you know, how do
10:16
you how do you explain to a child what this is all about?
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And my parents decided that they were going to treat me just like
10:24
anybody else. But I think that over the years
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of having the disease in various aspects of education, I would
10:37
look to do research papers on the disease, and I'd go and
10:41
interview doctors at NYU, at Johns Hopkins to learn more.
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And, you know, there was a big question always, you know, was
10:52
that considered a handicap because of my eyesight and
10:56
knowing that at some point my eyesight would truly dissipate?
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I never looked at it that way. I looked at it as handicapable
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that you know what, Yeah, I have this disease.
11:09
It's difficult, but it gave me insight into people.
11:15
Yeah, I like to always say to my staff, I may not see things, but
11:20
I hear them and I feel them. And I think that diagnosis
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really changed me even further in wanting to be in a profession
11:35
of caring, to be there for others no matter what they were
11:40
suffering from, but that I could provide the care for them
11:45
through professional leadership. So I want to understand this a
11:50
little bit more because you're, you're 8 years old when you get
11:52
diagnosed with this. And I mean, that's a lot to take
11:56
in to understand. Like, you know, that that
11:58
disease is probably hard for an 8 year old to even pronounce,
12:01
let alone fully wrap their head around what's happening.
12:04
I, I happen to have two boys, one's eight and one's 10.
12:08
And I'm, you know, it breaks my heart to think about, you know,
12:11
one of them getting diagnosed with this and what that would be
12:13
like going through their heads. And it seems to me that's sort
12:17
of the natural human reaction would be self pity.
12:23
Why me mad at the world, mad at, mad at God, mad at like, how?
12:28
How did this happen to me? What were there some elements of
12:32
that going on in the early days? 100% you know, I, I thought I
12:39
was weird. I thought I was strange.
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I was different. I would trip a lot because I
12:46
didn't have the sight, so I'd be klutzy, so to speak.
12:50
And then when my parents sent me off to sleep away camp when I
12:56
was 11 and 12 years old, they outfitted me with three
13:01
different size flashlights, small, medium and large, because
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the first symptom of the disease is night blindness.
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And then so the other kids would look at me and like, what is
13:12
your problem? Why do you have three different
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kind of flashlights? You're weird.
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Or, you know, if we were going on, you know, a hike or
13:23
something like that, a snipe hunt and you know, I would have
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problems. I'd be tripping.
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You know, there were too many times I'd say, excuse me to a
13:34
chair, to a table, to a tree. But what I found, and I still
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find this now it's 63, that when I'm honest and open with people
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and I explained that I don't have the site and can you help
13:51
me, They're wonderful. There is, there are wonderful
13:56
people out there that you know, you shouldn't be embarrassed.
14:01
You should be able to to tell it like it is.
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And I think when you do that, people respect you because
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you're being honest and you're sharing true emotions.
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I mean, you know, as you said, you have an 8 year old and a 10
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year old. Imagine when that 10 year old is
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heading towards one of the most important days of any teenager's
14:27
life, getting their driver's license and being told by your
14:32
parents, we're going to let you get your driver's license.
14:35
We're going to experiment with this.
14:37
But if you play around and you drive at night, that's getting
14:41
yanked. Now try to teach a 17 year old
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boy. Well, how do I ask a girl out
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for a date? Oh, I got to ask her to drive.
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Or let's do a double date so my friend can drive.
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So these are things that you don't think about until you live
14:59
in them. But again, I found being honest
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and sharing my my emotions. Yeah, there were people that
15:09
were not so nice later on in my life as my site got worse.
15:15
I am sure that there are employers that decided that they
15:18
didn't want to hire me because they were afraid of what my site
15:22
could or could not do in a leadership position.
15:28
When do you think if you can remember back when?
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When did you feel like you you finally got comfortable with
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this new reality? Wow, that's a really tough
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question because there are days still that, you know, I question
15:44
the reality because, you know, I'd love to be independent and
15:49
be able to, you know, drive myself to work, drive myself to
15:53
outside meetings. So, but I think the the true
15:57
sense of it was in college, the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation
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started a program called Yak, the young adult program.
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And I was lucky enough to be selected to be one of those
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ambassadors. And I got to be with other
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people of my age that had the same disease, all of us having
16:25
different variations of the disease.
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But I found that, you know what? Yeah, we all have it.
