May 2014 - ABHOW.com

ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
VOLUME 16 • ISSUE 5 • MAY 2014
Page 4
Tyler Ichien finds a fulfilling
career at The Terraces.
Page 5
Norman Cummings finds
care, support at The Grove.
For Karina Welsh, It’s Back
To School … Again
A
s volunteer opportunities go, perhaps one
of the most difficult is hospice — something Karina Welsh knows very well from
watching her parents work in the field for 15 years.
Watching her parents’ caring in action for so long has led her — after
careers as a librarian, health care administrator and educator — to help those
facing death do so with dignity, comfort and caring.
Page 6
Residents create community
through faith.
“I know a lot of my motivation has to do with living out what my parents
did,” says Welsh, 67, a resident of Grand Lake Gardens in Oakland.
Doing so requires Welsh to do something she has certainly done before —
head back to school. She already holds master’s degrees in English literature,
Continued on page 2
Grand Lake Gardens resident Karina Welsh attends classes at the University of California, Berkeley.
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
For Karina Welsh, It’s Back to School … Again
Continued from cover
public and health administration, and
finance and marketing.
This time around, she’s attending
classes for the Professional Program on
Healthcare Advocacy with an emphasis on hospice care at the University of
California, Berkeley.
In doing so, she’s joining a growing
number of her contemporaries returning to school. According to the National
Center for Education Statistics, U.S.
colleges and universities saw a 38 perWelsh joins a growing number of older adults who are heading back to school.
cent spike in the enrollment of adults
older than 50 between 2001 and 2005.
complex regional pain syndrome, which results
Statistics suggest that trend will continue as Baby
in excruciating pain in the extremities. Tasks as
Boomers age.
simple as typing or hand-writing class papers have
The five-course, two-elective Healthcare
become so painful that she now dictates her classAdvocacy program Welsh enrolled in focuses on
work to a typist.
creating an informed group of health advocates who
“I was always used to being the straight-A stuare qualified to advise patients and their families
dent, but I know that my classmates are nurses and
about health care issues. Welsh hopes to finish the
health care professionals, so I’m making peace with
program in 2015.
not being the straight-A student,” she says.
Welsh says her goal is to join the staff of San
Working with those fellow students has been an
Francisco’s Zen Hospice Project. “Not to make
education in itself, Welsh says.
money, but to instead be a very qualified volunteer,”
she says. “I have a lot of background in yoga and
“There are lots of folks with successful careers
meditation, and I think each religion tries its best,
as social workers, nurses and nurse practitioners.
but no one religion gets it completely right in terms
Everyone has a little something to offer. Some of the
of what happens after we die.”
students are teaching classes in the program beWith her extensive training in health administration, she could easily take on a larger role, but she
says her health prevents her from doing so. She has
cause they are the authority in a specific area,” she
says. “I’m learning a lot from them, and I haven’t
had this much fun learning since the 1960s.”
2
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
3
Measuring Our Impact by David B. Ferguson
People choose retirement communities with an eye toward exceptional service.
That’s why providers of senior housing and health
care must ensure the highest quality in order to stand
out among many choices.
Accreditation demonstrates a commitment to quality. Since 1988 we have voluntarily measured our
continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs)
against the highest standards in senior living through
the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation
Facilities-Continuing Care Accreditation Commission
(CARF-CCAC), an organization that accredits health
and human service providers globally. This year, all 11 of
our CCRCs earned full five-year accreditation and averaged 98.6 percent across more than 16,000 standards.
Several of our campuses reached new milestones.
Our 10 skilled nursing centers, known as The Villages,
earned specialty accreditation, while Piedmont
Gardens in Oakland and Rosewood Community in
Bakersfield, Calif., secured their first accreditation for
The Grove, our memory support program.
ABHOW’s affordable housing communities also
earned recognition for quality. The U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development’s Real Estate
Assessment Center (REAC) conducts thousands of
physical property inspections every year to measure
safety and upkeep. Recently, several of our communities earned high REAC scores because we constantly
inspect our properties ourselves. ABHOW is also
one of only 18 management companies designated
as a Communities of Quality Corporate Partner with
the National Affordable
Housing Management
Association (NAHMA).
We welcome this scrutiny. Our communities
become stronger when we
undergo review. The rigorous evaluations sharpen
our skills and focus our
attention on areas in need
of improvement.
