Transforming Healthcare: The Inspirational Journey of Reginald Eldridge

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello everyone.
Welcome to the let's Get Comfypodcast, the official launch
right.
First official episode.
Join me, norman Harris.
Thank you for joining us tothis healthcare entertainment
platform, the station where weprovide peace, joy, comfort and

(00:30):
love.
All right, I am your host andsole proprietor, norman Harris,
also the owner of ComfortMeasures Consulting.
Thank you for listening andstay tuned with us.
I want to present to you ourfirst guest, Amazing gentleman.
Welcome to the episode thatpromises to be both inspiring

(00:53):
and enlightening.
Today, we have a distinct honorin hosting a titan in the field
of skilled nursing homeadministration.
With a stellar career spanningover three decades, Our guest
has set an unparalleled standardin the industry.
Let's roll out the red carpetfor the FDMA Administrator of

(01:17):
the Year, not once, not twice,but an incredible four times
right.
Four times in a row after that,but an incredible four times
right.
Four times in a row after that.
This remarkable individual hasbeen celebrated as a regional
administrator of the year forIHS and has held several
influential leadership positionswith Florida Health Care

(01:37):
Association In 2012, graduatedfrom the prestigious Florida
Health Care Association FloridaLeaders Program, further
solidifying his expertise anddedication.
But the accolades don't stopthere.
In the realm of networkmarketing.
He has clinched the Maximus2000 Leadership Award and earned

(02:01):
the title of Master Builder.
Their outstanding contributionhave recognized him for best of
the best.
He also served in our military,keeping us all safe, holding
proudly several military awards.
Join us as we delve into theextraordinary and true leader

(02:22):
and innovator in healthcareadministration.
Please welcome to the podcastthe exceptional Reginald
Eldridge.
Yes, sir, my man.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
My man, man Norm.
Hey, that's a whole other levelright there, hey man.
Hey, I was looking around tosee who you're talking about.
I'm talking about you, man,that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
I'm talking about you , man.
Amazing introduction.
I truly appreciate it.
Yes sir, yes sir.
You know, it's an honor man.
I'm glad you're doing this as afirst guest.
It means a lot to me.
It means a lot to me too.
Thank you for having me as afirst guest.
You really launched, you know,my start in health care overall

(03:00):
in the health care leadershiparena as a nursing home
administrator.
So I want to start off withintroductions of how we met Sure
, and I'll take this piece andI'll let you go ahead and delve
in on that.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
I'm searching, searching, searching, wanting to
become a leader, looking for adirection in my life.
I felt like at the time, man,I'm in debt, going to school,
got a master's degree and I'mhere working at MetLife and
account management.
No knock to MetLife, you know.
But I wanted more for myself,right?
I always saw myself as being aleader, entrepreneur as well.

(03:37):
So my cousin introduced me tothis.
Gregory James Shout out to mybig cousin oh yeah, great.
He introduced me to nursinghome administration role.
So I looked on the Web site,found out how to become a
nursing home administrator.
I started the process.
They had this long spreadsheetright on the Web site, the
preceptors list.

(03:58):
So I would go on lunch breaksat MetLife, my 15 minute breaks,
and I would call and emaildifferent preceptors on that
list that I was willing to drive.
It was in my area.
I made a spreadsheet because Inever got a response.
One would call me back and Imet you, man, gave you a call, I

(04:22):
looked you up on LinkedIn and Imessaged you.
I still have the screenshot ofour conversation.
When we first met thescreenshot I saved it in my
phone because you responded tome and that meant a lot to me
and from there you said man,come up here and see me.
We sat down across from you.
I told you my dreams, my vision.

(04:44):
You listened to me.
You said, man, I'll give you anopportunity.
So that was after seven monthsof searching Wow, seven months
of searching a preceptor.
That's how I met you.
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, so that was what about five years ago.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Five years ago.
Five years ago, so how Iremember it, like I said you did
, I got the message from you andI looked on.
You know I'm like, oh man, itseemed interesting, man, he's
pursuing it, let's have adiscussion.
So I did, sent you back andthen when you came in, Norm, the
first thing I saw, man, thisdude came in all professional.
He came in.

(05:19):
He basically had a situationwhere I was like this young man
with waves was raised right,Because he basically was very
respectful, Just, very, you know, just.
And I could tell in ourconversation, first conversation
that you know this is, youdon't do anything without
research.
Thinking through, as I becameto know you, I know far more

(05:46):
about it now, but I knew thatfor you to come there and to
talk about it, I knew that ifyou were really going to try to
do that, this was something thatyou were going to be successful
at.
And I did want to be a part ofthat because I saw that Okay,
yeah, I remember when I firsttried to get an administrator's
job in Preceptor actually, ittook me a long time as well to

(06:07):
find somebody to do that for me.
So I had said and I think wetalked about it before if ever
I'm in the position to dosomething to benefit somebody,
and that's the right personbecause you got to be selective
about that too Can't give thatopportunity to everybody, Right?
because, you got to be selectiveabout that too.
You can't give that opportunityto everybody, and it was going

(06:29):
to have to be a year.
It needs to be somebody thatyou figure you can have a good
relationship with, good workrelationship with, and I felt
that from you day one, thank you.
I think I told you that you did, you did, I think I told you
day one, day one, day one, yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
And then you also said, you said I have to be
willing to stay in the officewith someone because you know I
used to sit right in front ofyou.
I have to be willing to stay inthe office with somebody that
you know have a goodrelationship with Absolutely.
Thank you, man.
I appreciate you.
You changed my life.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
You changed the life of my family man, so people have
to realize when you givesomeone an opportunity, it
affects them monetarily.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
And what the world revolves around, what your
livelihood revolves around-right, it's finances.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Oh yeah, it's being honest with you, so I appreciate
the opportunity that you gaveme Seriously, man.
I'm glad I did.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
That's why I had to have you here as my first guest.
It was in between you and mycousin, yeah Because he's the
one that sort of started me withit all.
Greg's a good one too.
Yes, sir, for sure.
So I want to move into justyour current role and what
you're currently doing now Allright.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Currently, you know, which is funny kind of how life
cycles I actually am actuallyback at the facility that we
precepted you at.
I was at that facility foreight years that we precepted
you at.
I was at that facility foreight years.
I was there from 2013 to 2021,left, went to another company
for a project.
Actually, a facility was goingto be totally renovated.

(07:54):
They were going to put somemoney in a building and they
wanted, you know, some leadersand a team building and that
kind of thing.
So I went to another company fortwo and a half years building
and that kind of thing.
So I went to another companyfor two and a half years.
At that point I was leavingthere and I said that my next
step is going to be to do, maybeinterim administrator positions

(08:14):
and to do some training andsome things along that line more
consulting and I got a call.
I left on, like I said, theFriday, I want to say July 14th,
a year or so ago.
The next week I got a call frommy first interim assignment
initially, and they wanted me togo back to at that time was

(08:35):
called Heron Point as an interimadministrator and they had an
AIT.
And I thought about it becauseat that point I was doing a lot
of traveling and my wife spent alot of time in Atlanta and I
was trying to reactivate myGeorgia license as well.
So I'm trying to decide what Iwanted to do and I did.
I went back and currently I'mat that same facility.

(08:58):
In December, new ownership camein, a company called Aspire
guys, based out of New York, andthey bought 56 buildings.
In three months, from Septemberto December, they acquired 56
facilities.
Okay, mine was one of the laterones acquired in December.
So that's where I am.

(09:19):
Now the AIT I had is finishingup like in another week.
Okay, now, the AIT I had isfinishing up like in another
week, but I've actually been atthat facility since from.
July until currently now.
That's where I'm at.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
Same seat I was at with you man, is it?
They're smart, they know whatthey're doing.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Yeah, they know what they're doing.
When I left, I wasn't planningto come back, but you know, hey,
what do y'all like?

Speaker 1 (09:44):
working, so I know you have your own entrepreneur
as well, you have your owncompany.
So if you just expound on yourcompany, its origins and
whatever.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, my company and my wife and I started a company,
like you and your wife, back in2000.
We started a company called QRQEnterprises, which basically
was my three kids' initials myoldest daughter her name is
Clevia.
My middle son and oldest sonactually middle child is
Reginald Jr.
My youngest son's name isQuentin, and so it's a QRQ

(10:15):
Enterprises and we initiallystarted it because we were doing
network marketing as well andas well as my wife is an HR
consultant and of course I'mhealthcare.
So we said, well, let's do this.
And initially I was doinginterim assignments and then she
was doing like grant writingand things of that nature.

