March 20, 2025 • 27 mins
Carol Silver Elliott's journey from communications graduate to President and CEO of Jewish Home Family reveals how passion for service can transform an entire field. After holding leadership positions in hospital systems and career development, she found her true calling in long-term care – a field some find depressing but that she describes as a daily gift of wisdom and connection from the elders she serves.
Under Elliott's leadership, Jewish Home Family has evolved dramatically while honoring its 110-year legacy. What began as an orphanage in Jersey City now offers a full continuum of care across two Bergen County campuses. Most revolutionary is their implementation of the "greenhouse homes" model – smaller, more intimate living environments where care is truly elder-directed. This means residents decide when to wake, eat, and participate in activities rather than conforming to institutional schedules. Multi-skilled staff function more like extended family members, creating genuine relationships with residents.
The organization's commitment to innovation shines through their state-of-the-art rehabilitation center, which opened in December 2022 after breaking ground just as COVID was beginning. Their warm water therapy facilities have proven transformative – helping individuals who haven't walked in years regain mobility and independence. This exemplifies Elliott's "culture of yes" philosophy: finding creative solutions to enhance quality of life, regardless of challenges.
Looking toward senior living's future, Elliott emphasizes the growing need for housing with supportive services that combat both physical limitations and social isolation. For families navigating elder care decisions – whether locally or across the country – Jewish Home Family stands ready to provide guidance, connections, and compassion.
Discover how Jewish Home Family is reimagining senior living by visiting jewishhomefamily.org or reaching out directly with your questions about elder care options.
Jewish Home Family
Carol Silver Elliott
10 Link Drive
Rockleigh, NJ 07647
201-784-1414
info@jewishhomefamily.org
Admissions Fax: 201-256-4100
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group, based outof Bergen County funny enough.
In Harrington Park, new Jersey,just down the road from where
our guest is from, it's CarolSilver Elliott, the president
and CEO of Jewish Home FamilyCarol.
Just down the road where ourguest is from, it's Carol Silver
Elliott, the president and CEOof Jewish Home Family Carol.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Thanks, doug, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
So Carol has been the president and CEO of the Jewish
Home Family for how many yearsnow?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Ten and a half.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Ten and a half.
So, for those of you who don'tknow, the Jewish Home Family has
two main locations one inRivervale, new Jersey, which is
just down the road, and thenanother one in Rockley, new
Jersey, just a few miles away.
So, carol, I like to get into alittle bit more before we talk
about what you're doing now.
How did you get to this place?
(01:01):
How did you become thepresident and CEO of an assisted
living community?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So we're more than assisted living, we're a full
continuum of care for olderadults.
But how I ended up here?
I'm a big believer that life isa lot of serendipity and
sometimes the door opens and yousay, oh, I think I'll walk
through there.
So, I started.
I went to college in Ithaca forcommunication arts.
(01:29):
I did a master's program incommunications and when I
finished graduate school I endedup doing an internship in a
hospital.
So started my career in healthcare marketing and public
relations and communications andended up getting my first real
job in a hospital as their veryfirst director of public
(01:50):
relations in a small hospital inWisconsin and worked there for
a number of years, moved to alarger tertiary care facility
and then was fortunate enough tobe recruited by Stanford
Hospital in Stanford,connecticut, where I had the
gift of not only being vicepresident of public relations
(02:11):
and marketing but then was ableto add strategic planning to my
role and ended up moving toRochester, new York, also
working for a hospital system,and was recruited to run a small
organization as the CEO thatdid career development and
(02:34):
career planning for people, andI really wanted to be in the
C-suite.
That was something I desired,but I also knew that doing it in
a healthcare setting was goingto be more difficult because I
wasn't a line function.
I was a staff function in themarketing piece.
So I left hospitals for a littlebit, went to work and found two
(02:56):
things that I loved being theCEO, I must be glutton for
punishment, I guess, and thathelping people find fulfillment
in their work lives is awonderful thing, but it wasn't
where my heart was.
Where my heart was was reallyin more of the basic human
services.
So I was fortunate enough tofind long term care my career in
(03:20):
long-term care in 2007, when Ibecame the president and CEO of
Cedar Village RetirementCommunity, located just outside
of Cincinnati.
I was there for eight years,really longing to come back to
the East Coast, where we're from, where our family is.
So the opportunity here atJewish Home Family was
(03:44):
fortunately brought to me by arecruiter.
And you know, as they say, therest is history.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Right, right.
So my brother went to Cornell.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And lived in Rochester.
Sober above Rochester calledVictor New York.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I know Victor well.
I mean, Rochester is myhometown.
I was there this week, as amatter of fact.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, and I say every time I'm there.
You know it will always feellike home here.
It's probably the only place inthe world that I don't need GPS
to get around.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
That's funny.
You know, we're from LongIsland.
My brother went to Ithaca andthen he was in the hotel
management school and his firstjob out of college was working
at a hotel in rochester andthat's where he met his wife,
who was he was 23, she was 21and, um, they were living there
and then he got a job inmaryland.
(04:33):
So they moved to maryland,that's where his three kids were
born.
But then they, um, he gotanother job and moved back up to
, you know, moved to victor,where she was from.
So, uh, that's where theyraised their kids.
And it was funny, because whenyou get up there it's just so
much open space, it's like a bigsky.