Ferguson
The senior living
profession also benefits from external review. The
processes keep us all accountable to the people we
serve. That’s why our team members volunteer on
CARF-CCAC survey committees, and we partner with
national organizations like LeadingAge and NAHMA
to share knowledge and best practices.
ABHOW still faces challenges and day-to-day problems, but we work hard to resolve these issues. The same
is true of our colleagues in the wider profession. As our
organizations strive to meet the highest standards, we
improve public perception of senior housing and health
care. And when our “house is in order,” we can extend
our mission elsewhere. For example, affordable housing
providers that rank high in physical inspection ratings
are more likely to earn funding for new projects.
Let’s celebrate these milestones. This external review
reminds us that we make a difference for thousands of
older adults and their families. We owe it to ourselves
and the people we serve to make sure our communities
are the best they can be.
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
4
Team Member Goes Full Circle at The Terraces
Growing up in Los Gatos, Calif., Tyler Ichien could watch the
construction of a new senior living
community from his Little League
baseball field.
After The Terraces of Los Gatos opened in 1992,
Ichien worked in the dining room as a teenager, but he
never imagined the long-lasting relationship he would
have with the community.
him or ask about him if they didn’t see him. There,
Ichien realized, he could make a difference in individual lives. There, he could be involved in something meaningful.
“The people who work in this profession have a profound impact on residents and their families,” Ichien
says. “That’s what really drew me back.”
But how does a 26-year-old with an art degree make
a transition to the senior living field? Ichien always
stopped in to see some of the residents whenever he
came home to visit
from the San Luis
Obispo area, where
he’d settled after college. During a visit to
The Terraces, he talked
with executive director
Alex Candalla about
opportunities in the
community.
While Ichien enjoyed interacting with
residents, he wanted to
pursue a career in art.
After graduating from
California Polytechnic
State University (San
Luis Obispo) in 2005
with degrees in graphic
design and communications, he worked in
Candalla had been
marketing and eventuimpressed with Ichien
ally became art direcas a teenager for the
tor for a magazine. But
genuinely respectTyler Ichien, left, with The Terraces of Los Gatos Executive Director
Ichien realized that
ful way that he enAlex Candalla.
something essential
gaged with residents.
was missing from his life.
Candalla was even more impressed with him as an adult.
“I felt I could do more for this world,” Ichien says. “I
was making money, which was great, but I didn’t feel I
really made an impact at the end of the day.”
Ichien remembered his work at The Terraces,
and how residents would light up when they saw
“I admired him more for following what his heart
dictated, which was pursuing his passion to serve the
seniors,” Candalla says. He wanted to help, and hired
Ichien in 2009.
Continued on page 9
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
5
Person-Centered Care Provides A Special Home
When the Rev.
WISE MOVE
Norman Cummings’
wife, Amy, passed away in 2010, he
moved into a retirement community
after living alone for a year.
But his family quickly realized
he needed additional care.
paper so that he can write a to-do list instead of reminding him that he’s retired.
Judson Park’s approach is so successful because they
customize their care to the personality of each individual, Jones says. Before Cummings moved in last year,
his family wrote down his biography so that caregivers
could get to know him. For instance, he managed an
international missionary organization for three decades, so staff
members request his help around
the community with small tasks.
“My parents were married
for 67 years,” says Cathy Jones,
Cummings’ daughter. “They compensated for each other and we
didn’t realize it at the time. I think
we were all somewhat in denial of
his memory loss at first.”
When the family learned about
ABHOW’s approach to memory
care, they knew that The Grove at
Judson Park in Des Moines, Wash.,
would be perfect for Cummings.
Norman Cummings makes his home at The
Grove at Judson Park in Des Moines, Wash.
“They enfold his likes and personality into their philosophy, which
they call ‘The Best Friends Approach,’” Jones says.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 5.2 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease,
and that number may nearly triple to 13.8 million
by 2050. In the 1990s, ABHOW pioneered a personcentered approach to memory care with The Grove to
help create a quality of life that older adults affected by
memory loss and their family members need.
“The Grove embraces whatever the person says
or needs and just goes with the flow,” Jones says. For
example, staff members will give her father a pen and
Cummings has dedicated his life
to his family and faith. After attending Wheaton College in Wheaton,
Ill., he married his wife in 1943 and
headed to Arizona, where he was ordained at the First Baptist Church of
Tucson. After establishing another
church in Arizona, he became pastor of a church in San Diego before
moving to Los Angeles to work with
One Challenge International, a network of more than 500 missionaries.