(10:36):
So we're doing both things outof QRQ enterprises and so I did
the interim assignment thing forabout four years straight
before I actually took apermanent position, right.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Once I started yes, From 2000 to 2004,.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
I just did interim assignments under my company.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
All right, All right.
So, as you transitioned intoand you said, tell me, I know
personally you're trying withinterim roles as a target area
for you.
But outside of that, what aresome of your hobbies or
interests?
All right, well, you know Ilike sports.
You know what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Dad, I love sports.
Oh yeah, I'm getting too old toplay anything, so I definitely
watch a lot of stuff.
Okay, I'm not a golfer per se.
I did you know a golfer per se?
I did, you know, you, and Italked about this before.
I actually, for the first timesince I was a kid teenager, with
my dad, went fishing.
A couple of friends of mine, weactually went on a charter boat

(11:36):
out of Clearwater, oh okay, andwent fishing.
So you know, I said, well, youknow, I'll do some of that too,
because it's something.
But as far as hobbies don'thave a lot, man, I do, you know,
I try to do, for whateverreason, try to do some gardening
, things like that, oh, yeah,yeah, I just started gardening.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
You do some gardening .
Okay, that was actually my NewYear's resolution.
Yeah, I tried to do some ofthat.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
I was actually talking to my sister.
There you go.
I talked to my sister, carlaGreen's big with her.
She's talking about our eldersgene, because my dad actually,
when we were young, always had aguard, always had a guard.
My dad too, yes, and we livedat that time in the inner city.

(12:19):
My dad would grow everything Inthe inner city.
In the inner city.
My mother yeah, he was serious,yes, he was serious about it.
My dad was grow everything inthe inner city.
My mother yeah, he was seriousIn the inner city.
Yes, he was serious about it.
My dad was from Alabamaoriginally but he always wanted
to guard my grandmother.
His mother actually took itback a little step.
My parents, my dad and hisfamily, migrated from Alabama

(12:43):
when he was 10, and they movedinitially to Buffalo, new York,
and they basically were in theinner city and my grandmother
lived in a high rise kind oflike a project and in her
apartment she had plants likecrazy.
You go into her apartment andplants were everywhere.
And this is like I said in ahigh rise project Because, again

(13:04):
, that planting, the growing,taking care of plants was in the
blood.
My dad in our house we actuallyhad a house In our yard, we had
a little fence beside itPlanted garden every year and
one of the things he planted wascorn.
So you think about it You're ina city with a fence and you

(13:25):
don't have a cornfield.
He's growing five, six stalksof corn.
Up the side of the fence.
You know he's got other greenvegetables growing, he's got
beans, he's got beans, he's gotall kinds of things growing
Flower garden on the other side.
So I think I've always had aninterest in that and at the same
time, as a young kid in thecity they had a, I want to say,

(13:49):
4-h program that they give us alittle plot where we could grow
vegetables as a bunch of kids inthe city grow their vegetables
and then once they're grown wecan take them home.
And I grew mine, took them homeand some people saw them my
neighbor saw them.
I started selling vegetables,selling vegetables.
I sold my vegetables quickly.

(14:10):
There you go.
They were like those are great.
I ran out, actually went home,went in the refrigerator.
They were asking me to starttaking green peppers out the
refrigerator.
Then my mom bought from thestore, take them to the
neighborhood and try to sell.
My mom squashed that part of it, but my entrepreneurial start
was there.
I went a little past what Ishould have gone.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
Kids out there start selling vegetables.
Man.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
Start selling vegetables.
I grew up myself.
Again that's always been in me,to plan something and do some
of that stuff.
It's kind of relaxing.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Thank you for that story.
That was a good one, okay.
So what do you think has stayedthe same about you throughout
your life?
Okay, one of the thingsprobably.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
I think basically my personality, my, I guess the way
I interact with people, I thinkit's always been the same.
I guess the way I interact withpeople, I think it's always
been the same.
I kind of always have been sortof a people kind of person and
it kind of got me in trouble inschool, sometimes talking in
class, things like that, but Ithink that's that stayed the

(15:20):
same.
I've always had that kind of,you know, energy.

Speaker 1 (15:21):
I guess, oh yeah, so what's new in life right now?
What's changed, what'sdifferent in your personal home
life?
Yeah, yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (15:30):
Oh, you mean with a little grandson or something,
your grandson.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
yes, sir, okay, yes.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
All right, so yeah, a year ago, june 14th a year ago,
my oldest daughter, who livesin Atlanta, had a little child,
my grandson.
The only one I've got His nameis Julius Ellington Williams
that sounds like he's going tobe somebody in life, man?
I hope so.
He's going to be somebody inlife, a little active guy.

(15:55):
Like I said, we had his firstbirthday party last weekend in
Atlanta, interesting enough thatyou brought that up.
My birthday is June 15th, solast week ago last weekend one
week ago today, he and I had ajoint Peter Rabbit birthday
party.
Yeah, peter Rabbit birthdayparty, oh man.

(16:16):
So anyway, that's kind of new.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
That's new man, yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
So it's the 14th and you the 15th, yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
I'm the 15th and 14th , that's new man.
Yeah, it's exciting.
So it's 14th and you're the15th.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yeah, I'm the 15th and 14th, that's amazing, so you
can wait that one more day, butthat's how it is.
I probably have no morebirthdays now.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
No, more birthday celebrations.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
I was about to say yeah, man, I'm done with that,
and this year it was 14th, 15th,the Father's Day was 16th, 16th
, okay.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
So you know, kind of everything was last weekend, oh,
big old, you had an explosionof celebration.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
There you go, there you go.

Speaker 1 (16:48):
What did you enjoy most about being a grandparent?

Speaker 2 (16:51):
I kind of just I guess, seeing, you know, seeing
him grow, seeing the development, you know, and the changes, and
he's changed so much in oneyear, you know, and you know it
was something I forgot aboutbecause again you got young
children.
You know, my youngest child is30-whatever-something, quentin,
way up in 30s.
I forgot how much energy littlekids have you know, and just

(17:13):
observing that, observing the,you know he looks at everything,
he wants to touch everything.
Just you know the energy hebrings is something my wife is
far more than me as far as,because she spends most of the
time with him, period since hewas born.
She's either in Atlanta withhim, as a matter of fact, today

(17:35):
he's here with us.
Okay, but yeah, just observingthe time we spend with him.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
That's good man.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Every morning he wakes up kind of happy and happy
to see me when I come in.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
It's basically joyful , very much so.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Very much so, man.
Thank you for sharing that.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
That's an intimate type of topic, man, that's
definitely with kids.
Two kids, my kids.
Everybody used to say theylooked like me when they were
bald, when they didn't have anyhair, my girls.
But once they started gettinghair, that's when they started
looking like their mom.
I was like golly, y'all wrongfor that.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
You know, norm, you had some gentlemen but thank
goodness, the girls look liketheir mom, I pray for that.
There you go.
I'm glad your prayers wereanswered.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
Yes, For sure, All right.
So looking back what was one ofthe most important lessons you
learned from your childhood.
Wow, okay All right.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
So, looking back, what was one of the most
important lessons you learnedfrom your childhood, wow, ok,
let's see what lessons I learnedfrom my childhood.
That's interesting.
I think I think one of them washow to, I guess, how to
navigate, how to get along withothers.
I was the oldest child, so Iwas three years between me and
my sister, so there was a periodof time I was the only child

(18:48):
and I know that when my sistercame along excuse me, I think
there was a little.
You know, I don't know I can'tremember it all, but people tell
me about it.
And then when I went tokindergarten, I kind of didn't
really get along well with someof my classmates.
I had to learn kind of how toplay well with others.

(19:08):
Did you fight or something?
I did my eyes get in trouble?
How do you in kindergarten getcalled to the principal's office
?
I don't remember how, but Iknow that I was.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yes, my mom tells me, and my dad tells me Did you
have like a jealous spirit orsomething over your little?

Speaker 2 (19:23):
sister.
I don't know what it was.
One thing I remember and I tellmy kids about it I think I
remember one time it had to dowith a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich, See, and I think, andI don't know whose peanut butter
and jelly sandwich it was.
I don't know if it was mine orfor another kid's, but I knew
there was some conflict.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, see what I'm saying About peanut butter and
jelly.
Sir, you want to takeeverybody's stuff.
I don't remember.
I don't remember exactly if itwas me or if it was him doing it
, I don't remember.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
But I learned as a child, to you know, you got to
play well with others, yes, sir.
And then you know, and to youknow, appreciate my sister and
that kind of thing, like I saidit was three years difference.
And Like I said it was threeyears difference, and you know I
like her touching my stuff andall that kind of thing.
So you know, I learned that asa child.
That's good.