You know, one thing my brotherused to say is like there's so
much, you know, just you couldjust see the sky more than you
(04:54):
know we have a lot of trees inBurton County or Long Island or
New York City.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
So not really a lot of trees Well the population is
a little less, but I actuallywent to Ithaca undergrad in
Cornell, for grad school andthen went back to grad school to
get a master's in health careadministration at Michigan.
So our paths are your brothersand my paths were sort of
paralleled there.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, yeah.
So I guess I misspoke when Isaid assisted living and I'll
you know to speak for, I think,a lot of listeners and I've been
educated over the seven, eightyears that I've been in the
business.
I'm in now and learning moreabout the senior and long-term
care industry.
You know there was kind of ageneric term of nursing home,
right, and now maybe there's ageneric term in assisted living.
(05:38):
But you know there's so manydifferent levels of long-term
care that different communitiesoffer.
Right, you have assisted living, you have independent living,
you have dementia care.
So let's speak to what you, howyou describe Jewish Home Family
again and what that meansversus how I described it.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Sure.
So I always talk about JewishHome Family as a continuum of
services for older adults and Inormally say located in Northern
Bergen County, new Jersey.
And what I think is mostimportant and you just said it
is that people need differentservices at different points in
their life and our goal is to beable to be there to help them
(06:21):
and support them and enhancetheir quality of life.
So the Jewish Home Family,interestingly enough, is
celebrating a big birthday thisyear the organization's 110
years old.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Doesn't look a day over 100, right.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Not at all.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
We started in Jersey City and, like many
organizations in our agecategory, we started as an
orphanage.
Right From that became a placeto house women who were in need
women and children and thenlater became a specialty
hospital and a custod New Jersey.
(07:00):
But in the 70s the boardrealized that Jersey City was
probably not the place that theorganization needed to be for
the long haul.
So they began to look aroundfor an outpost here in Bergen
(07:23):
County and the first locationwas where the current assisted
living facility is, right in themiddle of Rivervale.
They bought a small nursinghome old nursing home, I
understand with 50 beds we callthem beds, multi-bedded rooms
and really ran a wonderfulfacility there.
(07:44):
While they continued to lookfor a place to build a nursing
home, we're lucky enough thatsomeone found the piece of
property we sit on now at 10Link Drive in Rockley and that
this building was theheadquarters of a manufacturing
company that was in receivership.
So they were able to buy it.
They were able to get theapprovals they needed.
(08:06):
They were required to stay inthe footprint of the existing
building but were able tocompletely gut it and turn it
into 180 private rooms oflong-term care, which is a term
I think is more descriptive thannursing home, but that's
another conversation for anotherday.
(08:26):
On the Rockley campus opened in2001.
Subsequently, they demolishedthe building in Rivervale and
built a brand new assistedliving facility.
So assisted living is a lowerlevel of care, right, it's more
independent, and that building,again right in the heart at the
(08:47):
four corners in Rivervale, has107 apartments in it.
Of those 107, 24 are for memorycare at an assisted living
level in an area we call memorylane, and the rest are pretty
much your traditional assistedliving apartments studio
apartments, one bedroom, twobedroom, very large two bedrooms
(09:08):
, the whole range of things.
When I came in 2014, we began tolook at really planning for the
future and we set ourselves ona course of really two major
initiatives that we wanted tobegin with.
One was to become a premierrehabilitation center.
(09:30):
So one of the things that'schanged since 2001, when we
opened our doors on the Rockleycampus, and even 2007, is that
rehabilitation has become abigger and bigger piece of the
work that we do, and we'regrateful for that.
We know that we can help people, at whatever age, to recover,
to optimize their quality oflife, to heal, whether it's an
(09:53):
injury or an illness or theeffects of aging.
We want to be there to supportpeople.
We began our project to buildour new rehabilitation center,
believe it or not, in Februaryof 2020.
Rehabilitation center believeit or not, in February of 2020.
(10:14):
So life was crazy inside as wewere dealing with COVID, and
life was normal.
I was watching them out thewindow moving dirt, while inside
we were hanging up COVIDbarriers.
But we opened that building inDecember of 2022 and it really
has been a game changer for us.
We have 60 private rooms forsubacute, which is sort of that
(10:36):
post-hospital rehabilitation 60private rooms and we have a
magnificent rehabilitationcenter with all of the latest
treatment modalities, includingthe only warm water therapy
center in our region.
We're very, very proud of that.
So, as a result of the openingof those 60 new rooms, we're in
(10:59):
the process now of makingchanges in the long-term care in
the nursing home, because thatwas our second priority
transform the long-term careexperience.
We didn't keep those 180 roomsopen.
(11:20):
We have 60 new rooms.
We have now 136 in thelong-term care setting for a
total of 196.
And we're moving into somethingthat's called greenhouse homes.
Greenhouse homes the greenhousemovement was started 20
something years ago by ageriatrician named Dr Bill
Thomas, who said you know,essentially there has to be a
better way.
There has to be a better way ofcaring for people, that what he
(11:43):
saw in long-term care was somaintenance and so custodial.
And he said you know, we have togive people real lives.
So greenhouse involves multipleelements, including organizing
people not in long unitsmedicalized model, but in
smaller households with staffwho are multi-skilled workers,
(12:07):
who look and feel like extendedfamily, and creating an
environment that, as opposed tobeing staff directed or what
used to be called elder centered, is now elder directed.
