CREJ

22 / 24

Page 22 — Health Care Properties Quarterly — January 2018
Senior Housing & Care
While the Colorado Real Estate Journal continues to run a healthcare and senior care
news section in each issue of the newspaper, Health Care Properties Quarterly
features the most interesting projects and people, trends and analysis, and covers
development, investment, leasing, finance, design, construction and management. The
publication is mailed with the Colorado Real Estate Journal newspaper, a 4,000-plus
distribution that includes developers, investors, brokers, lenders, contractors, architects
and property managers.
Photo courtesyCooperthwaite Photography and Productions
June 2016
The hospital
campus
redefined
 Market Reports
 Development &
Investment Updates
 Design & Construction
Trends
 Capital Markets
 Legal Updates
 and more
ADVERTISING
Lori Golightly | 303-623-1148 x102 |
SUBMIT EXPERT ARTICLES
Jennifer Hayes | 303-623-1148 x 106
MEDIA KIT & SAMPLES
READ THE NEXT EDITION:
Wednesday, April 18
RESERVE YOUR SPACE BY:
Wednesday, March 28
AD SIZES:
Quarter Page $395
Half Page $595
Full Page $995
Full Color $200 Additional
Frequency Discounts Available.
G o on any recruitment website
and you will see dozens of
job openings for executive
directors for senior living or
skilled nursing communities
throughout the United States, includ-
ing Colorado.The salary, benefits and
other “perks” for these types of posi-
tions typically are highly competitive.
There are tremendous growth oppor-
tunities. Many organizations doing
ongoing recruitment are new and
beautiful in design and offer an incred-
ible place to work as a manager.
Yet in spite of all that health care
and senior living real estate has to
offer, we often struggle to find and
retain excellent leaders. Local and
national companies have recognized
the importance of a focused leadership
development strategy for recruitment,
ongoing growth and support, and ulti-
mate retention within the organiza-
tion. A great executive director is para-
mount to creating a successful real
estate asset in today’s market.
So, what does today’s senior living
executive director need to be success-
ful as the leader and ultimately remain
as a long-term part of the property
and/or organization? Make no mistake
about it, whether the property is an
assisted or inde-
pendent living com-
munity, memory
care residence or
skilled nursing facil-
ity, the role of the
leader grows more
challenging and
complex every year,
resulting in high
turnover in leader-
ship positions.
The role of execu-
tive director is a
busy one.The ED
is typically on-call
24/7 for emergencies, critical customer
needs, staffing issues and a host of
other areas.Today’s customer is incred-
ibly savvy and equally clear on his
expectations for high-quality service
delivery, requiring the executive direc-
tor to have excellent interpersonal and
customer relations skills. Health care
real estate assets are multimillion dol-
lar investments entrusted to the daily
operation of the executive director,
who also must have strong business
and financial management skills.
The executive director must be
astute in executing a business plan,
including maximizing occupancy,
exercising cost controls and identify-
ing ways to increase revenue. Senior
residents are staying in their homes
longer, so they move into senior com-
munities with a higher level of cogni-
tive needs and clinical care require-
ments.The executive director must be
solid in understanding the regulations
and staffing levels required to ensure
quality of care for each resident. Most
executive directors are usually not
engineers; however, the ED also needs
to have a working knowledge of the
physical plant and life safety require-
ments for a safe and well-functioning
environment.The executive director
soon discovers how important the
culinary experience is to nearly every
resident of the community, so she
must have a great vision and working
knowledge of a superior dining prod-
uct. It’s easy to see why it is so hard to
not only find that amazing leader for
the property, but also keep her.
Owners, operators and asset man-
agers are learning the critical impor-
tance of creating an environment and
organizational model where leaders
can grow and thrive in this important
profession. Leaders are significant to
the overall daily success of the prop-
erty and, ultimately, serve as a key
part of the asset. Organizations like
ours in Colorado and national opera-
tors like Brookdale and Five Star have
developed and implemented robust
leadership development and peer
mentoring programs to better support
and retain executive directors in their
properties.▲
Nancy Schwalm
Chief business
development
officer, Vivage
Senior Living,
Lakewood
Retention of leaders is key to success in health care and senior living real estate.
Yet in spite of all that health care and senior
living real estate has to offer, we often
struggle to find and retain excellent leaders.