(20:12):
Which is a lesson that you knowwe need to today.
You know, I'm always dealingwith trying to get people to
learn, and you got to get along.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
You have to like each other.
That's one thing I say you wasa master for at just seeing you
just in our morning meetings andhow you collaborated with the
team.
You know, in the stand downmeetings.
You know how to.
You know how to managedifferent personalities.
Yeah, and that's a strong suitand that's something you really
necessarily I don't know if youcan necessarily learn it, you

(20:37):
know college or high school.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, there's a lot of things happen in my life that
help me do that, but youhaven't talked about some of
them.
But, yeah, that's, it isdefinitely something that that's
needed.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
Yes for sure, you know, in the industry.
Yes, anytime you imagine peoplewere leading people that's
something that's important, ok,so who would you say was one of
the most influential people inyour life?

Speaker 2 (21:00):
OK, obviously.
First my dad.
My dad was someone who was inthe home, so that was good.
He was a hardworking gentlemanwho traveled a lot.
When I was born, my dad wasactually working in a factory, I
want to say making furniture,steel like file cabinets and
things like that.

(21:20):
He worked for a company thatwas doing that.
I remember as a youngster Idon't remember how old I was he
had an accident in there whereeither a file cabinet or
something fell on his toe andhis toenail had to be removed
and that kind of thing.
He always wanted to dosomething different.
The next thing he did was getinto selling insurance.

(21:41):
Then he could wear a shirt tie,which is what got me doing it.

Speaker 1 (21:46):
Good.
Was he able to get a lawsuit?

Speaker 2 (21:48):
I don't remember I honestly don't remember now
about that.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
You know it was back in that time.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
You know, I don't remember, if even people pursued
lawsuits like that.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
You know everybody.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Oh, now it's like this yeah, today that would have
been a whole different thing.
You know what I'm saying.
That would not have been, hewouldn't have been looking for
another job right away, you know.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
But I don't think that's how that went.
No, he wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
I don't remember that , because he had to work.
So he started concerninginsurance and then the next job
he had, which he was in theMaxwell House division, so he'd
go around the stores, you know,stock their coffee and things
like that and go to meetings andthat kind of thing and they

(22:31):
gave him like a company card andmoved us and that kind of thing
.
But that's so.
He was my first role model orfirst person I really looked up
to Plus.
He had years before, you know,as a young guy, been in the
military and he had met my mom.
I was in the military.
I think that's one of thereasons later on, when I did
join the military, was my daddid it and I guess I can do this

(22:55):
too.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Kind of a thing.
He was my first role model.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Another one that kind of touched this industry we'll
talk about in a minute was mymother's mother, my grandmother.
Her name was Grandma Shieldsand at age five, I can remember,
she became a nurse at age 40.
So in her 40s she became anurse.
You know something she alwayswanted to do because she was,

(23:22):
you know, like domestic anddoing things like that and then
at 40, she became a nurse and,um, we went to visit her and she
was living in Petersburg,virginia, and I guess she had
what you call like a rest home.
I didn't know what that was andall I knew there was old people
in her house.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
I didn't know why.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Years later I learned more about it, but I was five
so I saw that and she was alwayssomebody who you know, always
stressed, you know, spirituality, religion.
She wrote poetry.
She did a lot of things.
She played piano Always.
You know we had her Bible,things like that.
So she was somebody who youknow.
I definitely you know, looked upto as well Outside of my family

(24:06):
.
Let's see, I guess I did kindof look up to maybe some of the
men in our community, my parentsone of the things too, as I was
coming up they bleed in church.
I know you and I talked aboutthat as well, which definitely
kept me on straight and narrow alot coming up.
You know we'd be in churchevery week so I mean I looked at

(24:28):
, you know, some of the Justweekly Well, at least weekly.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
I was in church Tuesdays, thursdays and Sundays.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Now sometimes, I Well , I had to say more than that
because, yes, we were, I mean inyouth programs and things like
that, so we'd have youthprograms and things like that,
where we would go on like Sundayand then maybe prayer service
on Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
But yeah, I was there Tuesday.
I wish I had that yeah.
Three times a day At leastthree times every week.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, yeah, we went to the house of the Lord At
least three times a week.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
The house of the.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Lord, the house of the Lord, at least three times
House of the Lord, House of theLord, yeah, yeah, and you know
so.
Worship was really veryimportant as well.
So again, I looked at some ofthe you know, the people in my
church, things like that as well.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Thank you, man.
Yes, sir, so I want to sort oftake us on the path of your
journey to becoming a nurse homeadministrator.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
If you would just take us on that journey from
your college point.
Okay, sure, all right.
So after I actually went tocollege, after I got in the
military, so I joined themilitary at 19.
And actually it started.
I'd gone to a year of collegeand then trying to decide what I
was going to do in the summer.
I really didn't have any truegoals yet.
I didn't know what I wanted todo with my life.
And my dad again, who had beenin the military, was saying well

(25:48):
, you probably need to join theNational Guard or Reserve in the
summer to do something.
The thing was, since 14, youalways had to do something.
In my house, my mom, my dad,there was no, just not doing
something, you're going to work,you're going to volunteer,
you're going to do something.
I always had to do that.
So we were talking about it.
He was like, well, yeah, youprobably need to you know, maybe
go down to the recruiter andtalk about it.

(26:08):
So I went to talk to therecruiter and when I got there
it was interesting One of theguys who had been with me that
year in college he had gone toschool that one year was there
and he was going into the Army.
And the thing was the recruiterstarted talking about you know,
well, you guys can go on abuddy system, go active duty on
a buddy system.
I'm like I'm down here just todo the National Guard thing.

(26:31):
And he's like, well, no, if yougo on a buddy system, the Army
you go in, we'll pay for youreducation.
You know, you can go pick itwhere you want to go.
All this adventure he startedtalking.
Good, he made me seem like Imay think about doing that.
My friend and again we weren'tvery close friends, we just had
gone to school together Wasready to go right away.

(26:51):
So his thing was they weregoing to take him.
He was ready to go.
He's probably going to go tothe front line.
He was ready to go.
He was in artillery, he wasready to go.
They were like well, you guysgo in, you go to the base of
training together, and thenhere's the different jobs you
want to do.
I'm like I'm not doing whathe's doing.
So they gave us some choicesand my dad had been a medic in

(27:15):
the military and I'm like well,medic sounds better.
What are you doing.
And I said I'll do that.
And then they said I'll do that.
And then they said, well, youcan go in as a buddy system
You'll go to the same base andthen when you get ready to go to
your school, you'll transfer toanother spot, that kind of
thing, but you guys will alwaysbe together.
And I said, well, I'm not quiteready to go in yet.

(27:35):
So he went in.
I went delayed entry.
So 30 days later I went in andso we did go to the same post,
which was Fort Sill, oklahomaDid that.
The medical is at Fort SamHouston.
I left and went to Fort SamCame.
A medic Did three years in themilitary as a field medic, army

(27:58):
medic, and then came out lookingfor what I was going to do next
, which was, I thought then Ihad a clear understanding I need
to go to school.
Military's going to do next,which was, I thought then I had
a clear understanding I need togo to school.
Military is going to pay for it.
I want to do something inbusiness, but I want to also do
something medically.
So I went to college forhealthcare administration,

(28:19):
thinking hospital, that's kindof where my focus was going to
be, and as a senior, you had tohave an internship.
So I was already all the way upto a senior, didn't have
exactly what I was going to doand companies were coming to the
school interviewing myclassmates and promising jobs.

(28:39):
Internships and promising jobsin the nursing home industry,
wow, and I was thinking I neverthought about nursing home, but
you know they're promising themjobs.
Let me look at this nursinghome internship thing.
So kind of just by process ofelimination, I said, let me try
that and I got an internship.

(29:01):
I didn't have one right away,so it took me two months into
the last semester to find one,to find somebody who would
precept me even for theinternship Right.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
And I did.
That's a nail biter for you,huh.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
So you was going out to the wire, wasn't you?
I was going out to the wire.
I was into February of my lastsemester, needing an internship
oh man, needing an internshipand there was actually two of us
in my class and you know, wewent to Philadelphia because our
instructor said you know, youcan get with this company in
Philadelphia.
It's called I think it wascalled NHS or something, it was

(29:38):
National Healthcare or somethingthat's offering internships and
I guess in Central CityPhiladelphia.
So he and I drove over there.
White guy, we didn't know eachother, we didn't run in the same
circles, but because we neitherone of us had an internship,
his car was better than mine.
I had a kind of just a up northin the winter you kind of have
what they call a winter rack andmy car was really struggling.

