Betterment Made in Small Town

In the arena of senior skilled care, where State of Iowa regulations are forcing many small skilled care communities to close, The Continental Care Center at Seymour, located in Seymour, Iowa are bucking the trend.  Morgan Cline and Bill Burch purchased the community in an effort to prevent its planned closing.  Their leadership combined with the leadership of Beth Owens, the administrator combined with the unusual dedication of a crew pulled together from the deep rural rolling hills of southern Iowa are making for unusual success.

In just two years, this group has done something unheard of.  They’ve taken a community whose fate seemed sealed and brought it back to life.  Since the purchase, Cline and Burch have invested over a half million dollars into the community.  “90% of the investment was to improve care.  We still have a long ways to go to make it look nice but families are very smart about recognizing care as a priority.”

Beth Owens, when asked how The Continental Care Center at Centerville could survive, in a town was on the verge of a “ghost town,” answered:

I can’t speak for others, but here both the new owners and myself as a manager tried to clearly communicate expectations by alerting staff of our high quality of care standards, that systems and policies will be changing, and doing the hard work of making sure things do change.  Bill Burch, Morgan Cline, and the rest of the staff try to lead by example – as a manager I strive to show concern for the residents at all times, spend time listening to residents, staff, and families, make sacrifices where important and I try to work hard to show your concern for the success of the business.  Thanks to the management and ownership working together to set strong goals and establish priorities, we spent money where money should be spent, on important quality of care.  I think this witnessed to the community, residents and staff that we do invest in the best for them.  Since we took over, we’ve done things like installing a new sprinkler system, a new fire alarm system, a new wireless monitoring system, a new stand up lift, a new copier, recruited the best dietician consultant, a fantastic foot doctor, provided new therapy services, recruited the best Medical Director to replace our prior one due to retirement, and improved staff pay.  If our occupancy holds we plan to provide more benefits in 2010. 

Betterment of The Continental Care Center shall continue in the future.  Owens, Burch, and Cline all have such dedication to small-town America that this is just the first step in a long line of steps to improve Main Street America.

Dealing with Changes—From Failure to Success

The small town of Seymour, Iowa, located about 20 minutes from Centerville, Iowa near the Missouri border, experienced change.  The small skilled-care community in the town was on the verge of closure, when Centerville entrepreneur, Bill Burch, the owner of Commercial Resources, Inc., with the help of Morgan Cline, took a project under their hands to revamp the center.  Their leadership combined with the leadership of Beth Owens, the administrator combined with the unusual dedication of a crew pulled together from the deep rural rolling hills of southern Iowa are making for unusual success.

In just two years this group has done something unheard of.  They’ve taken a community whose fate seemed sealed and brought it back to life.  Since the purchase, Cline and Burch have invested over a half million dollars into the community.  “90% of the investment was to improve care.  We still have a long ways to go to make it look nice but families are very smart about recognizing care as a priority.”

Beth Owens, when asked how the staff at the center in Seymour is doing, answered:

They are doing great!  When the staff becomes overwhelmed due to increase in workload, we try to stay focused on the importance of taking good care of the residents.  We have a lot of opportunities to praise them for a job well done and we expect them to be part of the solution.  Most of all, when a dedicated staff like ours are doing their best and asking for help, you do your best to help them!!  Especially the CAN’s.

Similarly, when asked about the comments that have been received from the residents, responded:

They can tell there is a difference.  I hear things about our culture and that they sense a deep level of commitment and care.  I’m a little surprised they don’t complain about some of the things we don’t have looking nice yet, but they don’t seem to care at all as long as we are committed to giving those they love good care.

Finally, when asked about what Owens, Bill Burch, and Morgan Cline are most excited about, Owens responded on behalf of the three:

A lot of things!  Great occupancy, great average response times to resident needs, and we’re really looking forward to some planned renovations that will make the building look more appealing.  The owner’s promised that resident care would come first, staff care would follow, and then sensory upgrades to the building.  The resident care is in place.  The staff pay and benefits are well under way.   2010 should see some nice improvements in the building which will improve quality of life for both residents and staff!  It is going to be a great year!

Senior Care at its Best!

The Continental Care Center at Seymour, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation community in Seymour, Iowa, continues to raise the quality-of-life bar in the long-term care arena. On October 27th, 2009, the residents and staff joined forces to make popcorn balls in preparation for the upcoming Halloween night festivities. Lorie Jellison, Assistant Administrator/Activities, who organized the event stated, “It was an amazingly fun time! The staff and many of the residents pitched in and made over 100 popcorn balls for visiting Trick-or-Treaters.” Facility Administrator, Elizabeth Owens commented, “Senior living activities are often one of the most valuable segments yet often prove one of the most difficult. Quality of life has a great deal to do with length of life. It distracts attention from other less pleasant facts of life and reminds our residents and their families that there are still bright spots that we can capture and enjoy together.”

