By: Retirement Home Insider retirementhomeinsider.com
When choosing the best retirement home possible, it helps if you begin with the right questions.
While the process can be full of anxiety and stress, congregate senior living can be a positive life changing experience to reignite the mind, body and soul.
Having helped thousands of seniors and their families move into retirement communities, we’re going to make this process easier for you by highlighting the 7 (and 1/2) most important questions for the Executive Director of a retirement home.
To find the best retirement community, you need to find one with a great Executive Director.
It is the most critical aspect, of touring retirement homes and choosing where to live.
Full stop.
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Executive Directors set the tone for the day to day culture that you want to uncover, irrespective of the age of the building, whether it’s for profit or not for profit, or the company name on the sign.
Great Executive Directors will make all the difference in the world between a mediocre stay in a retirement home, and a great one.
If you do nothing else during a retirement home tour, ask the Executive Director for 10 minutes of their time to answer a few questions.
You’ll soon sense whether this is the home for your loved one or if you should keep looking.
1 – What Improvements Have You Made to the Resident’s Quality of Life Over the Past Year? What Do You Have Planned Next?
Is the Home Investing in the Resident’s Overall Well Being?
You are investing in your loved one’s emotional, physical and spiritual well being – you want to understand if the community works hard at making that culture better.
Ask them for examples of “non capital” improvements.
See if the ED thinks about answers that relate to new services or programs, or expanded availability for better resident choice.
This question can be hard to answer because most explanations usually relate to capital investments (you’ll ask about this later).
Have they added an extra meal option at dinner? Brought in a visiting dentist? Added a car service or more bus trips? How about expanding hours in the dining room, or more programs on the activity calendar?
What items from Resident Council meetings have they addressed that improve the quality of life in the community?
2 – What Accomplishments Are You Most Proud of as an Executive Director?
Kindness & Supporting Others Should Be Top of Mind
The answer here should generally speak to the betterment of people (residents and team) – developing a stronger sense of culture in the community.
It should be less about physical or financial changes – more about cultural achievements. What are they most proud of that helped create community or a better culture?
Do they talk about promoting team members or volunteer efforts? Do they speak to events that helped build a positive sense of belonging for all residents?
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3 – How Do You Normally Communicate with Residents & Families? How Do You Notify the Community During An Emergency?
Regular Communication Is the Best Way To Forge Stronger Partnerships
Some people want to be heavily involved in what goes on in the home, others just a surface understanding. Either way, you’re looking for options to lean in when you want to.
Is there regular communication just to update what’s going on in the residence on a regular basis? How do you bring your loved one’s concerns up and to whom?
Have they thought out how to connect if there’s a significant life threatening event? How will you know what’s going on?
4 – Why Should We Choose Your Retirement Community Over the Competition?
Hopefully the ED Understands Their Competitive Advantage
Specifics, specifics, specifics. You want to hear specific answers.
Canned or generic responses of “Our residents really love our staff” or “Our food is really good” tells you nothing because you can’t quantify it.
All retirement home residents “love the staff”, so that’s not unique.
Does the ED again speak to specifics around a sense of community?
Do they speak to an approach to continuous improvement of the home, of resident input in their decision making?
Of creating better value for your money (with specifics) things like superior guest service training?
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5 – What Services Would We Be “Out-Of-Pocket” for?
You Want As Much Transparency As Possible Before You Sign A Lease
This gives you a chance to zero in on how the residence charges add ons.
Is this going to be a death of a thousand cuts, or do they bundle as many services as they can into one price?
For bundled packages you want clarity around exactly what the package does and does not cover.
Some communities advertise a lower monthly rent – but charge extra for everything from the internet to program attendance.
This can work if you feel you will only gradually use certain services – but you need to know the exact details ahead of time.
6 – How Have You Thanked Your Team Members In the Past?
You’re Looking For Gestures That Take Effort & Time
The more time the ED puts into thanking their team members, the lower the turnover, usually the better the quality of service.
Gift cards and coffee – meh – everybody does that.
Do they speak to programs that involve both residents and team members? Hand written birthday cards?
Monthly programs that recognize team member contributions in a public setting?
These things take effort – they’re not just a pit stop on the way into work.
Side note: Programs that bring residents and the team together are always a positive venture for all involved. The more of this, the better.
7 – What Capital Improvements Have You Made to the Property Over the Past Year? What Do You Have Planned?
What Improvements Are Actually Benefitting The Residents?
You want to get an understanding of how the company/residence directs it’s reinvestment into the property.
Some of these improvements are “have to do” – like replacing a boiler. The ED can usually direct and influence where the property’s capital gets spent.
How much money is being spent on resident facing items – expanded outdoor areas, refreshed dining room, better equipment for exercise?
Annual capital re-investment always varies by property and company. Newer properties will generally have a much lower capital investment than older properties.
(And 1/2) Question: Do You Like What You Do?
Softball Question. Should Be A Gimme.
This is easy to answer for most people.
You should ask this to see if you can sense a genuine appreciation for working with seniors.
Is there genuine caring and warmth in their response? Pride in their accomplishments and life in the retirement community?
We really appreciate your time. Did we miss anything? Drop us a thought in the comments or send us a note – we’d love to hear from you.
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