(30:01):
It was great, it was strugglingand his car was a little better
.
What kind of car was it?
It was great, his car was alittle better.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
What kind of car was it?
Do you?

Speaker 2 (30:06):
remember.
At that time I want to say, man, what kind of car was it?
I think I had to ask my wifewhat it was.
It was blue.
It was one of those kind ofcars that was not four-door.
It was a two-door, two-door.
It was a two-door and one doorwasn't really working well, god.
So yeah, it was a struggle.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
So I can say that.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah, so I get in my side.
I was good, the mouse get inand get in on my side too.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
They gotta get on your side too, Right one at a
time.
So you're fine line we did.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
So we took his car, we went to Philadelphia, we did
our interviews, we had our suitsand everything and neither one
of us got it.
We got back home and they werelike, ah, thank you, but no
thank you.
And so the guy said Well, nextthere's a couple places.
And we were in upstate New Yorkand he said there's one place

(31:03):
in Cooperstown, you know wherethe Baseball Hall of Fame.
I went to the bus, went there,did the interview, didn't get it
, came back and then he saidwell, there's a guy that's
interested in AIT and it's at aplace called Eden Park, catskill
, new York.
I didn't live near there, buthe's willing to take you If you

(31:23):
want to do it go ahead.
That's kind of how it started.
I went to Eden Park, catskill,got the internship Because it
wasn't near where I lived.
I had to rent a room from afamily there.
They didn't have my car with meat that point, so I did a lot
of walking.

(31:45):
I wasn't that far from thefacility or things like that.
It was off there.
I had to do actually 11 months.
I stayed there and then up untilMay that my semester was ended.
My job ended at that point.
So from there until November Ihad to, you know, basically

(32:08):
cover my expenses without thatGI Bill.
A lot of that was due to mywife.
My wife was working at thattime.
I was already married, I'dgotten married as a junior and
she, you know, she helped kindof fund my effort to stay there
and work down.
So I did 11 months, got alicense in New York State and

(32:33):
then looked for a job for ninemonths.
Couldn't find a job.
Nine months Could not find ajob and I would go to all these
interviews and nothing wouldturn up.
So I actually went back to myhometown and I was visiting with
all these interviews andnothing would turn up.
I actually went back to myhometown and I was visiting with
my aunt because I was trying tofigure out what's the next step
.
I actually walked into acompany.
I looked up some things.

(32:53):
Again, this was before theinternet and all those kind of
things.
You're kind of looking at aphone book, you're doing all
those kind of things, not thepsychopedias.
There was a psychopedia, though,but that was not for things of
that nature, so yellow pages andall that kind of thing.
I actually found a place that Iwalked into, just walked in,
one day, and you know, they saidyou know?

(33:17):
I said I'm looking for a nurseor an administrative job, and
they said to me they said, well,we might have a job for you.
Nobody had told me that before,and I got a license in January.
This is September.
No, this was actually.
It was actually July, and I waslike I was excited about that.
He said well, I'll tell youwhat.
We're going to set up aninterview for you, fly you down

(33:41):
to Birmingham, alabama.
And so I'm again.
I'm upstate New York, and I wasnot planning to relocate.
I said okay, fly me down toBirmingham, alabama.
So I was kind of you know, yougot a place for me, but what?
So, okay, so anyway, in Julythey flew me to Birmingham and
when I got up in the morning itwas in July.
The temperature was 46 degreesin Syracuse, new York.

(34:03):
That morning I got up, I landedin Birmingham.
At noon it was 93 degrees, so a50 degree swing from the time I
got on my plane to the time Ilanded.
I got off the plane I saidthere's no way I'm going to come
down here, no way.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
But I didn't have a job, mind you.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
So I met with the regional person and another
person and they said the nextday we're going to take you to
kind of just let you look atsome places.
They took me to a facility inBirmingham and I think it was
called Fairview, and the nextmorning I met a gentleman named
Clarence Ball who was the firstblack administrator I ever met

(34:40):
outside, so I was licensed as anursing administrator.
Had never met a blackadministrator I ever met outside
, so I was licensed as a nursingadministrator had never met a
black administrator before.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
First one had never met one, and I was one had never
met one.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
So I met him and he was down there in Birmingham,
alabama, and he was just leavingthe facility that they wanted
me to go to and it was calledMagnolia Haven, tuskegee,
alabama, and he was leaving.
He had been there for 10 years.
He had actually bought his ownnursing home down in Mobile.
It was called Twin Oaks orsomething.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
That was impressive.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
I met this gentleman who not only was I following,
who had been at that buildingfor a while, but now he was
buying his own facility.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
I was very impressed by that I would be too.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
I ended up at the facility there.
I did take it, I relocated myfamily and just to kind of see
how long ago that was, it was1985, and when I went down there
I moved my family down there,my first I guess the salary they
offered me paid me relocation Imake $20,000.

(35:42):
$20,000.
$20,000.
Move my family down and take anadministrative job, See, Okay,
so yeah, that's what we did atthat point.
And five years there, and thenI left there and went to Georgia
.
I was an administrator inGeorgia for five years for three
different buildings and thencame to Florida in 96.
And I've had multiplefacilities here in Florida in 96

(36:05):
.
But it's been a whole yeah, yeah, it's been a situation.
A lot has changed over time.
I know that's one of the thingsthat kind of we discussed,
right right.

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Industry's changed.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Industry's actually changed the last three years too
, after COVID, but it's a lot ofthings.
But that kind of was my journeyinto nursing home and then kind
of what brought us here.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
What are some differences?
You would say, just name acouple of them that when you
first became or actuallyoperated in the role.
Then compare it to now.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Okay, Obviously technology Okay.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
You know, we have technology.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
You know, now everybody's got a computer on
their wrist and that kind ofthing.
We didn't have a computer onour desk.
You know when I started?
No, not at all.
It was none of that.
Regulations were totallydifferent.
You know the way that theyoperate in facilities like.
You know how they talk aboutrestraints and things of that
nature.
It was a whole different worldat that point.

Speaker 1 (37:04):
Right Go a little deeper in that Well all right.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
So at that point back in those days, you know, if
residents were hard to managethey were not this is the
chemical restraints, they werephysical restraints.
So they would put, you know,almost like a straitjacket on
people, kind of a thing you know, to their chair and things of
that nature if they were notable to manage them to kind of

(37:28):
you know, and it was not lookedat as being something that was
abnormal.
You know, even though you know,you think about it now and all
of the risks you know that's dueby putting restraints on people
and things of that nature, butknow that's due by putting
restraints on people and thingsof that nature.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
But I mean it was, regulations were different back
in that time.
That's one of the things.
Yeah, it was, yeah, yeah, soyou, so you possibly uh,
probably ordered some of thosehuh restraints.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah, oh yeah, we, yeah they would.
They would be in the facility.
Yeah, pretty much, pretty muchain't.
So on backwards and things.
That kind of thing when youhave unruly patients and that
kind of thing, oh man.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (38:04):
It's a whole different world.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
Yeah it's a whole different world.
I mean, I just imagine thathappening right now.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
And then plus.
The other thing too was, we didnot have what you consider like
high-acuity patients like we donow.
Oh, yeah, you know you stillwere in the early stages where
you had a lot of you know of the, you know just patients that
needed.
You know grandmas and grandpas,who you know who just needed
care and you know they didn'tneed a lot of medical care,
pretty much More of a you knowmore of a kind of a rest home

(38:36):
situation than it became, youknow.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
And we were.
Yes, I saw that wholetransition.
So how do you stay current withthe changes in health care?
You know the regulations andthe practice You've seen you
came from.
Oh yeah, you just alluded to.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
You got to stay current because everything seems
.
You know.
Obviously you knoworganizations like Florida
Health Care, you know I talkabout.
You know they have seminars andthey have programs, so you know
I try to attend those.
They have a conference once ayear as well, where they have a
lot of speakers and things ofthat nature.
There's a lot of things thatnow again the technology, online
web, you know, webinars and allthose kind of things that you
can stay current with.
You know, because theregulations change so often.
You know there's always thingscoming out and you and you kind

(39:27):
of have to always be abreast ofthat because you know, from
month to month, and especiallywhen we went through COVID,
things changed every month.
You know the, you know theregulations, the requirements,
so it became a situation whereyou always have to.
Well, what are we doing now?
Are we allowing people in thebuilding?