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But we're all still striving to succeed and to make our way in
16:40
society. And we had a retreat one time at
16:45
the University of Maryland, and it was cool, it was great.
16:49
And I think from that point on, I got even stronger in my zest
16:58
to be able to explain to people what is retinitis pigmentosa, to
17:03
be able to educate people on what it is and hoping that more
17:08
and more people that got educated, the better it would be
17:11
for others. Are there any treatments
17:14
available for it now if people catch it early enough?
17:17
No, unfortunately there are no treatments for the disease.
17:21
There's been a lot of experimental treatments that
17:25
I've actually been the Guinea pig.
17:30
About 20 years ago, 15 to 20 years ago, I actually got a
17:37
computer chip implanted in my right retina, and it was under
17:43
the theory that if you could provide some electrical
17:47
stimulation, the cells would grow or the cells would not die.
17:54
And so I was one of 19 people in the world to have this
18:00
experimental treatment. And so throughout my life, I've
18:04
always been willing to be that said Guinea pig.
18:07
And I've worked with various academic institutions throughout
18:12
the country on trying to find a cure for this disease.
18:17
If you think about everybody talks about macular
18:20
degeneration, RP is the opposite.
18:24
Macular starts from the center out of the retina, and an RP it
18:30
starts from the outside in. So there's been a lot of thought
18:34
that with macular degeneration and the treatments for that,
18:39
could there be something that could relate to RP as well?
18:44
But not currently. Yes, Sir.
18:46
So I want to explore your preferred term of handy capable
18:51
a bit, Jay. You know, I, I think about a
18:55
really good friend of mine who is dyslexic and undiagnosed, you
19:02
know, at when he was a kid didn't, didn't have any idea
19:04
until he got much older and so struggled in school.
19:08
You know, teachers thought he wasn't very bright.
19:12
But as he looks back now, it it turns out to be one of the the
19:16
greatest gifts for him because it forced him to develop his
19:22
brain in a different way. So it was hard for him to read
19:26
large blocks of text. So he got a lot better at people
19:33
relations, interacting with humans and being able to retain
19:38
information in his head to the point where I give him credit
19:42
because he he he kind of sees a chess board of life a little bit
19:46
differently than most people and kind of understands how pieces
19:50
connect together. And I think in part because he
19:53
had to kind of flex his brain in in different ways and connect
19:57
neurons that, you know, most people wouldn't get a chance to
20:01
as you hear me talk about, you know, my friend that has
20:04
dyslexia. Can you relate to that?
20:07
Are, are there certain things in in your brain that you feel like
20:11
not having the the power of sight forced you to to sort of
20:16
develop your own super abilities in different ways?
20:21
Well in the pre interview I didn't bring up I'm dyslexic so
20:27
I understand your friend's life and my friend and my family.
20:39
My Co workers will tell you and recite things back to to people.
20:53
And you know as a executive I do a lot of public speaking with no
21:00
notes, no notes whatsoever. It's always what I put to have
21:05
together in my head like your friend you discussed.
21:08
And the 2nd is my hearing. And my hearing Spooks the heck
21:14
out of people because they can be significantly away from me
21:19
and I can tell them what they just said.
21:22
So I think that the way you described it was accurate that
21:29
when you have these disabilities, the best way to
21:36
deal with them is to turn them on their head and come up with
21:40
other ways that you can participate in all that you want
21:48
to participate in and be able to be successful.
21:53
And, you know, you said about your friend looking at a chess
21:56
board, you know, there's not a day that goes by that somebody
22:03
will say, oh, you know, he's got such a memory.
22:07
And, you know, you talked about your friend in school.
22:11
I had tutors my whole life for math.
22:15
But somewhere, somehow, my brain now has adjusted that my finance
22:22
department will look at me if we're in a meeting before they
22:26
start using their phone to calculate it and say, OK, Jay,
22:29
what's the number? And as a kid, I stunk at math.
22:35
It was an embarrassment about math.
22:38
But somewhere along the line, my brain did that training that you
22:41
talked about. And now I can do numbers in my
22:45
head fast and they can type them in.
22:55
So how did you find your way to a vivo?
