Know your way around a canvas? The upcoming National Assisted Living Week is your time to shine –and help your elderly loved ones channel their own artistic side. The annual observance takes place from September 8-14, and this year’s theme is “A Spark of Creativity.” Now in its 24th year, National Assisted Living Week is an opportunity for residents, family and staff to celebrate the individuals served in assisted living. It’s also a great excuse to explore the different elements and ideas that make up this avenue of long-term care. The National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL), who organize the week-long event, hope the artistic theme will inspire staff of all levels to host fun, unique activities that enrich the senior living experience for each resident. “‘A Spark of Creativity’ encourages everyone to get their creative juices flowing – whether it’s residents trying out new things, or caregivers exploring innovative ways to improve care and community life,” said Scott Tittle, executive director for the NCAL. More to Art Than Meets the Eye Art therapy has long been a recognized method for boosting happiness and stimulating mental ability. Many residents report better well-being after taking part in the arts – and it’s even helpful for those living with dementia or Alzheimer’s. By infusing art into the everyday experience of their communities, staff can help their residents sustain a sense of purpose and stay connected with one another. The great thing about art (and the benefits therein) is that it’s not limited to just painting a picture, which can be a dexterously demanding task for older adults. Some communities put on recreations of famous plays or movie scenes with their residents, coached by local actors. Other senior living providers bring in licensed music therapists who use...

In today’s busy digital marketplace, prospective residents and families expect to be able to research your senior living community online and get the information they’re looking for at any time of the day, but does that mean you’re suddenly able to hire more staff for round-the-clock support? Of course not. Full-time customer service requires savvy tools. That’s where marketing automation comes in. It streamlines repetitive tasks, tracks prospect behavior and delivers targeted content to get customers into your pipeline. You can learn more about marketing automation for senior living with Yardi’s new eBook, which uncovers 9 marketing automation strategies to implement right now in your community. But first, let’s look at some of the high-level benefits of marketing automation technology: It Saves Time With many organizations running lean and mean, employees often wear many hats. Why not leverage tools that expedite administrative tasks? Eliminating duties like redundant data entry and emailing appointment reminders not only reduces the risk of error, it also boosts staff satisfaction and output. In fact, teams using marketing automation report a 14.5% increase in sales productivity. It Saves Money Automating marketing processes not only saves times, it saves money too. With the right tools, what once took hours now takes minutes-and since time is money, that time savings quickly adds up. Beyond carving out more time for your team, marketing automation also saves money by making your marketing dollars work harder, thanks to advanced analytics that provide visibility into which marketing channels are most effective for your community, improving overall ROI. It Improves Service By now, you know that marketing automation reduces workload for sales staff and helps scale and streamline processes, but did you know it also creates a better experience for prospects, too? With systems in place that...

About a year ago, Carmin Tomassi, vice president, controller at Silverado, walked through the doors of the Irvine, Calif., headquarters for the first time. He was promptly introduced to all 12 systems used by the AP department. From day one, he knew that greater efficiency would take the organization to the next level. He enlisted Yardi to help make that vision a reality. Identifying inefficiencies Silverado’s presence spans the west coast and midwestern United States. Its 59 properties specialize in senior care with an emphasis on assisted living and memory care, as well as hospice and home services. Each location offers a broad range of services for aging seniors. The sites require specialized equipment and steady maintenance. Each day, the accounts payable team received stacks of invoices in various stages of completion and accuracy. Approvals and reconciliation with the general ledger took days longer than Tomassi preferred. To create efficiency, he embarked on a campaign with two major goals. The first was to simplify the department’s software use. “We had maybe a dozen systems that affect accounting. They were all different which was just crazy to me. Even keeping track of your logins was ridiculous,” said Tomassi. “With accounting, things need to talk to each other, and it needs to be seamless. Otherwise, you’re asking for trouble.” The second goal was to expedite approvals by streamlining the filing process. “AP would arrive in the morning and there would be stacks of invoices in their little baskets: no signatures, no allocations, no coding, no nothing, right? They just kind of dealt with it for a while but I said, ‘No. We’ve got to figure out a way to make this more efficient.’ We also needed metrics so we can track the workflow and make changes.”...