Speaker 1 (39:47):
now.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Are we keeping six feet apart now?
Are we doing all those kind ofthings?

Speaker 1 (40:00):
So how do you help your staff to be engaged with
educating them and keeping themmotivated to actually, you know,
stay up to practice and stay incompliance?
Okay.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
Obviously, we have to communicate.
I mean things that I think thebiggest thing, one of the
biggest things in facilitiesthat operate well, is just
constant communication, and Iknow you do that very well.
One of the things that reallyimpressed me about you was the
way you communicated, and I toldyou even there, as you come
within AIT, that there's somethings you do even better than

(40:31):
me, but that's one of thosethings that that you can't.
You can't keep everything toyourself.
If you learn something, you gotto quickly get that out to to
people that need it, and sothat's why you learn something.
You got to quickly get that outto people that need it, and so
that's why you got to eitherhave you know.
You either got to send it outin an email you got to have.
I guess we have on shift.
We send messages out toeverybody's.

(40:54):
You know phones, you knowtablets and so forth, and we
always have to have an on staffor staff meeting at least once a
month.
You can't miss those becauseyou've got to get everybody
together if at all possible.
Share information, then Ialways try to even come in on
the night shifts and shareinformation too, as things

(41:14):
change.
You've got to have people beaware of it.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
You know, night shifts always say they'd be left
out.
They always do they always feelleft out.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
You've got to think about it.
You know it's night.
You know they work.
You know 11 to 7.
And you got all staffed in at 2o'clock.
You know that's the middle oftheir night.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
I used to tell them I say you don't want to sign up
for 11 to 7.
Do that you got to put yourlifestyle.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
I do it maybe once a quarter, and I tell them that's
how it's going to be about oncea quarter.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
I come in and I give a shit.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
I try to give you an update.
I'm not a little self-personAbout once a quarter.
I'll do that for you.
That communication is key, man,you've got to do that.
That's in, man, you've got todo that.
And then you know, and that'sin every aspect, you've got to
communicate.
You know, with the financialstatus of the building, right,
right.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
You know what the regulations are.
I learned that from YouTube.
Yeah, being transparent andjust understanding Right, right.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
You know what your regulations are and then what
happened during your surveys andthings like that.
Because people want to know.
Right, right, you People try tokeep that close to the vest.
It does not help you to nothave people understand that,
because they're the ones whohave to make it work Right.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
You foster an engagement culture.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
And if you have a policy or something like that,
or you're trying to changesomething or you're doing you,
had an issue let's say with asurvey, and you're trying to do
a plan of correction.
Plan of correction involvesyour team.
Yes, how are you going to do aplan of correction?
Plan of correction involvesyour team.

Speaker 1 (42:44):
How are you going to do a plan of correction if you
don't let them know what theproblem was and what we're
saying we're going to do to fixit, and what their part in it is
?
Surveyors come right back inand interview them and they say
the same thing.
That's right.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Can I tell you?
something real briefly aboutthat.
Yes, sir, I saw that it wasreally tragic.
We had a facility one time Iwon't mention the facility that
actually I guess had failedsurvey several times and had got
to the point where they weren'tgoing to be.
You know, they were losingtheir CMS gradations, the
facility was going to close down, they were losing their

(43:15):
Medicaid and Medicare funding.
So all their patients weregoing to have to leave this
building and go to otherfacilities and all the staff are
going to have to find new jobs.
And what they were doing wasbecause the company was hoping
that CMS may come back in on anoff shift or something and that
they could be ready.
They had the administrators andour company rotate to this
facility, you know, after hoursto kind of try to just if they

(43:38):
come back kind of just be thereand help if they come back to
kind of just be there and help.
So I was there, I had one nightthat I did it and I'm there and
I'm kind of talking to some ofthe staff about it, you know,
and it was like two weeks outfrom when their building was
going to be closed and one ofthe saddest things they told me,
which I took back to mybuilding and told them, was we
never knew that it was thisserious.

(43:58):
Nobody ever told us that we hadfailed reserving serious.
Nobody ever told us that we hadfailed reserving.
We didn't know until now.
We get notices that we canapply at other facilities and
all that kind of thing.
So that's never going to happenin the facility I'm at.
You're going to know what thesituation is.
You're going to know what wedid right, what we did wrong,
because communication is theonly way you can do this thing.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Yes, yes, that's a great story and it happens.
And that's a great story and ithappens.
And that's sad too.
For the staff as well, it's sad.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
And that building was closed for more than a year.
You know the building I'mtalking about, but yeah, it was
closed for more than a year andyou know, then they reopened,
you know, changed the name, didsome things, but the sad part
was that some staff were sayingthat they never knew.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Right, right.
So I know you stated that thegentleman that you met when you
moved to Alabama down here,clarence Ball, clarence, mr Ball
, yes, sir, he was aninspiration for you.
Yes, he was Did that sort ofhelp you when you saw the
opportunity to become apreceptor?
That was one of the things.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
That was one of the things.
Another thing was my AITexperience.
My AIT experience I got an AIT.
I didn't really tell you a lotabout it but, like I said, I was
in Catskill, new York.
This gentleman had, uh, hadagreed to take me on, but from
the time I got there he was verymuch.

(45:19):
He had never had an AIT before,so he didn't know how to really
be a preceptor and he was veryclosed up with information Very.
He almost was as if you knowyou're there but I don't trust
you with any information.
You know, I don't you knowyou're here, you got to do your

(45:41):
time here, you know, but youkind of got to do it on your own
kind of a thing.
You know what, the things Ihave to tell you I'll tell you
things I don't you know kind ofhave to get on your own.
So, um, what I did was I kindof, you know, I was assigned to
each department and one of thethings I did I took a pad with
me and I went to each department.
One of the things that I wouldask them, because I was just

(46:05):
kind of observing I'd be in thatchair, like, well, you know
what, what things do you see?
I go to the manager and I'mlike what could be better?
You know what's going on?
What's better?
What things?
You, you know, because each oneof them was teaching me
something, because he wasn't.
And, interestingly enough,another thing that went on and
started while I was there wasthere was a union organizing
campaign that started, whichmade it a little worse as far as

(46:29):
my interaction with him, inthat, you know, they had a lot
of closed door meetings and Iwas on inside of those meetings.
So I was kind of out there, youknow, dealing with staff, even
though I wasn't management.
I wasn't staff either, so I wasasked questions, and when
people would tell me things, youknow, if he was a little more
open I could have helped him.

(46:49):
I could have told him why theywere bringing a union in.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Cause I learned all these things.
You know, as I was dealing withthe staff, cause I was talking
to them, they were telling methey were telling me what the
issues were of what thisgentleman is.

Speaker 2 (47:09):
You know what I mean.
You can learn what to do andwhat not to do.
I learned from him what not todo.
So that was one of the thingsthat, when I had the opportunity
to become a preceptor and Iactually became a preceptor in
Georgia before I came to Alabamawas, yeah, I wanted to open up
opportunities for people and Iwanted them to know the you know

(47:32):
, shortcut some of the processand not have to.
You know, they have to learnsome stuff on your own, which
you know.
You know you had to do thosethings, but I didn't want to be
somebody that you know youcouldn't get any information
from me.
Find out on your own, find outlike I did that kind of thing.
I was never going to be thatkind of person.
So I think that's one of thethings that prompted me to
become a preceptor.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
That's a great story too.
So I will say you were verytransparent, open, definitely
you know, share with the staff,but also with me, allowing me to
engage and be involved inmeetings.
You did a good job with thattoo.
Yes, I appreciate it, Like yousaid that second-string
quarterback.
Oh yeah, Yo man, Second-stringquarterback.

(48:15):
Yeah, I'm there, I'm shiningbright, you know it.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
You're doing that.
Okay, there's the facilitycalling me now, but anyhow can I
just text her real quick.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
Yes, sir, I'm going to tell her, keep going.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Sherry, what do you want?
To do Okay, keep going Okay,I'm just going to text her and
just let her know I'm doing apodcast.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
What's going on?
Man Can I call?

Speaker 2 (48:35):
you back.
All right, just let her know.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Because you know he can edit this out.
Okay, All right.
Huh, Are you pausing orsomething?

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
Huh, want me to answer it?
Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Okay, let's answer it.
Okay, all right.
So, ridge, so what advice youwould give to someone aspiring
to become a nursing homeadministrator?