22:56
Jay, I had been working for a, a mid size a hospital, a Community
23:10
Hospital healthcare system, and at that point I was a senior
23:17
vice president and I had as my responsibility all of their
23:23
senior related businesses from a continuing care retirement
23:29
community to an assisted living to a skilled nursing and rehab
23:34
program and other things. And like I talked earlier about
23:39
the diversity and what's happened in healthcare, I knew
23:44
that that healthcare system I was working for was the guppy
23:49
and the sharks were circling about, you know, gobbling up
23:53
another one. I'd also decided that I wanted
23:57
to break away from bureaucracy and I wanted the opportunity to
24:03
come to a not-for-profit if it was all possible, a Jewish based
24:10
organization, because Judaism has been such a big part of my
24:14
life. And sure enough, there was an ad
24:19
for Aviva and I got the opportunity to, you know, first
24:29
go through the recruiter and then I had the on site
24:32
interviews with the board and with other staff members.
24:37
And you know, I wound up getting the position and taking the
24:43
organization through a very, very tough period of time.
24:48
Even before COVID, the organization was struggling
24:54
because at that point in time, we were carrying $37 million
25:00
worth of outstanding debt in bonds, which related to $2.5
25:06
million a year, if you want to call it, in a mortgage payment.
25:10
And we had to figure out how we were going to right the ship
25:17
financially in order to handle continue to handle that debt,
25:23
but also trying to continue to renovate and refurbish the
25:28
organization. And when I say renovate and
25:31
refurbished, I mean from the facility to the infrastructure
25:37
to the policies and procedures. Because I told the board, from
25:42
what I was able to ascertain during the interview process,
25:46
that they were a mom and pop and they needed to grow into
25:50
becoming a professional healthcare organization.
25:56
But by the time you got there, you obviously you developed a
25:59
track record. But I'm curious, were there any
26:02
conversations during the interview process where people
26:05
openly expressed concern about, hey, Jay, we like you as a
26:09
person, You communicate really well.
26:12
You've got this track record coming in, but I don't know our
26:16
president and CEO without the ability to see like, how are you
26:21
going to respond to emails? How are you going to write
26:23
memos? Like, were there sort of those
26:26
practical, like brass tacks kind of conversations?
26:30
We still quote one of the executive committee board
26:36
members who plainly said we didn't hire Jay for his eyes and
26:43
hired Jay for his brain. And that was the truth.
26:48
They did. And he'll tell you that he feels
26:51
that other organizations who were afraid of my site issues
26:57
passed on me and that they were lucky to get me because of my
27:02
track record and and my work experience.
27:06
But, you know, a testament to this organization and it still
27:12
exists, is Jay, what do you need from us to help you do the job?
27:18
I mean, as we're talking today, I have a large screen monitor in
27:23
front of me. I have voice activated, you
27:27
know, ability to listen to emails, to dictate emails
27:32
instead of getting a, a car or a car allowance, the organization
27:37
takes care of making sure that I have a driver taking me to and
27:41
from work. Or if I have off site meetings,
27:45
they do that as well. They understand that my wife is
27:50
very involved because, you know, in this role and especially with
27:54
a not-for-profit, you're, you're going to a lot of society
27:58
events, a lot of social events. And my wife is always at my side
28:02
and she's awesome at understanding what I can see or
28:07
what I can't see. Or more importantly, what voices
28:11
do I recognize and be able to put a name with the voice.
28:16
And this organization, you know, we have, you know, new chair
28:21
every two years. And our news chair took over in
28:24
July. And he asked the question, Jay,
28:27
is there anything that we have not done for you that you need
28:31
us to do to continue to assist you in everyday activities so
28:38
you can be the leader that you want to be?
28:44
So give us a little bit more of a peek into the brains that
28:48
Aviva got that they were so excited to hire you for.
28:51
I mean, you talked about the difficult situation that you
28:55
stepped into with the large debt and the need to, you know, these
29:00
renovations to keep everything up to date.
29:03
How did you net like? What were some of the practical
29:05
steps that you took to kind of work the organization through
29:09
all this the. First thing we did is we brought
29:14
in a third party just to study our expenses and our revenue.
29:21
And this third party came in and produced a a significant report.
29:28
And what was great was it was after a year that I had been
29:34
here thereabouts and they didn't find tremendous expense
29:39
opportunities for us to cut and they found a couple of newer
29:43
ways for us to increase revenue. But it definitely helped us as
29:49
an organization make sure that each budget cycle we have that
29:55
report in our mind to know, you know what, this is where we
30:01
should or should not be spending.