A lover of woodworking, Cummings also had a business building storage cabinets.
“My dad was a planner and looked after us,” Jones says.
The Grove incorporates his favorite things into his care, including his love of ice cream, potatoes, pancakes and hymns.
Jones is highly complimentary of caregivers at The
Grove. “They are very positive in their approach to
eliminate the frustration and anxiety that comes with
memory loss, and this makes people feel secure. The
word ‘no’ never happens here,” she says.
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
6
Community Connects Through Faith
The Neighborhood Christian
Fellowship is just across the street
from Bellflower Friendship Manor,
which makes it easy for youth pastor
Manny Salgado to offer weekly Bible
study at the community — and easy
for residents to attend.
“Many residents wouldn’t go to the class unless it was
held right here in our dining room,” says resident Susan
Emerick. “There’s no excuse not to come now.”
in Riverside, Calif., and Christian Neighborhood
Fellowship owns Bellflower Friendship Manor, located
in Bellflower, Calif.
Ida Brown, Mt. Rubidoux Manor’s social service coordinator, says three congregations hold monthly services and Bible study at the community: First Baptist
Church of Riverside, Harvest Christian Fellowship
Church and the Living Word Ministry.
At Bellflower Friendship Manor, Salgado begins
each Wednesday morning study by leading residents in
a hymn. Then they study
a chapter of the Bible and
end with a prayer. The
service usually lasts for an
hour, but sometimes residents branch into discussions about life and aging,
including the occasional
childhood story, so it can
go on for a while, Salgado
says.
Emerick has attended
church for eight decades,
and her dedication to
her faith is common
among older Americans.
According to the Pew
Research Center, only
nine percent of people
age 65 or older say they
“I’m 29, so it’s fun to
have no religious affiliaBellflower Friendship Manor residents Susan Emerick, left, and Nadean ask generational question. Because of resident
tions about each other,”
Davies, right, attend Bible study with youth pastor Manny Salgado.
need, ABHOW invites
he says. “I learn from
congregations like the Christian Neighborhood
their past and their deep knowledge of Scripture, and
Fellowship to host services in its community dining
encourage them as well.”
rooms and activity centers.
Anne Benoit, who has lived at Judson Terrace
Many ABHOW communities have historical conHomes for 10 years, invites nondenominational guest
nections with local churches, and the organization
ministers to visit the community in San Luis Obispo,
itself was founded in 1949 to provide housing and
Calif., every Wednesday morning. Residents enjoy
health care for retired American Baptist ministers and
hearing different perspectives, she says.
missionaries. For example, First Baptist Church of
Riverside raised money to build Mt. Rubidoux Manor
Continued on page 9
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
7
ABHOW Prepares for Minimum Wage Increase
On July 1, California’s minimum
hourly wage will increase to $9 an
hour from the current $8 an hour.
The minimum wage will increase
again on Jan. 1, 2016, to $10 an hour.
Most team members will not be affected this year,
explains Terese Juntz, ABHOW’s senior vice president
of human resources. Only 75 of ABHOW’s 2,200 team
members currently have a pay rate of less than $9 an
hour. Since wages are determined based on competitive local labor costs, most communities already pay
team members at or above the new minimum. Team
members in a few of ABHOW’s dining services positions are most likely to see an increase, depending on
the geographic locations of their communities.
In addition to examining the wages of the 75 team
members directly affected by the increase, Juntz says
ABHOW will look at how the increased minimum
wage impacts the internal pay equity of team members
in the same job titles and similarly valued jobs. At the
Team members at select communities in a few of ABHOW’s dining
services positions are the most likely to see an increase in wage.
same time, Juntz cautions, the increase is not intended to create a domino effect. “This is a thoughtful,
planned process,” she says, that also considers pay for
performance and job experience, which is fundamental to ABHOW’s pay philosophy.
The California legislation setting the increase
passed after ABHOW’s 2014 budget had been determined, says Pam Claassen, chief financial officer, so
the increase is not included in those numbers.
California is one of four states to enact minimum
wage legislation introduced in the 2013 legislative
session, with an additional 34 states considering
minimum wage bills thus far during the 2014 legislative session. At the federal level, on Jan. 28, President
Obama proposed an increase in the federal minimum
hourly wage from $7.25 to $10.10.
“It’s important for ABHOW’s team members to
receive a competitive rate of pay,” says Jeff Glaze,
ABHOW’s chief operations manager. “We’ll continue
to pay competitively while taking steps to mitigate the
effect the minimum wage increase will have on residents’ fee increases.”