Speaker 2 (49:13):
OK, I would give them the advice of you know, making
sure it's kind of what they wantto do.
I mean, I would tell them todefinitely come in, meet with,
you know, administrators, kindof like you did, Maybe, tour
some buildings, things like that, Talk to a couple of different
people because, as you know, itis a 24-7, seven-day-a-week

(49:37):
commitment and theresponsibilities are, you know,
you're responsible for people'slives and that kind of thing,
Right, right.
So I advise them that you know,first, make sure that's what
you want to do.
Do Second, I would say, todefinitely learn.

(49:58):
You know, learn how to dealwith people.
And I say learn how to deal withpeople because everybody's, you
know, going to be different andeverybody has a different skill
set.
So what you need to do is figureout you know what your skill
set is and figure out how toutilize whatever your strengths
are to get other people, Because, again, your job is to get your

(50:19):
job done through somebody else,and everybody's not a people
person.
So you'd have to if this iswhat you want to do, because, at
the end of the day, the peoplethat you're trying to get them
to do the job are the peoplethat are responsible for these
very frail, elderly or thesevery sick people that are, I
mean, at your building, becausethey have this need the neediest

(50:40):
of all or the frailest of alland so you have to figure out in
yourself you know how am Igoing to do that?
Is there something that I wantto take on?
Do I want that responsibility?
If you say yes, then the nextthing I would say is all right,
then now you need to.
These are people who arealready administrators or just
wanting to get in Just wantingto become an aspiring

(51:02):
administrator, then again, lookfor a mentor, like how we talked
about.
Look for somebody who you thinkthat you can get with, because
you're going to need that kindof, you know, guidance and you
know if that's what you want todo, try to find that and then,
if you can't, it takes you awhile if you can't find that,

(51:25):
then you know, go to I mean goto agencies like Florida
Healthcare, some otherorganizations, and kind of find
what resources there are to atleast give you enough background
or guidance.
Because I think, as a newadministrator, young
administrator, the regulationsare going to be one thing that

(51:49):
you're going to learn.
You can't memorize theregulations.
That's going to be somethingyou're going to focus on, yes,
but the fact that you can atleast get that guidance or find
somebody that you can mentor orthat can be a mentor.
So at least give me some advice.
Personally, I would say do thatfirst, Just get out there and
don't have anybody that you cancall for advice or that you can

(52:10):
go to.
I think you need that.
At least you know something, tokind of at least get you
started.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Right, right, what are some foundational pieces you
would say that could help and Iknow I don't think we sort of
dealt with that during my AITprogram because I know it was a
little personal but I would saywhat advice you would share with

(52:38):
someone that's becoming a nursehome administrator or is in a
brand new role as a nurse homeadministrator, of how to balance
their professional life andpersonal life.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Okay, I think that's so important.
I think that a lot of peopledon't know how to do that, and
even me initially and as I'vegotten older and talk to my
family and things now, there's alot of times that wasn't
balanced.
You know, if I had to look backover time now or to say some
things, I would have donedifferently.
That would probably be one ofthem, because, as you know,

(53:08):
early in your career and thenespecially early in the facility
, it's all consuming.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
You lose a lot of family time.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
You lose a lot of important events in your kids'
lives and things like that.
I have to give my wife a lot ofcredit because, again, I have
three adult children now who areall very successful, and things
of that nature.
I have to give most of that tothat because a lot of things I

(53:35):
miss.
So I would give advice todefinitely not neglect that part
of it.
So, yes, you've got to be tiedin.
You're an administrator, you'vegot things that have deadlines
that you've got to do.
But when you get some thingsdone, go home.

(53:58):
Because some of the things aregoing to be there the next day.

Speaker 1 (54:01):
Yes, you always have something to do.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Things that you can.
Yeah, You've got to prioritizeand you have to actually be
intentional about the fact thatyou want to have a balance.
Yes, If you're not intentionalabout that, you won't have it,
because the job can takeeverything.
They can do that, yes, In thatkind of industry.
So you have to be intentionalabout the fact that I got to
have balance.
You know I've got this planwith my family.

(54:24):
I got this.
Then take that time to do it.
Yes, you know, let the companyknow this is what I'm going to
do.
You know I got PTO for a reason.
I've worked life balance for areason.
Take it, you got to do that.
If you don't, early in yourcareer you'll be burned out.
Yes, yes, it's going to happenbecause it's just.
I mean, it's that kind ofindustry.
You know, and you know you'vegot several regulations.

(54:46):
You've got surveys that pop in.
Unannounced Surveyors arepopping on and announcing all
the time.
You got things happening.
You may have your day totallyplanned about what you want to
do.
You get in the morning.
You're in the morning meetings.
Somebody comes in and says thestate's here, Everything's
thrown off.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
Oh, I used to have my little to-do list.
I used to try to feel goodabout myself.
I do about two or three otherthings on there.
I try to maintain anorganization, but it's always
you know.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Yeah, that's one of the things I admire about you
too, as well is yourorganization.
That's one thing.
You're definitely better thanme, because we talked about that
.
You were man, one of the thingsthat we talked about, and I
don't want to go backwards, butI have to now, since we brought
that up was that in your AITexperience and I've had several
AITs One of the things about youyou know, was you know you and

(55:31):
again, how, when I say find amentor and find how you mess
with somebody, one of the thingsthat when you and I mesh, we do
some things the way I did somethings didn't necessarily mesh
with how you, you know were wereoperating and so you, you
actually took the time, which isgood.
That was that like you know,it's better for you.
You see what's happening.
If I have you know morestructure as to what we're doing

(55:53):
, because I would go and I flyby the seat.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Do we?
Everything's gonna be differentwhat happens gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
We're gonna make it go right, yeah, but but again,
you know, as I thought about ittoo, because you're trying to
learn too at the same time.
Yeah, so you need to see, youknow what's happening here,
what's happening here, what'shappening here and not just go
with it.
At this point, One of the thingsthat you did as far as trying
to even structure like, look,okay, I got you, we're trying to
do this All right.
Well, I'll spend this moneywith this one, but do this with

(56:23):
this and again, if this meetsyour approval, it's what you're
doing and I was like that'swonderful, norm, that's good but
I'm saying that's the thing,you've got to get into it and
yeah, you want to be organizedand if you organize, things will
go better.
But this industry, because ofthe way it operates and because

(56:43):
you're taking care of people andthere are people with so many
different illnesses andsituations and you're managing
staff and all your staff aredifferent.
You've got all differentcultures.
You've got all differentpersonalities.
You got everything that youhave to deal with.
You go in and your plan forthat day may be A, but it turns

(57:05):
to B very quickly.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
You know.

Speaker 2 (57:07):
And then also we're in Florida where you know,
certain times of the year youknow we've got the hurricanes
that come up and all of a suddennow you're playing good old
Florida, yes, where you'rehaving to evacuate your facility
.
You're having to either acceptpeople in your facility but you
have to have a plan for it, andthat kind of thing.
So I would definitely tell ayoung administrator to make sure

(57:30):
they plan for that otherbalance.
Right, right, so you take thattime, get away from it, unplug,
do that.

Speaker 1 (57:38):
Right, right, because you need it.
I think the key piece, as yousaid, is definitely obtaining a
mentorship, and I'munderstanding that in my life in
general now like differentaspects of my entrepreneur space
and what I'm trying to become,and I like different aspects of
my entrepreneurs based on whatI'm trying to become.
Right Is mentorship is, is isreally important.

(57:58):
I have a guy, a person thatjust you know consult with and
you know, give me some pointersand tips, and so what are the
top three areas?
I know what you told me a brandnew administrator, or any
administrator, should focus onit as operations.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Ok, yes, you got to.
You need to understand thatwith the, with the facility, as
far as their survey history youknow, so that's you know.
You basically have to know that.
So if you go to a facility andI know we talked about that so
you can actually plan what youwant to do, operation in the
facility, if you go in and lookat two, at least two sets of
pieces of paper, first andforemost you look at that survey

(58:36):
, most recent survey, kind ofsee where the state has signed a
facility and then look at theirfinancial state.
If you do that then that'lltell you kind of where you know
if the facility's beingprofitable, if it's not, where
their weak areas are, thosekinds of things.
So those, those are the two,two key things, first and
foremost.
And then you said what's thethird thing?

Speaker 1 (58:58):
you said, but you asked me three things, three
areas Okay.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
And then the third thing I would say is is is look
and see who, what, what yourstaff, your staffing kind of
situation is, what managers youhave, you know where you have
openings, you know what the, youknow how the staff moves as far
as getting along with eachother.
You know that kind of thing.