30:04
The second thing we did was we launched A strategic planning
30:08
process, and this process was made-up of board members and
30:15
senior leadership. And we were lucky enough to find
30:19
a retired individual in Sarasota that was willing to facilitate
30:25
the process and it was a six month process.
30:29
And you know, in that plan we talked about the future, we
30:35
talked about, you know, government reimbursement getting
30:39
smaller every day. We talked about staffing
30:43
challenges, we talked about regulatory challenges.
30:47
We talked about that where we are in Sarasota, there is huge
30:53
competition for senior living and we completed that plan.
30:59
We brought it to the full board. It was then adopted and then on
31:03
a quarterly basis the updates were brought back to the board.
31:09
The senior leadership team were assigned to initiatives and you
31:17
know, they had to report back to myself and ultimately to the
31:22
planning committee and to the board of what we were
31:26
accomplishing. And in that plan, you know, we
31:31
talked about revenue enhancement and when I first got here, our
31:37
skilled nursing unit, which is 45 beds, we're only running 2:00
31:43
to 3:00 short term subacute patients, patients that were
31:48
coming from the hospital that would need rehab care before
31:53
they got home of you know, let's say 25 days and they were on
31:58
Medicare Part A. Well in my prior lives 2-3
32:04
patients were not going to was not going to cut it.
32:08
And today that 45 bed unit is 50% long term care and 50% short
32:15
term care because we were able to teach the staff of the the
32:25
profit margin that existed on every day that we have a short
32:31
term patient in the building, which then helped us pay for the
32:37
Medicaid patients that we're caring for in the building.
32:42
Because unfortunately Medicaid does not meet our actual real
32:47
cost to provide the service. So we needed something that was
32:52
going to help us obtain the the margins that were necessary to
33:00
keep that unit staff properly and make sure that the unit
33:07
looked proper as well. And, you know, ultimately, you
33:13
know, when I got here in 2017, that nursing home unit in 2016
33:20
went through a CMS Center for Medicare Medicaid survey and
33:27
they got 14 deficiencies. That's horrific.
33:31
But within, you know, four years we went from a two star to a
33:38
five star and that was all part of changing the image of this
33:44
organization to the public and when I say the public, the
33:49
hospitals and the physicians as well.
33:52
So one of those specific examples that you mentioned
33:55
there being able to go from, you know, only having two or three
33:58
of those beds set of you know, 45 or 50 occupied at a time to
34:03
now 50% is short term, 50% is long term.
34:06
It sounds like there was an education process that took
34:09
place there with the staff where you're sort of coaching them,
34:11
training them to think about them in terms of, you know, I
34:15
like, I, when I hear you tell that story, like in terms of
34:18
like hotel room nights, it's expiring inventory, right?
34:21
Like this room is available for tonight.
34:24
If we don't rent it for something tonight, it goes
34:27
unused, it goes burned. It's we, we throw it away kind
34:30
of a thing. And, and so you're teaching your
34:32
team things like this. And then as you go through that,
34:36
that CMS, that survey and you know, you find all those
34:39
deficiencies and you move from a two star to a five star.
34:43
I'd be curious to hear more maybe just like one specific
34:46
lever that you pulled that had a pretty dramatic impact on
34:51
improving your status from two to five stars.
34:55
We created what we call the quality of patient care
34:58
committee, which is made-up of board members and senior staff
35:04
and that group now meets quarterly, but originally it was
35:09
meeting monthly. And that group was really
35:13
studying the quality measures that both the federal government
35:19
were looking at, the state government and our own key
35:26
indicators. And we were keeping everybody
35:31
accountable. And it meant no matter who
35:34
worked on that skilled unit, whether it be the RN, the
35:40
certified nursing assistant, the dietary staff, the housekeeping
35:44
staff, they were all brought along in the education process
35:49
on the importance of little things that multiply into
35:56
gigantic things that affect the quality of care as well as the
36:01
quality of the patient experience.
36:05
And this QPC, you know we as I said, we meet quarterly and the
36:14
staff is presenting these matrixes to the committee
36:19
members, which happened to be made-up purposely of healthcare
36:23
people. We have retired physicians, we
36:26
have active physicians, we have a retired hospital
36:29
administrator, we have a psychologist on it.
36:36
So we purposely were bringing people that had the knowledge
36:41
and the eye towards quality healthcare.
36:47
Why is working at a nonprofit so important to you, Jay?
36:53
The mission, the mission is so, so important to me.