Want to capture high quality leads and increase occupancy at your senior living property? Of course, you do! One tool from the Yardi Senior Living Suite, Senior CRM, can help you boost lead conversions in four ways. Wait, What’s CRM? CRM stands for customer relationship management. It’s software that’s used to handle interactions with prospects and mine their data. That data is then used to strengthen your understanding of the prospects so that you can better meet their needs. CRM software captures quantitative and qualitative data about your prospects’ behavior. That information can help you strategize your marketing efforts with greater precision. Robust CRM software can help you increase occupancy in four key ways. 4 Ways CRM Can Help You Increase Occupancy 1. Improve Marketing: CRM enables you to track and analyze the performance of your online marketing channel. Once you identify the most effective channels, you can tailor your marketing spend to optimize your return on investment. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t, and where to spend your money. 2. Shorten Lead Response Times: Did you know that 64 percent of online shoppers give the first company to call them back an advantage over the competition? If you don’t respond to customers within 24 hours, they begin to question your professionalism, reports Velocify. CRM makes it easy to shorten lead response times and get an advantage over your competitors. You can automate follow-up emails and appointment reminders. Mobile-ready CRM software also enables your staff to contact leads on-the-go so that they never miss a beat. 3. Optimize Contact Strategy: With CRM, your marketing team can test and compare strategies to learn what works. Nearly 60 percent of companies use testing to optimize conversion rates. Testing is important because every company, prospect, and marketing...

You may have a bit in common with Dennis McCarthy, chief information officer at SRI Management of Tallahassee, Florida. Like Dennis, your organization may be facing growth. And like Dennis, you may be searching for a solution to help you manage that growth and prepare for future success. McCarthy’s senior living management company is expected to double in size in the next two years. He and his team searched the globe to find software that would ease growing pains. SRI Management found success using Yardi EHR and Yardi eMAR. We sat down with McCarthy to learn how EHR and eMAR have made it easier to do business while quickly growing. Q: How did Yardi’s technology help you accomplish growth? A: Yardi’s technology has been phenomenal. It’s an integrated piece of software that anybody can see anywhere. As we’ve spread out, as SRI management has spread from one location to another, as we’ve had to add people to help us run all of these properties, it’s easy for people to see everything that’s going on because they can log in anywhere and see it anywhere. So, the standardization that we get from the software helps us grow easily and confidently. Q: How has technology impacted your world? A: Interestingly, our world is not a technology world. SRI is a management company that runs properties for owners, so we don’t really focus on the technology as much as we focus on the people. What the technology does is make it much easier for us to focus on taking care of people. It just makes SRI Management a much more efficient company because we have the background of the technology behind us to do our jobs as easily as possible. Q: What is the value that Yardi...

During the recent Yardi Forum for senior living and affordable housing, we sat down with Brandon Carter, director of information technology at Wallick Communities. Brandon has a wealth of knowledge about products from the Yardi Senior Living and Yardi Voyager Affordable Housing suites, and we were thrilled to speak with him in person. Wallick owns and manages affordable housing and senior living properties across the Midwest. More than 20,000 residents live in Wallick units. There are always more units on the way, as Wallick has experienced an average 23 percent growth annually. Wallick has worked with HUD tax credit programs for more than four decades, and has even been ranked first in the nation in affordable housing preservation. To put it plainly, Wallick is a big deal. Read on to learn how Yardi software helps Wallick achieve its mission. Q: Describe the value that Yardi products bring to your company? BC: Yardi has been a great partner for Wallick. Whatever the need, we can almost always find a Yardi product to help us fulfil it. We trust that Yardi is continuously working to develop new and exciting products to help us fulfil our responsibilities towards owners, staff and residents. Q: How does Yardi help to position your company for growth? BC: Having only Yardi software to manage makes Wallick extremely nimble and quickly scalable with growth. The Yardi platform allows us to focus on our associates and residents as we grow, instead of worrying about bringing on new technology. Q: What software challenges did Wallick face before adopting Yardi? BC: Before moving to Yardi, we used multiple pieces of software for our different business needs. That required us to spend additional time and resources bridging data gaps. It also created confusion for new associates...