So that means that if someonelives in a greenhouse home and
they want to get up late with meat four in the morning and
(12:28):
drink their first hot cup ofcoffee, they can do that.
And if you want to sleep till1030 and have breakfast at one
o'clock, you can do that.
And if six people are in theroom and one wants to play bingo
and one wants to do crafts andone wants to read and one wants
to bake cookies and another onetakes a walk, that's what we
should do, because this is notnormal life and it's all about
(12:51):
normalizing the experience.
So these are the things we'reworking on right now.
We've switched memory care andassisted living into two
greenhouse homes.
It's working magnificently, andnow we're in the process of
starting that big project on thelong-term care on the Rockley
campus.
So lots of great stuffhappening here.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, so you mentioned subacute rehab, so
that's when somebody, as yousaid, maybe had an operation,
injury, illness, and they'reonly there for a short period of
time, they're just there to be.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Right, so that's, and they could be outpatient or
they stay.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So when I talk about subacute rehab, I'm generally
talking about somebody who's ashort-term inpatient somewhere
in the neighborhood of 20 days,and then we also provide a very
large program of outpatientrehab.
So oftentimes that may not besomeone coming from the hospital
, but rather from their doctor'soffice who says I have a
(13:47):
shoulder injury or I have a kneeinjury, I need rehabilitation.
We have two centers for thatrehab an outpatient center and
an inpatient center.
They're right next to eachother and we also see a lot of
outpatients coming inspecifically for the warm water
(14:07):
therapy.
You know warm water therapy isa game changer.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Anyone who has a joint injury?
What types of injuries?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Anyone who has a joint injury, anyone who has
difficulty with walking, anyonewho might have a chronic disease
Maybe they have MS or they haveParkinson's disease.
What's so amazing about warmwater is that so much of the
magic that happens happensbecause of that warm water, and
(14:36):
when I say warm, I'm talking 92,93 degrees is the temperature,
and so the warmth relaxes themuscles and relaxes the body,
and it gives people the abilityto move in ways they can't move
on dry land.
We have one large saltwater pool, three foot six to four foot
(14:57):
six in depth.
People practice walking.
Our very first client when weopened the pool was somebody who
has MS, who hadn't walked infive years, who was now able to
walk with the walker andfunction and live their life
again.
We also have two individualtherapy pools.
They're very jazzy.
(15:18):
They're from a company namedHydroWorks which is really at
the top of the line.
One of the pools has ahydraulic floor, so people enter
the pool flat with the floorthat they're on and then the
floor lowers to the appropriateheight so that the water is at
the level they need it.
Underwater treadmills, all kindsof equipment.
(15:40):
The other pool same thing has atreadmill fills after the
person gets in it very, veryquickly from a tank.
But both pools have the abilityto have a therapist in the
water working with theindividual or just the
individual.
I can't tell you the comments,even when I take people on tours
, that if there's almost alwaysa patient in one of the pools
(16:03):
who will say can I say something?
Can I say something?
This?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
It's changed my life.
It's really a phenomenalservice.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's great.
So what have you seen in termsof you know 10 years or more,
the trends in long-term care andsenior care, because it seems
that you know aging in place,having communities where you can
stay in one place as you gofrom maybe subacute to now you
want assisted living and thenmaybe you have Parkinson's, or
(16:33):
you know now you need memorycare, or you know now you need
memory care.
Is that like what trends areyou seeing in the industry since
you started and where do yousee things going maybe in the
next 10 years?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So you know, one of the things that we all know is
that the demographics are prettyclear, right, the aging
population is expanding andpeople do need services to stay
healthy, to be healthy, to liveengaged lives.
So we think a lot about what isthat next group going to want,
(17:06):
what are those baby boomersgoing to want when they hit the
healthcare system, as I like tosay, like a runaway freight
train, because they don't wantto live in a nursing home and
certainly none of us want tolive in that kind of a
restricted setting.
I think we're seeing a lot morepeople who are living healthier
(17:27):
lives, longer.
That you know.
Rehab makes a huge differenceat any age and stage.
People have been more active,you know if I and people are
living much longer.
So you know, when I startedlong-term care in 2007, I
remember doing my first roundsin the building in Ohio and
(17:48):
seeing a woman in one of ournursing home dining rooms
setting the table.
I thought she was a volunteer.
She lived there.
You know it was.
Today we're seeing people whoare much more compromised.
They have what we call multiplecomorbidities, so they have a
lot of disease processes goingon and we want to make sure that
they have the quality of lifethat they deserve.
(18:09):
That being said, people want tostay home as long as possible,
and certainly we can't blamethem for that.
I think we'd all want that.
But what becomes challenging isnot just the environment may
not be conducive.
Right, you have some disability.
You can't walk the stairs, youcan't do those kinds of things,
(18:29):
maybe you can't cook foryourself, but, in addition,
loneliness can't be,underestimated as a health
problem.
You know, people who areisolated, people who don't have
stimulation.
All of that has a negativeimpact.
If I look in my crystal ball, Ithink that we're going to see
(18:50):
more housing with what I callhousing with services senior
housing, where people can livecomfortably but they can get
support when they need it.