(59:22):
What kind of team you've got theculture of the facility and say
wait, you know what you've gotto do when you first get there,
because that'll tell you a lot.
Your survey history, you, youknow, you've been signed.
Actually, my first facility Iwent to in georgia.
Coming from alabama, I went toa facility and it was in
brunswick, georgia, a smallfacility that, uh, had,

(59:44):
apparently it had a terriblesurvey history because of what
they were talking about and itactually had been run by a
church organization and I washired by a company that would go
in and fix problems, you know.
And so I was hired by thiscompany.
They sent me to this facilityand at this facility, this
facility was, I want to say, 40beds.

(01:00:04):
They gave me the survey reportbecause they had to come back
and the survey report was 40pages.
Okay, so all right.
So I'm reading through 40 pagesof deficiencies for this small
facility.
And that was back then too.
That was in.

(01:00:25):
Yes, that was like probably 91,early 90s.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
That was like three.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
I was three round yeah, so yeah, a very young man,
but you were a very, very youngman.
Thanks for that.
Okay, but yes, so yes, I went tothis facility in berkeley, new
orleans and uh, you know, andthe staff you know, and I walked
in the building.
Actually what I did just totell you they, uh, before I went

(01:00:52):
I was going going on Monday.
They brought me in on that.
I came over there, they put meup in a place on the weekend, so
I went in, like on Saturday Iwas in jeans, just kind of
walking around the building andagain, they weren't a lot of
black administrators aroundperiod then, and so I was just
walking through the buildingjust kind of seeing how they
interact, that kind of thing andI saw a lot of people just, you
know know, sitting around notdoing much.

(01:01:16):
Walked around, looked, you know,I saw patients, you know
hanging out of bed and all thiskind of stuff.
I'm like wow, receptionistwasn't at the desk.
Nobody didn't say nothing to me, nobody stopped me, walked
around, just wandered in likeI'm going to strange off the
street, walked around, walkedall the way to the back of it,
looked around, nobody saidanything to me, walked back out,
went back to my hotel.

(01:01:37):
So Monday when I came, asadministrator we had a meeting
on Tuesday, and when I had ameeting on Tuesday, I had the
40-page deficiency report.
And so I got up from the roomand I said look, you know, the
community, the state, everybodythinks we're a terrible facility
.
This says we're a terriblefacility.

(01:01:58):
You know, I don't know how youguys feel about it, you know,
and I don't want anybody to haveto take it personally, but this
is what the public sees.
And with this we're not.
We got a whole lot of problemswe got to clean up.
We're not, we got a whole lotof problems we got to clean up.
Um, then, plus, I came insaturday I walked around and I
saw kind of a lot of things thatthat was showing that, you know
, we got a lack of care here.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
oh yeah, yeah, you know, um and a long way, with
your staff too.
Yes, yes, coming on a saturdayyes, yes, but you?

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
but by looking at that, that report, like, just
show me the guidelines first.
We got to get started.
Right now there's that stop, wedon't have the room to play.
We got to get this correctedand the state was going to come
back for a survey anyway.
So you know, that's, like Isaid, very important that you
have those kind of pieces toguide you, so at least you know
where to start.
Yes, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Yeah, so you've impacted so many lives, from in
the elderly community tofamilies, loved ones, to
individuals in the industry aswell.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
What would you say is your most memorable or highest
compliment you've received?
Wow, well, I think that's oneof them right there.
You said that.
I think you know.
I've had some people say to meyou know, andre said the same
thing that you said there.
It's life-changing man, whatyou did for me was life-changing
and again, I didn't do itthinking that, but the fact that
that's how it turned out, it'sprobably one of the highest

(01:03:26):
compliments you get and I coinedthe name Florida's the Black
Godfather the mercifuladministrator.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Black Godfather.
That's going to be the titletoo okay, no problem, I
appreciate you doing it.
I mean it, man.
So last question here before weget into our game portion is
what's the best life adviceyou've ever gotten?
All right, that's a goodquestion, and who did you hear

(01:04:03):
from One of?

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
the first ones, I guess the best professional
advice.
I got my first facility inTuskegee, alabama professional
advice.
I got my first facility inTuskegee, alabama.
My medical director was an olddoctor named Dr Dow and I was a
28-year-old administrator, newlymoved, you know new into
Alabama.
Just, I mean, you know new inmy role.

(01:04:25):
He walked in my office and atthat time, you know, everybody
thought I was very professional.
We would call you Mr and Mrs.
I was probably the youngestperson in the building you know,
and he said to me he said MrEldridge.
I said, yes, sir, dr Dowd.
He said you don't ever have tosupervise anybody.
I said okay.
He said as long as you're goingto take responsibility for

(01:04:46):
whatever they do, as long asyou're going to take
responsibility for whatever theydo.
And he just walked out.
So I was sitting there thinkingokay.
So I guess what he's saying isI better supervise some people.
Because, as I thought aboutwhat he said, he said, if I
don't supervise.
I'm still responsible, he'sstill responsible, it doesn't

(01:05:06):
matter.
You don't have to do it, but myresponsibility is for whatever
they do.
So I mean, as far asprofessional advice is probably,
you know, carried on throughoutlife and and, as you know, as
an administrator, we'reresponsible for everything that
happens in the building.
We talk about 11 to 7.
We can be home in our bed,sleep.
Some happens on 11 to 7.

(01:05:28):
We're still responsible for it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:31):
Something happens on 11 to 7, we're still responsible
for it.
Yes, so, and just thinking back, the health and rehab center at
Dolphinsview oh yeah, overthere South Pasadena, oh yeah,
it's on them late night calls.
You know it, man, that was myfirst facility, so I thank
Consulate Healthcare for givingme that opportunity.

Speaker 2 (01:05:51):
Yeah, I think that was probably the most
professional advice.
The other thing my mom said tome I still and again it came up
with, kind of when I was talkingabout trying to get along with
people.
My mom told me years ago let'ssee exactly how does she word
that, let's see.
I want to say it had to do with, you know, trying to to.

(01:06:13):
I can't remember the exactwording that she had, I tell you
.
So you asked me that I wasgoing to say, but anyhow, it had
to do with getting along withpeople, um, even if you have
conflicts without beingconfrontational.
So her exact wording, and Ican't remember what it was right
now but it had to do with beingable to, you know, not always

(01:06:33):
agree, but to not be, not to doit in a way that was always
disagreeable, kind of a way ofputting it.
You know, if I was my sisterright now, she'd remember the
exact wording of that.
But she told me that until youasked me that I can't remember.
But, again those two pieces ofadvice you know, one
professional and one you knowpersonal.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Right, right pieces of advice, one professional and
one personal, right here on thelet's Get Comfy podcast.
As I stated, we sponsor asponsor of peace, joy, love and
happiness.
We have to end on a high note.
We have a game we're going toplay here that's called the
Seven Versions of Me.
It'll be the seven versions ofRidge.
You get going to play here.
That's called the SevenVersions of Me.

(01:07:13):
Okay, so it'll be the sevenversions of Ridge.
Okay, all right, and you getseven seconds to answer each one
of these, all right.
The first one is Ridge as ahusband.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
As a husband, all right, as a husband I am.
My wife would say somethingdifferent.
I mean, I try to be a littlemore understanding.
I don't listen enough, you know.
So I'm trying to learn, as anold husband now, to be more
understanding.

Speaker 1 (01:07:59):
Good, ok, all right, red as a father.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
I've also had to learn again, because I said that
you know I do appreciate one ofmy kids are doing things very
well, they're always verysuccessful, but I needed to, and
now have been learned more of.
I guess empathy is anotherthing that I think I've learned
over time.
I can give you an example, butI don't want to change the game?

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
Go ahead.
No, no, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:08:07):
All right as a young person and I talked about kind
of my father moving and thatkind of thing and I had to move.
There was one situation wheregrades one through six I was in
Rochester, new York, andeverybody in the school looked
like me.
Every person that I went toschool with from grade one to
six was black student like me.

(01:08:28):
In my seventh grade year, atage 12, my dad took a job in
central New York and I went to aschool that started from seven
to 12.
And I was the only blackstudent of 1200 students the
only one and I was a seventhgrader.
So it was probably a year ofdefining year for me and trying

(01:08:49):
to figure out, you know, myidentity for one thing and
trying to adjust a whole newenvironment.
It was a stress for you.
It was a stress for you.
I don't think I took that intoaccount as much when you know as
an adult, going on my jobs andhow the change would be for my
children and as they got older Ilearned more about that.
So I guess, as a father now, Iguess I feel more empathetic to

(01:09:15):
kind of how they were coming up.