36:58
It's important to me that if we get an application for somebody
37:06
to come into our skilled nursing home or our assisted living that
37:13
we, yes, we look at their financial status, but we need to
37:17
be able to look at their clinical needs and their
37:21
family's needs and be able to say, yes, we can take that
37:27
person in. Maybe it's not at the the full
37:30
rate, but you know what you were saying in a better hotel.
37:35
I once had ACEO that I reported to that always used to like to
37:40
say 1/2 a loaf is better than no loaf.
37:43
And so I believe that as an organization, we're here to
37:49
serve, we're here to give back. And one of the programs that we
37:54
have that was started way before I got here, that it's just so,
37:58
so important. The founders 30 years ago called
38:04
it Keep the Dream Alive. And what it really was all about
38:08
was providing A Benevolent Fund that if a resident in
38:14
independent living or assisted living outlived their resources,
38:20
that they would not be asked to leave the campus.
38:24
And that we go out to the community and we fundraise for
38:27
that benevolent care program. So that way when that resident
38:32
comes to myself or our director of finance and says, hey, I see
38:37
my resources are running down, what can I do?
38:41
What are we going to do? And we have not turned anybody,
38:46
no way. We have not asked anybody to
38:48
leave because they could not afford it.
38:52
At the same token, I understand that we have to make a bottom
38:57
line and that bottom line is made from operations revenue and
39:03
it's made from donor revenue. And that money goes into
39:08
reserves, that money goes into salary increases, it goes into
39:12
just operating increases. But nobody's a stockholder.
39:18
Nobody's getting a dividend. A dividend that my board gets is
39:23
they have to pay to be on my board because they're asked to
39:27
donate dollars and they're asked to donate their time.
39:31
Wow. So trying to wrap my head around
39:36
this model. Would it be correct to assume
39:38
that you're able to provide maybe services above and beyond
39:42
what other locations like for profit locations would be?
39:45
Or is it just that you're able to serve folks that might
39:48
normally not get served I? Think it's actually a little bit
39:52
of both. Let's go on to the professional
39:55
side. There have been studies done
39:57
throughout the United States by various aging services group.
40:04
One of the biggest ones was done by Leading Age, which is the
40:08
largest senior living professional group in the
40:12
country. And they compared surveys of for
40:18
profit nursing homes versus nonprofit nursing homes.
40:22
And nonprofit nursing homes always, always scored better in
40:27
such things as staffing ratios. To your point, what's the
40:31
difference? Staffing ratios?
40:34
We're not staffing to the minimum standards.
40:36
We're staffing above that because we believe by doing that
40:41
that's quality. And, you know, over my
40:46
experience, you know, I'll always say quality sells a heck
40:51
of a lot better than any promotional item that we can put
40:56
forward because people are afraid of nursing homes.
41:00
They're afraid of the the horror stories.
41:04
And it's our responsibility as leaders in the profession to try
41:12
to squash those negative stories with the positive stories.
41:18
And, you know, we don't have enough time of all the wonderful
41:22
residents that I have cared for and loved in my 40 years of, of
41:30
doing this. And I think that, you know,
41:34
looking towards the future, we all need to look to the fact
41:39
that we're living longer. Life expectancy is, is growing.
41:46
I mean I'll tell you from February 1st right now through
41:52
the end of July, I have 3 residents turning 100 and
42:00
another one that's turning 101. And if I put them in front of
42:04
you, Anthony, you would say to me, no way.
42:08
But if somebody once said to me, do we know what 100 year old
42:12
looks like? And I'm really proud of the fact
42:17
that we do have so many centurions on this campus.
42:22
And a lot of people say, well, it's the water that they're
42:25
drinking. Well, it's it's the care that we
42:28
provide. And you know, are we providing
42:31
care to those that are less fortunate financially?
42:36
Yes, absolutely. In all of our levels of care, we
42:40
are doing that. I want to shift gears for a
42:43
moment, Jane. I want to talk about your Jewish
42:45
faith. I know that it's very important
42:48
to you now and I want to talk more about sort of present day,
42:52
but I want to go back to when you were 8-9, ten years old.
42:56
First with the the diagnosis, Did you understand enough about
43:03
your faith? Was it, I don't know, sort of
43:06
central enough to who you were that at that time it was a
43:11
source of comfort or or help or did that come later on?
43:17
I think when I was first diagnosed, I didn't really look
43:22
at it as why me, in terms of why God did you choose to do this to
43:29
me? What did I do wrong?