When I look at the future forour organization and we talk
about where we stand on aservice level, you know that's
the missing piece of our puzzleis that we would like to have
(19:13):
housing that is independentliving or active adult, that
meets the needs of people beforethey need assisted living and
that helps create a smoothercontinuum for them.
And one of our challenges isthe shortage.
You and I were talking aboutpopulation density earlier on.
(19:35):
One of the things thatchallenges us, of course, is
trying to find a place for aproject like that and to really
be able to find that chunk ofreal estate that wouldn't enable
us to do it and perhaps apartner to work with us on it.
So that's one of the thingswe're working on right now is
thinking about what comes next.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, well, definitely space.
If you're looking at, burtonCounty is a tough stuff.
So, yeah, not a lot of spacethere, so I want to back up for
a moment and just talk about you, and you know 2022, you were
McKnight's Women of DistinctionHall of Honor inductee.
So what is McKnight's Women ofDistinction and what did that
(20:16):
mean to you to be an Hall ofHonor inductee?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
McKnight's is a national publication that really
focuses on senior living.
They do an annual awardsprogram and I was extremely
honored to be awarded the Womenof Distinction it.
(20:41):
You know we don't do the work.
We do because we're looking forthe awards.
We do the work we do becauseit's meaningful and it makes a
difference in people's lives In2022,.
I was just finishing a term asthe national chair of the board
for leading age, which is theorganization that represents
(21:03):
about 6,000 nonprofit seniorservices organizations around
the country and, lucky me, Ibecame chair of the national
board in January of 2020.
So I have the distinction ofbeing what people have called
the COVID chair, and it was avery challenging period of time,
(21:25):
certainly for all of us inorganizations working with older
adults.
You know that's anotherconversation, but when you're
operating as the chair of thenational board, I did a lot of
connection with people.
I have said people know me, Igo to conference.
You know there are 7,000 peopleand so many people know who I
(21:45):
am because I was on theircomputer screen doing a program
or doing a talk or providingsome input.
I also have been the chair ofthe board of the Association of
Jewish Aging Services, withwhich we're very involved.
So I think for me, Women ofDistinction recognized both of
those things as well as theday-to-day work that we do and
(22:08):
feel so proud of, and, yeah, Iwas very honored by that.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
That's great.
So you talk about words to liveby and I often ask a lot of my
guests like what is it thatdrives them?
What is it that they think theycan attribute to their success?
Or in some cases, you know,I've talked to people that have
just gone off on their own.
They've studied to be a doctoror a therapist, whatever it is,
and for one reason or anotherfelt the need to start their own
(22:36):
business.
But there should be, or thereis in many cases, something that
drives you.
You talk about words to live by.
Can you speak to that a littlebit?
Like, what are those words thatyou, you know, kind of drive
you?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I.
You know it's interestingduring COVID, when I was working
with LeadingAge, we were doingthey were doing for a while an
everyday webinar and I used tobe a guest once a week and I
would always start by riffing ona word right, all those words
that were, that really weremeaningful.
I think for me, one of the wordsthat's most critical is service
(23:11):
and to be of service and toknow that you're making a
difference.
You know when, when you workwith older adults, people will
say how that's such depressingwork.
You know people are at end oflife, but I don't agree with
that at all.
I say this all the time that weget a gift from our elders,
(23:33):
every single day.
You know, we have incrediblepeople who are sharing the
latter part of their lives withus, who share their wisdom, who
share their love.
There's an elder who lives atthe Jewish home at Rockley and
we've taken quite a few we'dlike to take outings.
We've taken quite a few amazingoutings.
We recently went to the AnneFrank exhibit.
(23:54):
We went to see the Rockettes atRadio City at holiday time.
So she's always my partner andshe'll lean over and she'll hold
my hand and she'll lean herface against the top of my hand
and tell me how much she lovesbeing here, how much she cares
about me.
You know those are momentswhere you see what a difference
(24:17):
you can make.
We are as an organization.
We're really focused oncompassion, we're really focused
on quality of life, and we'rereally focused on what I like to
call a culture of yes.
Maybe I don't have the answerfor this, but yes, I'm going to
figure it out and we're going tofind a way to make it possible,
because we are working withpeople at vulnerable points in
(24:41):
their lives, as well as withtheir families, and it's all
about making sure that we'recreative and innovative and
focused on quality and reallyoperating in a way that we would
want our parents, ourgrandparents, ourselves to be
looking for.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
Well, carol, as you're talkingand I'm looking at the clock,
I'm like we have so much more totalk about and I think I'd love
to have you back on the show.
You know full disclosure.
You write some great articlesin Rivervale Neighbors Magazine
and I think one of the things wecould do is maybe expand on
those topics.
Sometimes I want to talk aboutyour involvement in elder abuse
(25:26):
in that organization, but we'rerunning out of time, so let's
just, you know, just go intobasically, how people would you
know?
If they're, say, the child or acaregiver and or the person
themselves and they're lookingfor their next home, so to speak
?
How would they reach you?
Where do they go?
What's the best way to contactyou or the Jewish home family?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
That's a great question and I'll just preface
that by saying a lot of times weget phone calls from people who
say my mother lives in Floridaor Arizona or California and I
don't know what to do, and we'revery well connected.
I've been certainly in nationalpositions.