The Care Center in Seymour is, at first glance, a typical senior living community; however, when inspected more closely, visitors find there is more at work here than first meets the eye. Lorie Jellison explained, “The current owners are local and they purchased us when we had basically lost hope. Everyone said it was over and that our community was going to be closed!” however, the naysayers had not met Morgan Cline or Bill Burch! Morgan and Bill purchased the business and, to use a rather trite saying, breathed new life into it, helping us become once more a community in the truest sense of the word. Bill and Morgan’s philosophy is that our primary responsibility is the physical and emotional well being of the residents; then…we will turn our focus on making improvements to the physical plant. According to Jellison, one of the first major improvements Morgan Cline and Bill Burch instituted was a wireless call system that allowed calls for assistance from residents to be monitored. Lorie states, “Everyone knows that when Bill walks in, his first question after saying hello to everyone is, ‘What was the average call response time during the past 24 hours?’ If the answer is more than 3 minutes, Bill starts asking questions!. Bill made the following comment, “We are beating the odds. There are a few basic reasons why we have been able to do what we are doing in a town of less than 500 people. Everyone is dedicated to providing the residents of The Continental Care Center in Seymour with the best possible care, period! We have fun but we take systems and direct care very seriously. Everyone dislikes waiting, whether you are the one waiting or the person waiting is someone you love. Our per-patient-per-day staffing ratio is higher than any care facility in our region. So, when you combine the staff-to-patient ratio and the insatiable desire of our employees to respond to our residents’ calls as quickly as possible, our response times are typically four times faster than the competition and sometimes better.

Now..combine the care initiative with the fun activities that we try to pattern after those our residents probably enjoyed when they lived in their own homes and the result is a wonderful quality of life. We constantly strive to improve the quality of our residents’ lives, and as a result, families are often willing to drive long distances to make sure their loved ones receive the best care available. The Continental Care Center at Seymour comprises as much as 10% of our local population, something that is unheard of. Bill further states, “…and we are not finished!!”

It is obvious that the staff and residents of The Continental Care Center at Seymour have come up with the winning combination that results in everything from hard-to-beat response times to homemade popcorn balls for the local children. I might add that when the children took home the popcorn balls made by the residents of The Continental Care Center at Seymour, parents knew they could allow the children to enjoy the treats with their only concern being sticky fingers on the furniture! Only at The Continental Care Center at Seymour does one find the care of the residents to be so comprehensive and complete!

http://www.seymourcare.com

Fight for Survival

According to the most recent Iowa Health Care Association Bulletin, Governor Culver is continuing his efforts to implement the 10 percent cuts he announced earlier. Bill Burch, owner of The Continental Care Center at Seymour, Inc. (www.seymourcare.com), commented on the impact to rural communities and the seniors who live there. “Members of state government continue to disconnect themselves from their rural roots and from common sense. To add insult to injury, the lower the occupancy, the lower the patient per day reimbursement.” Burch is correct. The IHCA bulletin states, “Those nursing facilities with occupancy rates below 90 percent will see the highest cuts.” Burch states, “Something is backwards. Our representatives tell us either they did not endorse this formula to determine reimbursement or if they did endorse Governor Culver’s idea, they say it was part of a much more complex package. Subscribing to the formula “the lower the occupancy, the lower the per-patient-per-day reimbursement” shows a distinct lack of common sense, and it gives the impression that the State of Iowa believes that smaller nursing homes which face occupancy challenges should be forced out of business”

Currently, skilled care communities are penalized when their occupancies drop below 85%. Little is reported concerning the impact of Medicaid payment systems.
The State of Iowa is facing numerous challenges. Many of us are very concerned by what we consider a too simplistic approach to budget management. Although opinions do vary, some believe that flat- across-the-board reductions are good for the system. However, those of us who are actually involved in the day-to-day operations of these health care facilities argue that not all areas of state spending are of equal importance. Only time will tell what the State of Iowa will finally do.

Burch is not hopeful that our state representatives will realize the negative effects on the smaller health care facilities should these reductions be implemented. “It has been the longstanding practice of politicians to redirect financial burdens to employers; that includes the poor, small rural skilled care providers like those in communities similar to Seymour and Centerville, Iowa. Those of us who are “in the trenches” are finding it very difficult to swallow the proposed changes. Medicaid requires complete disclosure of finances, then dictates the reimbursement based not only on the residents’ financial statements, but also the facility occupancy. It is a spiraling death fall. Rural communities are both challenged and shrinking. The nursing home occupancy rates drop because of the decline in population. The state acknowledges this, yet still reduces the per-patient-per-day reimbursement when occupancy rates decline. Because of the reduced reimbursements, nursing homes are forced to find ways to cut costs. Unfortunately, as a result of these budget cuts, a nursing home may lose some visual appeal, further impacting occupancy and so it goes. The attention is then redirected to the nursing homes, residents’ families read the newspapers, and since someone has to be at fault for the reduction of services to their mothers, the obvious scapegoat is the nursing home!

What can we do to help the legislators understand how seriously these budget cuts are affecting the residents of the smaller nursing homes? Few agree on a particular plan; however, most to agree that simplistic cuts are not representative of strong leadership.