Speaker 1 (01:09:17):
Yeah, that's good, that's a good example, reg as a
sibling.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
As a sibling I was an older sibling, so you know, I
kind of was the boss.
I felt my two younger siblingsagain both doing well.
Now we're more on a levelplaying field than we were as
I'm coming up.
So again, as adults, we're doingpretty well.

(01:09:42):
We stayed in touch.
We actually like each other.
Good, that's good.
I read you as a son, as a son,as a son, especially now.
My mom is very much.
She's elderly, obviously, andstruggling.
She lives closer to my sisterup in Carolina.
My father's passed.
I tried to again learn some ofmy lessons and being, like I

(01:10:06):
said, I started out kind ofproblem kid early on to now
seeing my aging parents be moreas a, I guess, as their
caregiver.
My sister and I both arecaregivers for them now.
So at this stage I am nowthat's kind of how I am as a son
.

(01:10:27):
All right and as an entrepreneur, as an entrepreneur, I think
one of the things that I thinkis important and I always listen
you know you kind of alwayskind of be open to other ideas.
You know you don't have all theideas.
You kind of got to put yourselfin position to where, if
something comes available or younetworking with people just

(01:10:50):
like you kind of talk about thatkind of thing, if there's an
opportunity you that you cancash in on it or that you can at
least be involved in it, youknow.
So I think as an entrepreneur,you always have to be open.
You have to not close yourselfoff to.
You know it's not healthrelated.
But this is not this you knowyou have to be open to, because
you never know what theopportunities are.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
Which is another thing I'm proud of you about.

Speaker 2 (01:11:10):
Thank you, sir, you know you're not limited.
So, again, another thing I'mproud of you about Thank you,
sir Good as a friend.
As a friend, yeah, I thinkthat's very important.
I think you don't really have.
You know, if you have truefriends, you know and nobody can
have, you know I got 50 friends.
Well, you know I got 50 friends.

(01:11:30):
Well, you got 52 friends,people that you can really count
on or that you really can bethere for and that they can be
there for you.
If you've got some of thosepeople in your life, I think
that you live well.
I think that that's that'simportant.
And the final version Reg'simpact on his community.

(01:11:50):
All right, well, my impact onthe community has primarily been
, like I said, throughhealthcare.
You know I've been minister ofseveral facilities and I've had
so many different.
You know numbers of staffs.
You know I don't know hundredsof people that you know I've
been administrator of or haveimpacted their lives in some way

(01:12:11):
or the other, that I've beenadministrator of or have
impacted their lives in some wayor the other.
And also, I guess, trying to beinvolved in other organizations
as well, through churches andthrough civic organizations.
I try to involve myself as well.
I don't want to limit, youcan't just register as a nursing
home administrator.

Speaker 1 (01:12:30):
Right, right, right.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
And plus I still have a lot of involvement with my
military friends and others.
So I think that's kind of how Iimpact the community.

Speaker 1 (01:12:43):
Yes, yes, all right, and the last game we have, reg
is called.
That's my Answer.
So you get three seconds.
It's a this or that type ofgame here, okay, and it's
referred to your preferences.
Okay, all right.
So bad breath or body odor?
Oh, I got to pick one.
You got to pick one of thoseBad breath or body odor.

(01:13:04):
Which one is your preference?

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
It's going to be bad.
Yeah, which one are you goingto pick?
I have to say bad breath,they're both going to be bad.
Yeah, what's wrong with you,dad?

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
I have to say bad breath, they're both going to be
bad, bad breath, okay, badbreath, okay Red, all right, all
right.
So punch or slap.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
All right, I'm going to have to say slap, because I
mean you know hey.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Yeah, yeah, okay, chicken or seafood Chicken, okay
, five shots of tequila or threelong islands.

Speaker 2 (01:13:36):
I'm gonna do the three long islands, three long.
Yeah, I've tried the five shotsof tequila.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
God, you guys you're mixing with long island and you
have three of those.
Well, there's five shots of thekiller yeah, I, I I've done the
shots yeah, okay, I've donethat.
Uh, dancing or singing.

Speaker 2 (01:13:52):
Well, I'm going to do either.
Well, but I probably would say,maybe singing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
Singing.
Okay, yeah, they're goingthrough a little battle right
now Drake or Kendrick Lamar.
I think Kendrick Lamar iswinning that one, kendrick.
Yes, I agree with that.
Yeah, all right, now you know,don't get in trouble here, red,
uh-oh.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
Card.
You know, don't get in troublehere Red Carter B or.
Sixer Red Okay, okay, so I haveto pick one or the other.
You got to pick one or theother For the purposes of this,
yes, yes, okay.
And again, this is for purposesof Norm's game.
I have to say, wow, that's agood one.
I guess it's Carter B.
I guess Carter B.
Okay, carter B has a littlemore talent, all All right.
Biggie or Tupac oh, wow, ok, Ilike both of them.
I think I'm going to Tupac.

(01:14:34):
I think.
Tupac.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Yeah, I'm with both of them, though.
All right, you know they havetheir little situation.
But Will Smith or Chris Rock,all right.

Speaker 2 (01:14:46):
Chris Rock was totally wrong.
Yeah Right, I mean, will, theyshould not have done what he did
.
So so if I had to pick one, Ithink, I think, oh, wow, I'm
gonna.
Well, in that case, I'm gonnahave to go with that's.
That's, that's ugly, I'm gonnago with Chris he's, it's, it's
the jokes, it's cause he's acomedian, right, you know, he

(01:15:07):
Will took it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:08):
I think he took it in a way that yeah, it's just when
she looked at him because hewas laughing at Frank, that's
what it was.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
He laughed to a window.

Speaker 1 (01:15:21):
I'm staying with Chris.
Okay, plies or Jay-Z.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
Okay, jay-z is a legend.
I'm going to have to go withJay-Z Kevin.
Hart or Cat Williams.
Wow, that's another good one,man, another good one.
Yeah, both of them are goodcomedians.
Cat is wow, and I only have afew seconds so I can't really
explain my answer right, you canGo ahead Go ahead.

(01:15:47):
Okay, Explain, Explain my answer, Cat.
I think Cat is more, again, asfar as you know, with the street
and with the folks, whereasKevin is more commercial.
And I really I like, like Isaid, I like both of their humor
and I like the fact that Kevin,you know, is an entrepreneur as

(01:16:09):
well and doing all those things.
And if I had to choose a career, I would probably choose
Kevin's career, Just as anindividual I'd probably go with
Kevin.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
Kevin, okay, own a jet or own a plane To own.
To own one, which one would youown?
A jet or a plane?
Probably a jet Jet.
Okay, why?
I want to know, why I don'tknow?
Okay, I think that Because Iwatched Soul Plane.
That's how I came up with thisanswer, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:16:40):
I think a jet anyhow, because I'm thinking about
trying to you know.
A plane, I think needs too muchother stuff to you know if I
want to be somewhere, I thinkyeah.
Yeah, you know I can just shootup the jet and just go Plane.
You got to do a whole lot ofother prep and everything else
prior to doing it.

(01:17:02):
I'm thinking the jet can get in, go to a little smaller airport
so I can land anywhere.
I don't have to land at a bigcommercial airport and all those
kind of things.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
Hunt for food or fish for food.
Hunt for food or fish for food.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
Hunt for food or fish for food, or food.
Which one?
Well, now that I told you thatI have gone fishing, I'm going
to go with the fish Fish.

Speaker 1 (01:17:23):
Okay, all right.
Rush hour, chris Tucker orFriday Chris Tucker.
Which one do you take?

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
Rush hour.

Speaker 1 (01:17:33):
Rush Hour.
Rush Hour, yeah, okay, and thelast and final one Beyonce or
Megan Thee Stallion.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
So you let them do this, you let them do this.

Speaker 1 (01:17:48):
Yes, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:17:48):
Okay, okay, yes, all right.
Well, you know what?
Yeah, okay, I think I'm goingto have to go with them.
Do this, all right, okay, okay,yes, all right.
Well, you know what?
Yeah, okay, I think I'm goingto have to go with Megan on this
.

Speaker 1 (01:17:56):
You're going to go with Megan on that, I think so
Okay, all right, we're going tojust let the answer stay that
way.
We'll leave it at that.
Yes, sir, so man and peace, butmost of all comfort, all right,

(01:18:19):
this podcast is aboutempowering others, empowering
the community with knowledge andresource to age comfortably,
but we bring an edutainment toit.
I'm Norman Harris.
This is Reginald Eldridge.
Thank you Good job there Norm.

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