ABHOW’s continuing care retirement communities in the cities of Los Gatos and Los Altos compete
for team members from neighboring San Jose and
San Francisco. Those cities have imposed their own
minimum wage laws. San Jose has an hourly minimum
wage of $10.15 and San Francisco’s is $10.74. Initial
activity is underway in Oakland, home to several
ABHOW continuing care and affordable housing
communities, to raise the hourly minimum wage to
$12.25. SeaTac, a small city fewer than five miles from
Continued on page 8
ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
ABHOW Prepares for Minimum Wage Increase
Continued from page 7
MAY 2014
Circle of Excellence Correction
ABHOW’s continuing care retirement community in
Des Moines, Wash., and several affordable housing
communities in the state, has the highest hourly minimum wage in the nation at $15. ABHOW feels these
wage pressures along with other organizations that conduct business in the cities and states where it operates.
In the April 2014 edition of ABHOW Words,
Jeanne Koester was listed as the Las Ventanas
recipient of the Circle of Excellence award for
2013. While Koester is a recipient of the 2012
Circle of Excellence award, the 2013 recipient
from Las Ventanas is Fermin Ramirez.
Budget and finance committees at ABHOW’s communities will spend the spring and summer developing
Fermin Ramirez
a clearer picture of the expected effects of the increase.
They will also look at how to include the increase in
the 2015 budget, with an eye on 2016’s budget as well.
“We’re balancing competitive pay as well as significant continuing changes in health benefits. We need
both to employ and retain quality team members,”
Claassen says, adding that this approach ultimately
benefits residents. These factors, along with other rising costs, may result in higher resident fee increases in
the coming years.
“ABHOW is being responsible, is complying with
the law, and will prudently adjust pay to incorporate
this extra expense within the next budget,” Juntz adds.
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Maintenance Supervisor, Las Ventanas, Las Vegas
As maintenance
supervisor, Fermin
Ramirez puts
resident safety, care
and compassion
first. His personal
relationships with
residents create a
warm environment at Las Ventanas.
Since Las Ventanas opened, Ramirez has
continually improved the community. He
teaches all maintenance employees how to
enhance the community’s customer service
program and recently facilitated the renovation
and customization of more than 37 rooms.
He also continues to develop his own
professional knowledge, recently achieving qualification as a Certified Maintenance
Employee through the American Hotel and
Lodging Association.
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ABHOW Words
Sharing Our Stories
MAY 2014
9
Community Connects Through Faith
Team Member Goes Full Circle
Continued from page 6
Continued from page 4
Although Ichien had leadership skills and
emotional intelligence, he didn’t have practical experience in the senior living field. Ichien
learned by doing just about everything at The
Terraces — working as a driver, receptionist, security officer, any position that offered
professional growth. As Ichien excelled and
his responsibilities increased, he completed
educational and leadership programs including EMERGE, Leadership ABHOW and
Administrator in Training. Ichien earned both
a nursing home administrator license and an
MBA in 2013.
Weekly Bible study sessions held at Bellflower Friendship Manor
help create community and conversation.
That same year, he became The Terraces’
health services administrator. With hard
work and Candalla’s help, Ichien, now 31,
has achieved a new vision of professional
success that includes a sense of personal
fulfillment — in a different direction that led
straight home.
Salgado says there’s a need to offer religious services in retirement communities, even if churches
are nearby.
“I always pick out hymns for the service, keep the
schedule of volunteer pastors updated and make sure
we have lots of coffee,” she says.
“Seniors have important thoughts about Scripture
and lessons to share,” he says. “Having this study across
the street creates community and conversation.”
6120 Stoneridge Mall Rd., 3rd Floor, Pleasanton, CA 94588
phone: 1-925-924-7150 toll-free: 1-800-222-2469 fax: 1-925-924-7232
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Published by the Strategic Planning and Communications Department, Kay Kallander, Senior Vice President, e-mail kkallander@abhow.com
ABHOW, National and State Websites:
ABHOW: abhow.com
LeadingAge: leadingage.org
LeadingAge Arizona: agingservicesofaz.org
LeadingAge California: aging.org
LeadingAge Washington: agingwa.org
“American Baptist Homes of the West, as an expression of
Christian mission, seeks to enhance the independence, well-being
and security of older people through the provision of housing,
health care and supportive services.”