We are always happy to say, oh,I know someone who might be
able to help you, let me connectyou.
Or here are the questions toask, here are the things to look
(26:14):
for so you are helping yourloved one in the best way that
you can.
People can find us on thewebsite, jewishhomefamily.
org.
They can call the building.
All our emails are there.
Just call and ask a question.
We're happy to help you,regardless of what the
circumstances are, to figure itout, and I appreciate the time
(26:34):
today.
I'm sorry we didn't get to talkabout elder abuse prevention.
That's a whole nother topic,doug, but I really appreciate
the opportunity to talk to youthis morning.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
Thank you for being on and I'llbe right back.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
Thank you for being on and I'llbe right back.
Thank you for listening to theGood Neighbor Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergen.
com.
That's gnpbergen.
com, or call 201-298-8325.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcastbrought to you by the Bergen
Neighbors Media Group, based outof Bergen County funny enough.
In Harrington Park, new Jersey,just down the road from where
our guest is from, it's CarolSilver Elliott, the president
and CEO of Jewish Home FamilyCarol.
Just down the road where ourguest is from, it's Carol Silver
Elliott, the president and CEOof Jewish Home Family Carol.
Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Thanks, doug, I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
So Carol has been the president and CEO of the Jewish
Home Family for how many yearsnow?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Ten and a half.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Ten and a half.
So, for those of you who don'tknow, the Jewish Home Family has
two main locations one inRivervale, new Jersey, which is
just down the road, and thenanother one in Rockley, new
Jersey, just a few miles away.
So, carol, I like to get into alittle bit more before we talk
about what you're doing now.
How did you get to this place?
(01:01):
How did you become thepresident and CEO of an assisted
living community?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So we're more than assisted living, we're a full
continuum of care for olderadults.
But how I ended up here?
I'm a big believer that life isa lot of serendipity and
sometimes the door opens and yousay, oh, I think I'll walk
through there.
So, I started.
I went to college in Ithaca forcommunication arts.
(01:29):
I did a master's program incommunications and when I
finished graduate school I endedup doing an internship in a
hospital.
So started my career in healthcare marketing and public
relations and communications andended up getting my first real
job in a hospital as their veryfirst director of public
(01:50):
relations in a small hospital inWisconsin and worked there for
a number of years, moved to alarger tertiary care facility
and then was fortunate enough tobe recruited by Stanford
Hospital in Stanford,connecticut, where I had the
gift of not only being vicepresident of public relations
(02:11):
and marketing but then was ableto add strategic planning to my
role and ended up moving toRochester, new York, also
working for a hospital system,and was recruited to run a small
organization as the CEO thatdid career development and
(02:34):
career planning for people, andI really wanted to be in the
C-suite.
That was something I desired,but I also knew that doing it in
a healthcare setting was goingto be more difficult because I
wasn't a line function.
I was a staff function in themarketing piece.
So I left hospitals for a littlebit, went to work and found two
(02:56):
things that I loved being theCEO, I must be glutton for
punishment, I guess, and thathelping people find fulfillment
in their work lives is awonderful thing, but it wasn't
where my heart was.
Where my heart was was reallyin more of the basic human
services.
So I was fortunate enough tofind long term care my career in
(03:20):
long-term care in 2007, when Ibecame the president and CEO of
Cedar Village RetirementCommunity, located just outside
of Cincinnati.
I was there for eight years,really longing to come back to
the East Coast, where we're from, where our family is.
So the opportunity here atJewish Home Family was
(03:44):
fortunately brought to me by arecruiter.
And you know, as they say, therest is history.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Right, right.
So my brother went to Cornell.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And lived in Rochester.
Sober above Rochester calledVictor New York.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
I know Victor well.
I mean, Rochester is myhometown.
I was there this week, as amatter of fact.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, and I say every time I'm there.
You know it will always feellike home here.
It's probably the only place inthe world that I don't need GPS
to get around.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
That's funny.
You know, we're from LongIsland.
My brother went to Ithaca andthen he was in the hotel
management school and his firstjob out of college was working
at a hotel in rochester andthat's where he met his wife,
who was he was 23, she was 21and, um, they were living there
and then he got a job inmaryland.
(04:33):
So they moved to maryland,that's where his three kids were
born.
But then they, um, he gotanother job and moved back up to
, you know, moved to victor,where she was from.
So, uh, that's where theyraised their kids.
And it was funny, because whenyou get up there it's just so
much open space, it's like a bigsky.
You know, one thing my brotherused to say is like there's so
much, you know, just you couldjust see the sky more than you
(04:54):
know we have a lot of trees inBurton County or Long Island or
New York City.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
So not really a lot of trees Well the population is
a little less, but I actuallywent to Ithaca undergrad in
Cornell, for grad school andthen went back to grad school to
get a master's in health careadministration at Michigan.
So our paths are your brothersand my paths were sort of
paralleled there.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, yeah.
So I guess I misspoke when Isaid assisted living and I'll
you know to speak for, I think,a lot of listeners and I've been
educated over the seven, eightyears that I've been in the
business.
I'm in now and learning moreabout the senior and long-term
care industry.
You know there was kind of ageneric term of nursing home,
right, and now maybe there's ageneric term in assisted living.
(05:38):
But you know there's so manydifferent levels of long-term
care that different communitiesoffer.