43:32
I didn't think about it at at that point in my life.
43:36
Later on in my life when they were depressing moments or if my
43:42
site, you know, when I would go to the ophthalmologist who was
43:47
always like, oh, please don't let this be the appointment that
43:50
we see, you know, further fall off.
43:54
So I think that, you know, in the early days I was very, very
44:00
involved in Jewish youth programs, you know, travelling
44:08
across the United States with a teen tour, going to Israel with
44:14
the same program. And it goes back to something I
44:18
said earlier on those programs. I made friends that understood
44:24
what my deficits were and they helped me.
44:28
They assisted me, you know, if we were doing night time
44:31
traveling or something like that.
44:35
I think it was later on, you know, probably more in my 20s,
44:42
where I was questioning why me, why did this happen to me?
44:48
And, you know, I looked around and nobody else had this.
44:52
And, you know, and I would find solace in talking to rabbis that
45:04
through my days of being involved in the youth
45:09
programming and then ultimately even becoming a youth advisor in
45:15
these Jewish teen programs, I had become friends with a number
45:19
of rabbis. And we would talk.
45:22
And, you know, ultimately what it came back to was the way in
45:26
which I was approaching it and that I needed to continue to
45:31
approach it as that handy, capable person.
45:36
You know, with RP, you know, one of the, as I said, the first
45:40
thing you lose is your night vision.
45:43
So I would choke with people. Dracula and I are twin brothers.
45:48
He flies by night. I fly by gay.
45:53
And you know what? A little bit of self deprivation
45:56
ain't a bad thing. Bring some levity.
45:59
The situation makes makes you feel a little bit more
46:02
comfortable, as well as those around you who probably aren't
46:05
always sure, like what to do or how to act.
46:08
Yes. And so Fast forward to today.
46:14
How does your Jewish faith show up for you in your work?
46:18
And why is it such an important component of what you're doing
46:21
there at Aviva? Honor thy mother and thy father.
46:26
I think it's the best way of saying it.
46:29
Or in Hebrew, we would use the term the door of the door, which
46:36
translates into from generation to generation.
46:40
And I was very, very fortunate to have a great grandfather
46:47
until I was a junior in high school.
46:51
And I learned so much from him and my grandparents.
46:57
I mean, my grandparents didn't pass away until I was in my late
47:03
30s. And seeing the family, the
47:08
family bond, the family heritage and sharing the holidays,
47:14
whether it be Rosh Hashanah or Passover.
47:18
And for example, here we've already started planning for
47:23
Passover, which the first Seder is not until April 12th, but
47:27
we're underway. We're planning on how we're
47:30
going to seat 200 people in aerospace for Passover.
47:37
Because for me, Passover always, always represents the family.
47:43
And therefore it's my responsibility to make sure that
47:48
my residents, whether they're 80 or 100, have that opportunity to
47:55
share the holiday of Passover with their family.
47:59
And I think that's how my Jewish faith continues to guide me in
48:06
ensuring that my residents, some of who are Holocaust survivors,
48:12
are able to be proud of their faith and enjoy their faith.
48:20
What percentage of your residents are Jewish?
48:21
Is it a strictly Jewish community there?
48:24
No, right now we're caring for about 270 individuals on the
48:33
campus right now, and about 70% of our residents are Jewish.
48:38
And that's also been something new for us as an organization to
48:43
see that our population here is changing.
48:48
And so we have a religious activities committee that's
48:52
formed by the residents. And this past year, you know,
48:58
something strange happened, which is that Hanukkah and
49:03
Christmas Day, same day. And so we were trying to figure
49:08
out how can we do this appropriately.
49:11
So Christmas Eve, we did what we called a Christmas Eve dinner.
49:17
No, it didn't have the seven fishes and no, it didn't have
49:20
ham, but we tried to make it as festive of a Christmas Eve
49:25
dinner as possible. So that was 24th.
49:29
On the 25th, we had a Hanukkah buffet lunch.
49:35
So that way, we felt that we were recognizing everybody on
49:41
this campus. We have a resident in
49:45
independent living who's retired clergy.
49:48
And so she LED a Christmas Eve Mass, she'll be leading a Good
49:54
Friday Mass and an Easter Sunday Mass.
49:57
And those Masses are taking place inside our Chapel.
50:02
And that Chapel was designed as a temple.