With more senior living options than ever, competition is fierce for would-be residents. Communities must set themselves apart to attract customers – and the most effective way to do that is through online marketing. It might come as a surprise, but Baby Boomers spend more time on the internet than Millennials, with 31% reporting they use their laptop, tablet or phone more than 15 hours per week. So how do senior living operators get the biggest bang for their buck? The answer is simple: CRM. What is CRM, exactly, and how does it help cut through a crowded marketplace to grow occupancy? First, a definition: CRM stands for customer relationship management. It is technology used to oversee interactions with potential clients with the goal of improving relationships through use of data. CRM software captures both qualitative and quantitative data across various channels and stores it in one centralized location to paint a holistic view of prospects, surfacing insights to make strategic decisions and optimize your marketing. This increased visibility boosts the effectiveness of your outreach. And because CRM allows you to track and analyze the performance of various online marketing vehicles to see where your dollars are working hardest. you can decide which campaign types are most meaningful for your business. Here are just a few of the ways CRM helps optimize marketing spend to maximize ROI. Tailor Messaging The first step of developing an effective marketing effort is identifying your audience and what types of marketing content they respond to. CRM systems like Yardi Senior CRM allow you see prospects’ interactions and identify which channels and messages are most compelling. If consumers are ignoring display ads but opening your emails, you can dial down advertising spend and invest more resources in refining your...

Robert Colbert, VP of Assisted Living with Nevada HAND, has seen his fair share of clinical software. About 14 years ago, he started by making rounds as a registered nurse. Today, he is an executive of Nevada’s largest affordable housing provider. He has experienced software as a daily user in the field as well as a leader with his eye on the bottom line. Colbert trusts Yardi to support the next chapter of growth for Nevada HAND. “Everything from operations to marketing to nursing, I believe that we have almost every one of your products,” he said. Achieving Excellence As Nevada’s largest nonprofit 501(c)(3) dedicated to the development, construction, management and preservation of affordable housing, Nevada HAND has assisted many thousands of Southern Nevada residents to have a place to call home.  Currently, Nevada HAND provides affordable apartment homes to over 7,200 adults, children, and seniors.  Nevada HAND owns and/or manages 34 properties with over 4,200 apartment homes.  Nevada HAND also has the only two affordable assisted living communities in the State of Nevada. The leadership for the assisted living division has strong relationships with The Board of Examiners for Long Term Care Administrators and provides their communities as a precepting site for future licensed administrators and also sit on the Assisted Living Advisory Council to provide a voice for changing the senior living industry through policy and regulations.  Nevada HAND works with fellow industry leaders to develop best practices for senior care facilities throughout the State of Nevada. In the field, their Westcliff Pines property received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum Award, the highest recognition level for environmental design and construction. The organization also received a US Green Building Council “Excellence in Operation” award.  Nevada HAND’s two assisted living...

When you think about your senior residents and their families, do you think of words like “tech savvy,” and “forward thinking?” You should. Breck Austin, VP of operational services with Clearwater Living of Newport Beach, understands the importance of exceeding clients’ growing tech expectations. His organization has identified software that allows the company to advance with the times. We sat down with Austin to learn how the organization uses RENTCafé and Senior CRM to make life easier for residents and staff. Q: What are one or two business objectives you’ve been addressing over the last year? A: At Clearwater Living, our objective is to enhance residents’ experience in the senior platform. So one of the things we look at is technology. We look at how do we make ourselves more relevant? How do we make the residents’ experience relevant? We use a variety of things that we are addressing, from technology down to our philosophy of care. Q: How did Yardi technology help you accomplish this? A: Yardi technology was the best thing that ever happened to us in a growing state. It provided one single integrated platform that allowed us to address the growing need of the family’s involvement and their need to know what’s going on, transparency, to our consumers. So, it’s no longer just a resident living in our community. We’re addressing the family members or those that are responsible for members of our communities. The ability to communicate with them through technology, Yardi provided that outlet for us. And it’s integrated so that it addresses all areas of our touch points and building on the connections with our residents. Q: What Yardi products have been most transformative for you and why? A: Two products that have been transformative to the...