Right, you have assisted living, you have independent living,
you have dementia care.
So let's speak to what you, howyou describe Jewish Home Family
again and what that meansversus how I described it.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Sure.
So I always talk about JewishHome Family as a continuum of
services for older adults and Inormally say located in Northern
Bergen County, new Jersey.
And what I think is mostimportant and you just said it
is that people need differentservices at different points in
their life and our goal is to beable to be there to help them
(06:21):
and support them and enhancetheir quality of life.
So the Jewish Home Family,interestingly enough, is
celebrating a big birthday thisyear the organization's 110
years old.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Doesn't look a day over 100, right.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Not at all.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
We started in Jersey City and, like many
organizations in our agecategory, we started as an
orphanage.
Right From that became a placeto house women who were in need
women and children and thenlater became a specialty
hospital and a custod New Jersey.
(07:00):
But in the 70s the boardrealized that Jersey City was
probably not the place that theorganization needed to be for
the long haul.
So they began to look aroundfor an outpost here in Bergen
(07:23):
County and the first locationwas where the current assisted
living facility is, right in themiddle of Rivervale.
They bought a small nursinghome old nursing home, I
understand with 50 beds we callthem beds, multi-bedded rooms
and really ran a wonderfulfacility there.
(07:44):
While they continued to lookfor a place to build a nursing
home, we're lucky enough thatsomeone found the piece of
property we sit on now at 10Link Drive in Rockley and that
this building was theheadquarters of a manufacturing
company that was in receivership.
So they were able to buy it.
They were able to get theapprovals they needed.
(08:06):
They were required to stay inthe footprint of the existing
building but were able tocompletely gut it and turn it
into 180 private rooms oflong-term care, which is a term
I think is more descriptive thannursing home, but that's
another conversation for anotherday.
(08:26):
On the Rockley campus opened in2001.
Subsequently, they demolishedthe building in Rivervale and
built a brand new assistedliving facility.
So assisted living is a lowerlevel of care, right, it's more
independent, and that building,again right in the heart at the
(08:47):
four corners in Rivervale, has107 apartments in it.
Of those 107, 24 are for memorycare at an assisted living
level in an area we call memorylane, and the rest are pretty
much your traditional assistedliving apartments studio
apartments, one bedroom, twobedroom, very large two bedrooms
(09:08):
, the whole range of things.
When I came in 2014, we began tolook at really planning for the
future and we set ourselves ona course of really two major
initiatives that we wanted tobegin with.
One was to become a premierrehabilitation center.
(09:30):
So one of the things that'schanged since 2001, when we
opened our doors on the Rockleycampus, and even 2007, is that
rehabilitation has become abigger and bigger piece of the
work that we do, and we'regrateful for that.
We know that we can help people, at whatever age, to recover,
to optimize their quality oflife, to heal, whether it's an
(09:53):
injury or an illness or theeffects of aging.
We want to be there to supportpeople.
We began our project to buildour new rehabilitation center,
believe it or not, in Februaryof 2020.
Rehabilitation center believeit or not, in February of 2020.
(10:14):
So life was crazy inside as wewere dealing with COVID, and
life was normal.
I was watching them out thewindow moving dirt, while inside
we were hanging up COVIDbarriers.
But we opened that building inDecember of 2022 and it really
has been a game changer for us.
We have 60 private rooms forsubacute, which is sort of that
(10:36):
post-hospital rehabilitation 60private rooms and we have a
magnificent rehabilitationcenter with all of the latest
treatment modalities, includingthe only warm water therapy
center in our region.
We're very, very proud of that.
So, as a result of the openingof those 60 new rooms, we're in
(10:59):
the process now of makingchanges in the long-term care in
the nursing home, because thatwas our second priority
transform the long-term careexperience.
We didn't keep those 180 roomsopen.
(11:20):
We have 60 new rooms.
We have now 136 in thelong-term care setting for a
total of 196.
And we're moving into somethingthat's called greenhouse homes.
Greenhouse homes the greenhousemovement was started 20
something years ago by ageriatrician named Dr Bill
Thomas, who said you know,essentially there has to be a
better way.
There has to be a better way ofcaring for people, that what he
(11:43):
saw in long-term care was somaintenance and so custodial.
And he said you know, we have togive people real lives.
So greenhouse involves multipleelements, including organizing
people not in long unitsmedicalized model, but in
smaller households with staffwho are multi-skilled workers,
(12:07):
who look and feel like extendedfamily, and creating an
environment that, as opposed tobeing staff directed or what
used to be called elder centered, is now elder directed.
So that means that if someonelives in a greenhouse home and
they want to get up late with meat four in the morning and
(12:28):
drink their first hot cup ofcoffee, they can do that.
And if you want to sleep till1030 and have breakfast at one
o'clock, you can do that.
And if six people are in theroom and one wants to play bingo
and one wants to do crafts andone wants to read and one wants
to bake cookies and another onetakes a walk, that's what we
should do, because this is notnormal life and it's all about
(12:51):
normalizing the experience.
So these are the things we'reworking on right now.
We've switched memory care andassisted living into two
greenhouse homes.
It's working magnificently, andnow we're in the process of
starting that big project on thelong-term care on the Rockley
campus.
