Chosen from questionnaires submitted by companies and interviews with ALFA staff, the annual Best of the Best Awards recognize innovative operational best practices at senior living companies.
“These innovations recognize companies, like Brookdale Senior Living, that have put their imaginations to work to continually improve and streamline operations, enhance resident care and services, train and retain quality employees, and much more,” says ALFA President and CEO Richard P. Grimes. “Plus, the industry-wide benefit of the Best of the Best Awards is the program’s ability to multiply excellence as these and other companies in senior living adopt these best practices as their own.”
Brookdale Senior Living’s Celebrations initiative is a year-long themed program that offers residents, families, and associates opportunity for:
New learning,
Reminiscing,
Reaching out to the greater community,
Sharing entertainment, and
Enjoying exciting dining experiences.
Celebrations provides unique programming options to enhance the quality of life for each resident and associate. Each month, a new focus contributes and adds to the overarching yearly theme and has different programming series that are offered at the communities. For the 2009 Celebrations theme, Brookdale invites residents on an adventure to Dream. Dare. Discover!
“Celebrations can take residents across the country or across the world, and provide opportunities to embrace the six dimensions of Optimum Life® and make lasting memories that change lives,” said Sara Terry, vice president of Optimum Life® for Brookdale.
Brookdale Senior Living is one of the nation’s leading providers of Alzheimer’s and dementia care, and its Clare Bridge® communities focus solely on Alzheimer’s and dementia care. At these communities, trained staff provides memory care services and help ensure Daily Moments of SuccessSM for residents. The Clare Bridge Dining Program is an innovative assessment, intervention, and culinary program.
In 2008, a comprehensive, multi-faceted dining and nutrition program for persons with dementia residing in assisted living was developed, presented, and implemented within Clare Bridge® communities. The Clare Bridge Dining Program was designed by a team of specialists including a gerontologist specializing in dementia care, a corporate chef, and a registered dietician. This unique dietary program maintains the resident’s ability to enjoy and master the dining experience.
“Persons with dementia are entitled to experience the same pleasures and social opportunities that present themselves with everyday dining,” Juliet Holt Klinger, director of dementia care and programs for Brookdale. “The Clare Bridge Dining Program ensures our residents experience success with dining.”
During these challenging economic times, understanding how to effectively manage and maximize a dining services budget is critical for success. That is why Brookdale Senior Living introduced the future of training with an exciting new program, “The Dollars & Sense Talk Show.”
Shows are hosted by a panel of community and corporate representatives, and feature discussions on what really matters to dining service professionals. Sample topics include: brainstorming cost savings ideas, sharing best practices, and answering specific expense related questions live from the audience.
“The half-hour, weekly talk show is produced in-house in our Chicago internet studio and broadcasted live via streaming video each Wednesday,” said Joska J.W. Hajdu, senior vice president of Dining Services. “The success of this show speaks for itself by the number of loyal viewers and listeners who watch and participate every week. This is also a testament to the shows entertaining and interactive concept.”
The Best of the Best awards will be formally presented to Brookdale during one of the general sessions at ALFA’s annual conference held May 5-7 in Philadelphia. In addition, the winning programs are featured in the cover story of May/June's Assisted Living Executive magazine. Winning entries are also posted on ALFA’s Web site at http://www.alfa.org/