What if there was a conference that offered answers to some of your most pressing property management problems? What if you could connect with other industry members and brainstorm solutions to emerging issues? You can do both at LeadingAge Texas in Austin, set for May 19-22. LeadingAge Texas annual conference guides not-for-profit members in their efforts to better serve seniors through advocacy, networking, services and education. This year promises to be better than ever! LeadingAge celebrates its 60th anniversary with a four-day conference packed with more than 45 sessions. Join 400 aging services professionals as you acquire the latest best practices and get real solutions to challenges that you face. Learn from your peers as well as session leaders. The agenda offers a variety of insightful courses and activities. Session topics include clinical excellence, operational success, policy, regulations and finance, ethics and leadership. You will also discover a myriad of ways to create thriving communities and strong workforces. This year’s theme is “What If.” It will be explored through conference sessions as well as an awards ceremony, fundraiser and an attendant-driven community service project. There will be an opportunity for you to get involved! Details will be revealed at the conference. Keep the learning going in the fun atmosphere of the Expo. Enjoy food, music, drinks and entertainment while you tour the booths. There will be nearly 100 exhibitors showcasing the latest in services, products, and technology. Be sure to visit Yardi at the Expo! Stop by booth #79 to learn how software and services can improve your bottom line and quality of service. Be sure to let us know you’d like to meet...

The recently released Argentum 2019 Forecast Report takes a quick peek at past senior economic activity as well as current trends and future projections. A Glance Back, Ending 2018 At the end of 2018, the economy added more than 19.4 million net new jobs over the span of 94 consecutive months of expansion. The national unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent, which is the lowest unemployment rate since 2000. The 15 percent improvement in the employment base created a positive foundation for 2019. Looking Forward to 2019 Economic forecasts for 2019 are positive. Argentum projects a robust labor market with ample opportunities for workforce entrants as well as advancement amongst seasoned laborers. The nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to increase by 2.8 percent in 2019. Following a 2.9 percent gain in 2018, the projection would represent two historic back-to-back years of growth. It is likely that the Federal Reserve will assume a neutral monetary policy, neither accommodative or restrictive. Trade woes may lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers, particularly on goods imported from China. Senior Households Thanks to recent tax cuts, most households can expect an improved financial outlook. Disposable personal income may increase by 2.6 percent, similar to income increases in 2017 and 2018. For households headed by seniors ages 65 to 74, median income bumped up 1.4 percent to about $50,804 in 2017, the most recent figures reported. While income growth has slowed, expenditures steadily rise. Average household expenditures exceeded $60,000 in 2017, an increase of 4.8 percent from 2016. On trend, seniors are still big spenders. Between 2012 and 2017, expenses in older households increased by 25 percent. In 2017 alone, households headed by seniors ages 65-74 experienced an 8.1 percent increase in expenditures. Seniors were not...

Keeping up with utilities and energy costs is a hurdle for most senior living communities. Argentum senior living association recently reported on industry forecasts and trends: about 49 percent of decision makers said energy and utility costs are a moderate challenge for their business. About 5 percent of their peers reported energy and utility costs as a significant challenge. Electricity on the Rise The challenge arises from an increase in energy and utility costs. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that commercial electricity prices increased 3 percent from 2016 to 2017. From 2017 to 2018, businesses witnessed an additional 1 percent increase. In 2019, EIA projects prices to increase an additional .6 percent to 10.86 cents per kilowatt hour. Not all regions are affected equally. The Pacific region may experience a 3.5 percent increase above the national average in 2019. On the lower end of the spectrum, the South Atlantic may experience an increase of only 1.5 percent. Some regions will enjoy a decline in costs. The West South Central may be relieved with a drop of -3.4 percent and New England with a drop of -2.4 percent. Natural Gas Projections The national average for gas prices is expected to average $8.02 per thousand cubic feet in 2019, up 1.5 percent from 2018. Regional variations above the national average include West North Central at 6.4 percent, East North Central at 5.9 percent, and Mountain at 4.2 percent. New England may receive an average price drop of -5.5 percent as well as the Middle Atlantic at -2.7 percent. “The declines won’t be enough to offset the sharp increases registered in 2018,” warned the report. Making Changes Overall, utility costs by square foot varied drastically. Some senior living communities reported costs as low as 69 center...

