The recent Frontline story, "Life and Death in Assisted Living" clearly was about one thing: you can't trust Emeritus. Their buildings might look beautiful, but their care is ugly.
I watched the show carefully, hoping (fearing) I might see one of my own buildings. Three of their Memory Care Communities were designed, built and operated by my partners and I for many years before we sold them to Summerville, who shortly after merged with Emeritus. I put my heart and soul into those building, picking every single color, every piece of furniture and every single caregiver who worked in them for many, many years. Selling them was bittersweet - it was like sending your babies off into the real world - sad, but exciting with possibilities for a completely new phase of your life.
When we sold our communities we started aQuire Training Solutions - an online caregiver training company dedicated to making the highest quality training available to every caregiver, in every care setting, anywhere in the world. Leveraging the power of the internet, we believed that we could change the face of caregiving to be better, stronger, more informed and more compassionate.
We did it exactly for the reasons highlighted in the Frontline story: the one area that makes or breaks care is the quality of caregiver training. Skimping or cutting corners on training will yield less than the best quality care - no matter who you are or how big your company.
I knew this to be true from my years of operating Memory Care Communities. Training matters. Paying close attention to who you hire and how you train matters more than almost anything else you do.
Today, the best news for providers - and for consumers - is that caregiver training isn't an impossibility. It can be done quickly, efficiently, effectively and easily with a solid online solution. The best companies invest in training, track it closely and ensure that it is done well. They train even more than state requirements, because they know that training yields not only improved quality of care but also improved bottom line business success as consumers, referral sources, regulators - and the media - become familiar with that commitment to training.
If you're a family members looking for assisted living care let me assure you: the story really isn't about Emeritus. You can trust them exactly as well as you can trust any other assisted living provider - after your homework is done in the individual community you're considering. Check out how long their Executive Director has been around (longer is almost always better). Ask about the level of training and how it is provided to their caregivers (listen for specific answers with evidence easily visible).
Emeritus is a big company - and big companies make the easiest targets. It doesn't make them evil; it does mean they have much more room for error or employees with a grudge. Can they improve - who can't? Are they perfect - who is? What I do know is that many of the individuals in their organization are deeply dedicated to quality care - in some of the most beautiful care environments in the country (even if I did build a couple of those myself!).
As a consumer, watching the Frontline story should scare you a little. But more importantly, consider it an opportunity to become more educated and to know what questions to ask and what to look for. Good assisted living care is out there, more readily available today than at any other time in our nation's history. It's a gift for families and for elders needing care but wanting the independence of a living environment that doesn't feel like a hospital or nursing home. It's the option we chose for our parents, both my husband and I, and we were thankful every single day - despite occasional bumps in the road - that this option existed.
In the end, it is all about the quality of the caregivers. Having immersed myself in creating a caregiver training company for the last several years I see the difference. Quality training can change the quality of care - it can make a clear difference every day for every family involved.
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