So lots of great stuffhappening here.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, so you mentioned subacute rehab, so
that's when somebody, as yousaid, maybe had an operation,
injury, illness, and they'reonly there for a short period of
time, they're just there to be.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Right, so that's, and they could be outpatient or
they stay.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
So when I talk about subacute rehab, I'm generally
talking about somebody who's ashort-term inpatient somewhere
in the neighborhood of 20 days,and then we also provide a very
large program of outpatientrehab.
So oftentimes that may not besomeone coming from the hospital
, but rather from their doctor'soffice who says I have a
(13:47):
shoulder injury or I have a kneeinjury, I need rehabilitation.
We have two centers for thatrehab an outpatient center and
an inpatient center.
They're right next to eachother and we also see a lot of
outpatients coming inspecifically for the warm water
(14:07):
therapy.
You know warm water therapy isa game changer.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Anyone who has a joint injury?
What types of injuries?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Anyone who has a joint injury, anyone who has
difficulty with walking, anyonewho might have a chronic disease
Maybe they have MS or they haveParkinson's disease.
What's so amazing about warmwater is that so much of the
magic that happens happensbecause of that warm water, and
(14:36):
when I say warm, I'm talking 92,93 degrees is the temperature,
and so the warmth relaxes themuscles and relaxes the body,
and it gives people the abilityto move in ways they can't move
on dry land.
We have one large saltwater pool, three foot six to four foot
(14:57):
six in depth.
People practice walking.
Our very first client when weopened the pool was somebody who
has MS, who hadn't walked infive years, who was now able to
walk with the walker andfunction and live their life
again.
We also have two individualtherapy pools.
They're very jazzy.
(15:18):
They're from a company namedHydroWorks which is really at
the top of the line.
One of the pools has ahydraulic floor, so people enter
the pool flat with the floorthat they're on and then the
floor lowers to the appropriateheight so that the water is at
the level they need it.
Underwater treadmills, all kindsof equipment.
(15:40):
The other pool same thing has atreadmill fills after the
person gets in it very, veryquickly from a tank.
But both pools have the abilityto have a therapist in the
water working with theindividual or just the
individual.
I can't tell you the comments,even when I take people on tours
, that if there's almost alwaysa patient in one of the pools
(16:03):
who will say can I say something?
Can I say something?
This?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
is wonderful.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
It's changed my life.
It's really a phenomenalservice.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's great.
So what have you seen in termsof you know 10 years or more,
the trends in long-term care andsenior care, because it seems
that you know aging in place,having communities where you can
stay in one place as you gofrom maybe subacute to now you
want assisted living and thenmaybe you have Parkinson's, or
(16:33):
you know now you need memorycare, or you know now you need
memory care.
Is that like what trends areyou seeing in the industry since
you started and where do yousee things going maybe in the
next 10 years?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So you know, one of the things that we all know is
that the demographics are prettyclear, right, the aging
population is expanding andpeople do need services to stay
healthy, to be healthy, to liveengaged lives.
So we think a lot about what isthat next group going to want,
(17:06):
what are those baby boomersgoing to want when they hit the
healthcare system, as I like tosay, like a runaway freight
train, because they don't wantto live in a nursing home and
certainly none of us want tolive in that kind of a
restricted setting.
I think we're seeing a lot morepeople who are living healthier
(17:27):
lives, longer.
That you know.
Rehab makes a huge differenceat any age and stage.
People have been more active,you know if I and people are
living much longer.
So you know, when I startedlong-term care in 2007, I
remember doing my first roundsin the building in Ohio and
(17:48):
seeing a woman in one of ournursing home dining rooms
setting the table.
I thought she was a volunteer.
She lived there.
You know it was.
Today we're seeing people whoare much more compromised.
They have what we call multiplecomorbidities, so they have a
lot of disease processes goingon and we want to make sure that
they have the quality of lifethat they deserve.
(18:09):
That being said, people want tostay home as long as possible,
and certainly we can't blamethem for that.
I think we'd all want that.
But what becomes challenging isnot just the environment may
not be conducive.
Right, you have some disability.
You can't walk the stairs, youcan't do those kinds of things,
(18:29):
maybe you can't cook foryourself, but, in addition,
loneliness can't be,underestimated as a health
problem.
You know, people who areisolated, people who don't have
stimulation.
All of that has a negativeimpact.
If I look in my crystal ball, Ithink that we're going to see
(18:50):
more housing with what I callhousing with services senior
housing, where people can livecomfortably but they can get
support when they need it.
When I look at the future forour organization and we talk
about where we stand on aservice level, you know that's
the missing piece of our puzzleis that we would like to have
(19:13):
housing that is independentliving or active adult, that
meets the needs of people beforethey need assisted living and
that helps create a smoothercontinuum for them.
And one of our challenges isthe shortage.
You and I were talking aboutpopulation density earlier on.
(19:35):
One of the things thatchallenges us, of course, is
trying to find a place for aproject like that and to really
be able to find that chunk ofreal estate that wouldn't enable
us to do it and perhaps apartner to work with us on it.
So that's one of the thingswe're working on right now is
thinking about what comes next.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yeah, well, definitely space.
If you're looking at, burtonCounty is a tough stuff.
So, yeah, not a lot of spacethere, so I want to back up for
a moment and just talk about you, and you know 2022, you were
McKnight's Women of DistinctionHall of Honor inductee.