Every day, millions of Americans start their morning the same way: with a handful of prescription pills. In fact, nearly a third of all adults take five or more medications regularly. In senior living communities, the number is even higher with the average resident consuming a staggering 12-14 medications per day, thanks, in part, to a concept known as the prescribing cascade. This begins when a drug is prescribed, an adverse drug event (ADE) occurs, and the symptoms are misinterpreted as an entirely new medical condition, for which an additional medication is prescribed. With advancements in science and technology, doctors and their patients now have thousands of different drugs to choose from. The influx of medications available on the market has caused prescription drug use to explode, growing 85% over the last two decades. This trend is exacerbated by a massive number of aging baby boomers, many of whom will soon require care. How can caregivers in the senior living industry manage medications and mitigate risk in an increasingly drug-dependent world? One of the simplest strategies to implement is called the five rights: The Right Drug Prescription medications often have names that are easily mixed up. To minimize confusion between those that look or sound alike, the FDA reviews about 300 drug names a year before they hit the market—and about one-third of the names drug companies propose are rejected. For this reason, it’s critical to double or triple check the order with the label on the prescription packaging. The Right Route There are more than fifteen ways to administer medication, so never make assumptions. A pill, for instance, can be swallowed, crushed or held inside the cheek. Check that the medication can be given as ordered. If it’s an injection, check to see if it should be administered intravenously or intramuscularly. And if the medication lacks specific instructions, ask. The Right Dose Improper dosing is the number one contributing factor to fatal drug errors. When people...

It’s never too late to make a resolution for the New Year, especially if it improves efficiencies at your senior housing properties. Resolve to go mobile! When you make the transition to mobile charting, you pave the way to success. What is Mobile Charting? Mobile charting is simply the act of entering resident information on the go. Care staff enters resident data into Yardi Senior Living Suite using a mobile device. Resident data can then be conveniently and securely stored in cloud. Why makes the transition from paper to mobile charting? We’re glad that you asked. Here are five benefits to making the switch. 5 Benefits of Mobile Charting Mobile charting increases care staff time with residents. When staff can’t access a mobile device to enter resident data, they must interrupt their rounds to do so. That means less time engaging with residents and more time tethered to a desk. With mobile charting, care staff naturally integrate data entry into their resident visits. Mobile charting improves accuracy and consistency of resident data. Remember how staff scurries between residents’ rooms and office computers to enter data? In the shuffle, they struggle to remember details from one visit to the next. This may result in inaccuracies and missing data. With mobile charting, there is no lag time between receiving and entering data. Immediate record keeping results in greater accuracy and better care for residents. Mobile charting enhances accountability amongst care staff. With paper charting, it isn’t always easy to tell who altered a file or when. When a staff member logs into Yardi EHR on a mobile device, their contributions to resident files are marked with a date and electronic signature. The automatic features enhance accountability and record keeping. Mobile charting protects resident data. Sheets of...

The Ontario Retirement Communities Association and the Ontario Long Term Care Association have teamed up to bring senior care professionals the learning event of the year. The annual Together We Care conference is just around the corner—and you won’t want to miss it! Together We Care is the largest senior living event in Canada. The conference inspires and connects more than 1,200 senior care professionals. Informative + Engaging Sessions The conference will cover the latest industry updates, best operational practices, trends, innovative programs and housing models for senior services. Gain inspiration and insight from renowned keynote speakers Discover interesting ways how data analytics can support decision making Understand the nuances of consent and advanced care planning (ACP) Learn how to update your legal forms and policies to avoid risk Dive into hot topics like medical and recreational cannabis use Discover solutions for advancing leadership and workforce capacity Learn how you can evolve your operations to prepare for the care of tomorrow’s seniors Explore prevalent and emerging quality of care and quality of life issues Improve client care and satisfaction with a multidisciplinary approach to nutrition and dining And much more! Keynote Speakers Three terrific keynote speakers are scheduled to motivate and encourage attendees. Business powerhouse Arlene Dickinson will share her insights on success: where it came from, what shaped it, and what trials were involved. Get tips for overcoming self-doubt to maximize success. Canadian broadcasting personality Michael Landsberg will spark conversations on mental health in the workplace and beyond. He explains how to beat the stigma around mental illness and save lives in the process. Stand-up comedian Jody Urquhart uses humor to address the stresses of the senior care industry. She will leave the audience inspired to navigate challenges with humor, grace, and a...