50:06
It has the holy art, it has a Torah, but it's being used for
50:13
everybody. And I believe that continues to
50:16
be the belief in faith, believe in religion.
50:22
I love that. And Jay, you, you talk a lot
50:26
about extraordinary lives for seniors.
50:30
What does that actually look like in practice, and how do you
50:33
foster that kind of an environment at Aviva?
50:38
You know, it's interesting. When I, I had my first
50:41
administrative ship, I was 26, it was 1988 and I was a man.
50:47
Man, I would walk up and down the halls and I would want to
50:51
know why aren't the residents out of their rooms and
50:54
activities. And an activity therapist had a
50:57
lot of guts and said to me, Jay, because if they always wanted
51:02
just to stay and read a book, a newspaper or watch TV, that's
51:09
enriching their lives. And that taught me a great deal.
51:15
And what I am so proud of here is something we call Aviva
51:22
University, and it's got multiple pillars.
51:27
One of the things about the Sarasota community is it's known
51:31
for its arts, culture and entertainment.
51:34
And the residents here said to me, Jay, we can do the same
51:38
thing inside this campus as we do when we go out.
51:43
So we offer a classical music series that today had a
51:48
classical violinist. And there was 136 attendees at
51:53
it, both our residents and people from the community.
51:58
We are very fortunate that in Sarasota we have an aquarium,
52:02
the Mote Aquarium. Well, they are rebuilding the
52:07
aquarium about a mile, mile and 1/2 from our front door.
52:13
So they're Co hosting with us an environmental series for the
52:19
second year. We have an author's series where
52:23
we look to find authors that are, you know, that live in our
52:27
surrounding areas and they come in.
52:30
We have a health series, we have a health and Wellness program
52:35
where we have a certified trainer who does, you name it,
52:42
The type of exercises from chair exercises to the specific
52:46
fitness center that we have that the weights are not the weights
52:51
that you and I think about the solid weights.
52:54
These are compression weights and you're able to slip what
52:59
looks like a credit card into the machine that has a memory of
53:04
what was if you want to call the, the pressure, the air
53:08
pressure that you were lifting. And we have somebody that just
53:13
teaches the residents that, but he also is all over our campus
53:18
working in all levels of care, trying to get the residents to,
53:24
if you want to say, be more limber and enjoy exercise and
53:30
and so forth. So, you know, for me, an
53:32
enriched life for the resident is the lesson I learned in 1988
53:39
that we have to understand that each resident is an individual
53:43
with likes and dislikes. The challenges for us to be able
53:50
to understand what that translates into for an everyday
53:56
life. You know, many people compare
54:01
our independent living to being on a cruise ship 'cause there's
54:04
always something going on on this campus.
54:08
And that to me means that as an individual, I can pick and
54:13
choose. I can choose to do none of them.
54:16
I can pick and choose to be busy every hour.
54:19
And that, to me, is really what senior life enrichment's all
54:23
about. So to be able to provide such an
54:27
incredible environment for your residents, all these programs
54:31
and the the care that they need, you've obviously got to have a a
54:34
great team behind you. What's your philosophy?
54:38
What's your approach to attracting and retaining good
54:42
team members? That's probably the toughest
54:46
issue today in the general workforce and absolutely in our
54:52
workforce. This morning we happened to have
54:57
an orientation class of 15 new hires from all aspects of our
55:05
community. And I always start off my talk
55:09
by asking them why? Why are you here?
55:13
What brought you here? And I hope the word comes out to
55:18
care, to serve, to be there for the residents or patients.
55:23
And this morning I had a nurse who actually was an agency nurse
55:28
who worked here periodically. But what he said was he enjoyed
55:34
the atmosphere so much because of the residents and the staff
55:40
that he decided to leave the agency and come to work for us.
55:45
To answer your question in a short fashion, I believe it's
55:50
all about caring for the individual staff member for me
55:56
and my leadership team to know what's going on in my staff's
56:03
lives. Whether I ask a staff member how
56:06
is their 13 year old son doing or we have a couple, one works
56:13
in maintenance, one works in housekeeping and the
56:16
mother-in-law works here as well.
56:19
So I said to her yesterday, so how's baby Aviva doing?
56:22
Because her daughter just gave birth like 3 weeks ago.
56:29
And I think it's that aspect of really trying to, to know your
56:36
staff and being able to talk to them about who they are.