So what is McKnight's Women ofDistinction and what did that
(20:16):
mean to you to be an Hall ofHonor inductee?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
McKnight's is a national publication that really
focuses on senior living.
They do an annual awardsprogram and I was extremely
honored to be awarded the Womenof Distinction it.
(20:41):
You know we don't do the work.
We do because we're looking forthe awards.
We do the work we do becauseit's meaningful and it makes a
difference in people's lives In2022,.
I was just finishing a term asthe national chair of the board
for leading age, which is theorganization that represents
(21:03):
about 6,000 nonprofit seniorservices organizations around
the country and, lucky me, Ibecame chair of the national
board in January of 2020.
So I have the distinction ofbeing what people have called
the COVID chair, and it was avery challenging period of time,
(21:25):
certainly for all of us inorganizations working with older
adults.
You know that's anotherconversation, but when you're
operating as the chair of thenational board, I did a lot of
connection with people.
I have said people know me, Igo to conference.
You know there are 7,000 peopleand so many people know who I
(21:45):
am because I was on theircomputer screen doing a program
or doing a talk or providingsome input.
I also have been the chair ofthe board of the Association of
Jewish Aging Services, withwhich we're very involved.
So I think for me, Women ofDistinction recognized both of
those things as well as theday-to-day work that we do and
(22:08):
feel so proud of, and, yeah, Iwas very honored by that.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
That's great.
So you talk about words to liveby and I often ask a lot of my
guests like what is it thatdrives them?
What is it that they think theycan attribute to their success?
Or in some cases, you know,I've talked to people that have
just gone off on their own.
They've studied to be a doctoror a therapist, whatever it is,
and for one reason or anotherfelt the need to start their own
(22:36):
business.
But there should be, or thereis in many cases, something that
drives you.
You talk about words to live by.
Can you speak to that a littlebit?
Like, what are those words thatyou, you know, kind of drive
you?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I.
You know it's interestingduring COVID, when I was working
with LeadingAge, we were doingthey were doing for a while an
everyday webinar and I used tobe a guest once a week and I
would always start by riffing ona word right, all those words
that were, that really weremeaningful.
I think for me, one of the wordsthat's most critical is service
(23:11):
and to be of service and toknow that you're making a
difference.
You know when, when you workwith older adults, people will
say how that's such depressingwork.
You know people are at end oflife, but I don't agree with
that at all.
I say this all the time that weget a gift from our elders,
(23:33):
every single day.
You know, we have incrediblepeople who are sharing the
latter part of their lives withus, who share their wisdom, who
share their love.
There's an elder who lives atthe Jewish home at Rockley and
we've taken quite a few we'dlike to take outings.
We've taken quite a few amazingoutings.
We recently went to the AnneFrank exhibit.
(23:54):
We went to see the Rockettes atRadio City at holiday time.
So she's always my partner andshe'll lean over and she'll hold
my hand and she'll lean herface against the top of my hand
and tell me how much she lovesbeing here, how much she cares
about me.
You know those are momentswhere you see what a difference
(24:17):
you can make.
We are as an organization.
We're really focused oncompassion, we're really focused
on quality of life, and we'rereally focused on what I like to
call a culture of yes.
Maybe I don't have the answerfor this, but yes, I'm going to
figure it out and we're going tofind a way to make it possible,
because we are working withpeople at vulnerable points in
(24:41):
their lives, as well as withtheir families, and it's all
about making sure that we'recreative and innovative and
focused on quality and reallyoperating in a way that we would
want our parents, ourgrandparents, ourselves to be
looking for.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
Well, carol, as you're talkingand I'm looking at the clock,
I'm like we have so much more totalk about and I think I'd love
to have you back on the show.
You know full disclosure.
You write some great articlesin Rivervale Neighbors Magazine
and I think one of the things wecould do is maybe expand on
those topics.
Sometimes I want to talk aboutyour involvement in elder abuse
(25:26):
in that organization, but we'rerunning out of time, so let's
just, you know, just go intobasically, how people would you
know?
If they're, say, the child or acaregiver and or the person
themselves and they're lookingfor their next home, so to speak
?
How would they reach you?
Where do they go?
What's the best way to contactyou or the Jewish home family?
Speaker 3 (25:53):
That's a great question and I'll just preface
that by saying a lot of times weget phone calls from people who
say my mother lives in Floridaor Arizona or California and I
don't know what to do, and we'revery well connected.
I've been certainly in nationalpositions.
We are always happy to say, oh,I know someone who might be
able to help you, let me connectyou.
Or here are the questions toask, here are the things to look
(26:14):
for so you are helping yourloved one in the best way that
you can.
People can find us on thewebsite, jewishhomefamily.
org.
They can call the building.
All our emails are there.
Just call and ask a question.
We're happy to help you,regardless of what the
circumstances are, to figure itout, and I appreciate the time
(26:34):
today.
I'm sorry we didn't get to talkabout elder abuse prevention.
That's a whole nother topic,doug, but I really appreciate
the opportunity to talk to youthis morning.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
Thank you for being on and I'llbe right back.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, absolutely, thank you.
Thank you for being on and I'llbe right back.
Thank you for listening to theGood Neighbor Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergen.
com.
That's gnpbergen.
com, or call 201-298-8325.
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