When it comes to Excel, there are two kinds of users: those who love it, and those who love to hate it. Regardless of which camp you’re in, there’s no denying the ubiquitous tracking tool has earned its role as a mainstay in offices in every industry across he world. But as the complexities of business have grown, so has the need for flexible tracking tools—a fact that’s increasingly obvious in senior living. With many different levels of care, various floor plans, myriad amenities and portfolios of communities, new time-saving tools can have a huge impact. In this post, we’ll examine common budgeting and tracking challenges faced by senior living operators and a solution that makes all the difference. The challenges: Antiquated systems are inefficient Since most companies purchase office software packages, it seems most cost efficient to use the spreadsheet that’s included to record and analyze the organization’s budgets. And while that strategy is an effective way to save money on paper, creating a scalable document to track all business operations from a blank tab in Excel is incredibly painstaking and time consuming—and once it’s been created, maintaining the document is no easy feat. If you recall the concept of opportunity costs from freshman economics, you’ll begin to understand that there is no efficiency in sapping countless man hours to make a tool not created for your business actually work for your business. Versions get outdated quickly—and aren’t easily shared Have you ever wasted time updating a spreadsheet only to find that you weren’t looking at the latest version? One of the most common frustrations with using static spreadsheets, rather than live solutions which are updated in real time, is the data becomes stale quickly, especially when multiple teams are making edits. On...

The California Assisted Living Association (CALA) 2018 Fall Conference and Trade show is set for November 5-7 at the Renaissance Palm Springs & Palm Springs Convention Center. The event theme is “Elevate,” inspired by senior living professionals continually seeking to improve clinical care while enhancing residents’ quality of life. The three-day conference focuses on several important issues facing the senior living industry, including: dementia care best practices, legal and regulatory awareness, sales and marketing strategies and leadership and staff culture. Yardi will sponsor the conference luncheon featuring Jennifer Powers, coach, mentor, trainer and author of best-selling book “Oh, Shift!,” which illustrates how making small changes can be life changing. Powers is a leading expert in helping professionals improve their confidence and competence, so they can live and work at their full potential. “What I have found is executives and leaders are the most siloed. They’re the people that have the fewest outlets for sharing their fears, their concerns, their limiting beliefs. They have to put on the face that people need to see in a leader. And what happens is that it perpetuates a low level of confidence, more fear, and something called impostor’s syndrome. It’s the condition that a person finds him or herself in where they don’t believe they’ve really earned the position they have. They feel like they’re a farce that’s soon going to be found out. That any day now, they’re going to be discovered as incompetent. And they just don’t feel like they deserve to be where they are. It’s truly an epidemic,” Powers explains. The coaching she offers provides concrete tools to make positive changes that improve effectiveness in the workplace. “What I do in the world of self-development is really have a strategic conversation built around inquiry. It helps...

Dennis McCarthy, chief information officer at Florida’s SRI Management, knows that nurses are critical to providing quality care for residents. Keeping clinical staff happy means making sure they’ve got the tools they need to do their jobs as easily and efficiently as possible. That starts with ensuring they have access to the most accurate, up-to-date patient health records. “Satisfying nurses is the number one thing. You don’t want them on a separate system; once you have people on two systems you have all sorts of issues—nurses are trying to figure out which record is current and things like that. Integration to the core software is critical,” McCarthy explained. That’s why SRI, already successfully using several modules in the Yardi Senior Living Suite, adopted Yardi EHR and eMAR last July. “We just had nurses watch it in action,” said McCarthy. Once the staff got their first look, they were hooked. The team began using EHR right away to record resident incidents. Documentation was simple and everything that was logged was immediately appended to residents’ files in the database and kept as part of their permanent record. But the best part was that all the information was readily available after the fact, said Casey Polk, chief nurse and director of resident services. She finds that feature indispensable. “At my fingertips in the Yardi platform, I have easy access to what nurses wrote and charted about each incident and how it was handled. I can quickly pull up the chart and read the notes and have all the information on hand. And I love that the software also has reports on resident activity, new orders and missed medications. It allows me to follow up with my staff based on what has or hasn’t been charted that week,”...

For senior living providers, it’s time to break out the flip flops. This fall, October 7-10, thousands of leading long term and post-acute care professionals will travel to southern California to attend the annual AHCA/NCAL Convention and Expo at the San Diego Convention Center. The conference, celebrating its sixty-ninth year, is designed to address current operating and care challenges, also hosts the largest trade show in the industry. So what can attendees expect from this three-day event?  Beyond the traditional convention sessions—seventy in all with topics ranging from making data-driven decisions to the forthcoming PDPM implementation—there are many unique events offered. Attendees can partake in a San Diego Harbor Cruise, visit the USS Midway Museum aboard one of America’s longest-serving aircraft carriers, attend AHCA’s annual PAC concert and enjoy a gala dinner with entertainment by Grammy award-winning artist Kenny Loggins. NCAL will also host the 12th Annual NCAL Day dedicated to thought-provoking education specifically tailored to the assisted living sector of long-term care. Keynote speakers include retired astronaut and Navy Captain Scott Kelly, who challenges audiences to dream big, test the status quo and “choose to do the hard things,” along with award-winning motivator Dan Thurmon and mindset expert Steve Taubman. The goal of every convention session is that attendees will take home one to three immediately implementable strategies to improve their business. With actionable insights, networking opportunities, and exceptional events on the schedule, this year’s AHCA/NCAL conference and expo is sure to be a memorable...