56:41
I think that's how you retain them is to really be there for
56:47
them. In terms of recruitment.
56:51
I got to tell you, I haven't found the secret sauce.
56:54
We have been using hiring bonuses, referral bonuses, all
57:01
kinds of new pay ways, You know, because Healthcare is so much to
57:08
agency workers or people that just work for a day here, a day
57:13
here. We now have a system where I can
57:16
actually pay my employees daily as opposed to waiting for a week
57:21
or two weeks for a paycheck. You know, I always thought
57:26
health benefits were such a big, big portion of recruitment.
57:34
I'm embarrassed to say that it frustrates me that so many
57:38
people in the workforce choose not to have health benefits.
57:43
And here, you know, when I got here eight years ago, I enriched
57:47
our health benefits believing that that was going to be the
57:51
secret sauce for for recruitment.
57:56
And in the end of the day, it's really the word of mouth.
58:00
It's really people talking to their friends, their family
58:05
about, you know, what a great workplace this is.
58:08
Yesterday we held their Rockstar Annual luncheon, which is
58:13
basically our employee of the month and one of the recipients,
58:18
a certified nursing assistant. We were joking how many people
58:24
that she has brought to us to work, friends, families, you
58:29
know, members and I think that's probably for us as 150 plus
58:36
employer. I think that's the best way.
58:40
Jay, I've just got one more question for you.
58:43
But before I ask it, I want to do 2 things.
58:45
First of all, everyone listening today, pretty sure you love
58:48
today's content because Jay's been a great guest.
58:51
If you want to continue to get great shows like this, hit the
58:53
follow or subscribe button on your favorite podcast app.
58:56
Jay, I also want to let people know the best way to either get
59:00
in touch with you or to continue to follow your story or that of
59:03
Avivas. OK, we are on Facebook as a Viva
59:09
Senior Living, so please feel free to friend us and you'll be
59:16
able to see what's going on here almost on a daily basis.
59:19
We try to post on a real regular basis.
59:24
There's also, of course, our website, which is, you know,
59:29
avivaseniorliving.org, notcom.org.
59:36
And then, you know, if people want, they can e-mail me
59:39
directly. It's initial JS OL0M 0N at
59:44
avivaseniorliving.org. All right.
59:49
Thanks for that. Jay, Last question for you.
59:51
As you look to the future, what are some of the changes in your
59:55
industry that you're most excited to watch unfold?
1:00:01
I think that one of the biggest things is the change of the age
1:00:09
of the demographic that we're caring for.
1:00:13
We were joking that the days of the Glenn Miller Band are gone
1:00:20
and we better get our blue suede shoes on because our residents
1:00:25
are now of the rock era and therefore it means that we have
1:00:32
to change how we think. And it may sound crazy just by
1:00:38
using the, the music as the analogy, but those individuals
1:00:45
that grew up in that period of time, you know, in the 50s and
1:00:50
the 60s, they experienced a different society and they have
1:00:55
different wants and different needs.
1:00:58
And for me, that's exciting because it means for us we have
1:01:02
to shift. We have to, you know, as they
1:01:04
like to say, change the paradigm.
1:01:07
But what does that mean for us? It means for us that we have to
1:01:11
look at things such as, you know, I said the music, but
1:01:15
something like the menu. We all love food, right?
1:01:19
We all need food. But do people want to sit in a
1:01:23
formal dining room or are we now starting to see the generations
1:01:29
that were grab and go kind of people, you know, because they
1:01:33
were working in family And, you know, So what I think that is
1:01:41
upon us is understanding that we're caring for different
1:01:46
people and that those individuals are bringing to us a
1:01:51
whole new set of needs and wants.
1:01:55
And if we're going to be a a, an exceptional provider, we'd
1:02:01
better darn well recognize that and understand that we need to
1:02:09
look into the future. We need to be Michael J Fox and
1:02:13
go back to the future. I like it.
1:02:17
It's a perfect place to wrap up. Jay, I want to be the first one
1:02:20
to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us
1:02:22
today. I really appreciate it.
1:02:24
Anthony, thank you so much for inviting me this.
1:02:27
As I said to you, it was my first time doing a podcast and
1:02:30
you were 100% right. I felt like we were having a
1:02:33
conversation, so thank you. That's the ultimate compliment,
1:02:36
Jay. I appreciate that, folks.
1:02:38
That's a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:02:42
Thanks for learning with us today.