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A Day In The Life Of A Senior Living Community Manager
Since many of you may not be aware of the various distinctions in "Senior Living"; I will first try to categorize the differences for you. First, there are adult-style senior living complexes (apartments, townhouses, condos, etc., usually with many senior-type amenities i.e. golf courses, exercise rooms, libraries, etc.). All of these are mostly for the more active and able seniors who can pretty well take care of their own needs, and associate in these complexes more for the socialization, companionship and conveniences offered. Second, there are communities which offer varying degrees of "assistance" or "supervision". They generally fall into two groups: (1) the "Independent-Living" group where full meal services in a central dining hall, housekeeping & maintenance services for each apartment, centralized community activities as well as emergency e-call services are all provided, but residents are still free to come and go as they wish; and (2) the true "Assisted-Living" group which does all the above, but provides a medical staff to supervise the medical aspects of the resident's needs, and restricts the freedom to come and go as they wish. Finally, there is the last category which is a full-time Nursing facility. Managing communities in the "First" category is obviously pretty much the same as that of an Apartment Manager which I covered in my second article in the series. Most of my personal experience with managing Senior Communities has been with the Independent-Living communities in the second Group. The main thing I saw in managing this type of facility is that there is often a very "fine line" between those residents who can do well in the "independent" environment and those requiring the "assistance" in the later stages. It is obviously very important to be able to distinguish with whom and when those needs arise. As an example, at most facilities of this type that I managed, a resident could go "out" the main doors at night, but to get back in, they needed to have their "key" or "access card". If not, they could not get back in without knowing to go to the main front door lobby and calling for the "duty night manager" on the "house phone". They could also push their e-call buttons if they remembered to take it (or that they had it with them). Since many residents in these facilities are in their 70-80-90's and often having memory difficulties, you can see where this could be potentially hazardous. At my last facility, we had a large lake and open grounds where residents could easily have become disoriented, so you can see the importance of recognizing the need for "assistance" when it comes. As far as the "managing" work goes, it was pretty much the same each day with duties like collecting rents, paying bills, employee matters, marketing and so forth. We often were asked to "interact" with our residents whenever possible....particularly at dinner times where we would "pour coffee" for them and take that "extra minute" to see how they were doing. Probably the biggest difference I found in this job was with the "relationships" and "friendships" that were so easily built with seniors. We found that most seniors were quite ready to share their lives and experiences with anyone who would take the time to "listen". This position is the one that I will definitely carry away my most fondest memories. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com by Bernie Zelinka (aka the Semi-Retired Affiliate guru) Visit me at affiliatemarketingintroduction.com and www.examiner.com/x-7938-Tennessee-Entry-Level-Careers-Examiner |
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