Yardi is headed to the Windy City, along with throngs of senior living providers, to attend 5th annual SMASH summit taking place October 1-3 at the Loews Hotel O’Hare in Chicago. The conference is geared toward sales and marketing professionals intent on learning new strategies to make their communities stand out. Attendees will choose from workshops focused on content marketing, digital marketing, leadership and innovation, sales management, small teams marketing and technology to discover actionable takeaways. The conference also features many insightful speakers, including Yardi’s own Richard Nix, senior director of senior living, who will share insights about using customer relationship management (CRM) in senior living to supercharge marketing efforts, strengthen client relationships and ultimately drive occupancy. Nix says: “I’m honored to be speaking at SMASH this year. This conference is all about sharing with and learning from peers in the industry, so I’m excited to offer some strategies for senior living providers to increase their efficiency and grow their communities.” Other presenters include keynote speakers Kate O’Neil, tech humanist and author, and Chuck Harry, National Investment Center (NIC) chief of research and...

Yardi’s corporate culture includes a focus on community service. In the Yardi Boise office, a team of employees focused professionally on the senior living product suite decided to bring that value to life by participating in two local efforts aimed at combating hunger. First, staff partnered with Metro Meals on Wheels to serve 80 seniors in the community. Since many of the elders that benefit from Meals on Wheels are homebound and unable to prepare their own food, they rely on meal delivery as their primary source of nutrition. The Boise office team was happy to help with distributing food, cleaning, and socializing with seniors. Metro Meals on Wheels serves meals to nearly 1,000 Boise senior citizens each weekday and over 700 each weekend. Inspired by their work with Meals on Wheels, the team sought a new philanthropic challenge, this time joining with the Idaho Foodbank. The independent non-profit organization is entirely donor supported and is the largest food bank and distributor of free food assistance in Idaho. One in seven Idahoans are in need, and the food bank is making strides to not only provide meals but to promote healthy, locally-sourced foods. In fact, three quarters of the food distributed by the Idaho Foodbank is fresh or fresh frozen versus shelf stable, up from just fifty percent six years ago. So when the organization was hosting a food drive, the Yardi staff was excited to participate. This time, they volunteered to put together meals for the federally sponsored Seniors’ program and gathered donations of juice, cereal, milk and eggs into individual meal boxes. In all, the 60 employees assembled 15 palettes of meals, estimated to contain an amazing 14,000 pounds of food, to be distributed to local seniors. That’s more than enough to...

The senior living industry employs close to a million people, and the sector is expected to add nearly 300,000 jobs by 2026. With employee turnover already a worrisome—and costly—issue, companies need to arm themselves to keep up with demand. That means thinking not just about hiring, but also retaining key staff. What does it take to temper employee turnover? It’s not just about more money. If you want to keep employees in this competitive landscape, it’s about engaging staff by creating a truly employee-centric culture. Here’s how: Build an environment of recognition In order to realize the significance of their roles, staff need to feel appreciated by management, their peers and by residents. Sadly, only 21 percent of employees think they’re truly valued in the workplace. The good news? 44 percent say they’d regularly give peer-to-peer recognition if it were easy to do. Develop simple, quick ways to deliver acknowledgement, and make sure that it’s visible across the organization. You might be surprised how much feeling appreciated boosts morale. Promote balance with flexible scheduling Practicing work-life balance in the long-term care industry, where many residents require round-the-clock care, can prove to be more challenging than in other industries. But giving employees some flexibility is possible. Start by setting a quota on number of weekends and holidays worked, then allow staff to set schedules autonomously by working with colleagues to optimize their hours. Talk to standout staff Reach out to the best of the best on your team and ask important questions: What motivates them? Why do they stay? What could you be doing better? Find out what makes them tick, then apply these learnings to the greater organization. There’s no input more valuable than from top performers who are satisfied and come to work...