Adam Clark with Aegis Living
Adam Clark, VP of Growth Strategies for Aegis Living, discusses the programs and foundations of Aegis living. They operate 13 senior living communities in the Seattle area.
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*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider part on the answers for elders radio show. And Welcome back everyone to answers for elders radio. And I am here with a brand new special guest here on the show, Mr Adam Clark, and Adam is the vice president of growth strategies for ages living and we’re so honored to have ages on the show. You guys are like the flagship amazing organization, you know, in senior living and you do so many things you know amazingly well. Your pioneers. So, Adam, I’m so glad you’re hair. Welcome to the show. Well, thank you very much for having me. We’re very happy to be here to talk about what we do and give you some more insight as to what our vision is for for senior living. Well, you know, one of the things I when I first gotten this industry, which has been now eleven years ago, you know, your company was one of my like North Stars of I will say I studied, you know, Your Dad’s vision, Dwayne Clark, quite a bit, all the things that outreach that you’ve done in the community and read his initial story, the book with it. You know, your grandmother and that story and how he got into this world and and really comes from a place of you know, you guys are in it for the right reasons and and one of the things that I am so impressed with a just living is the family, you know, foundation that you guys have, and you know you’re carrying that forward as well. Yeah, well, it’s something that unfortunately, like many other family members in the area, we have been deeply impacted by Alzheimer’s. You know, first started with my great grandmother, who was a was born and raised in India, came over here at an elder age and unfortunately suffered from Alzheimer’s and had to live in a skill nursing facility. My father saw the care that was provided there in an institutional setting and really just understood that there had to be somebody, something better. I mean, for such an incredible woman to enter days in a hospital setting, cold floors, very dark environment, was was not something befitting her her her life, and I write that you know that’s true with many of the people that we serve today and that’s what I just strives to do, is to be able to create an environment for incredible people that have done incredible things and yeah, absolutely, this is something that we a hundred percent believe in. My Grandmother also suffered from Alzheimer’s and was able to get incredible character ages of Kirkland community and ended up passing there. So it’s something that we live and breathe and trust with our own family member person. That’s pretty incredible. And you know, the thing that I know about a just living is like every single thing that you guys do, it’s like you you’re constantly reinventing yourselves. You’ve got these amazing new you know, breakthroughs. You’re using you know methods with Alzheimer’s special specifically with memory cares. You guys are on the cutting edge doing things that other communities aren’t doing, which is just incredible, and you really get it what families are dealing with, and that’s something that I’m really how you know how what keeps you guys moving forward like that? You know, I think the thing is is that we’re always looking outside of our industry. We’re always looking at what alternative medicine is doing, how light plays an impact on on mood and especially in the Seattle Areya, we all we always know that theyd happy lights there. They’re very important for us, you know. But design elements, I think, are very important as well, and we take a lot of inspiration from larger hotels. Our most recent opening that we had is our ages of Raventic community and it is actually designed after a an opera house in Italy. I I love that. It’s not just I hear a lot of about prefabrication and design features and things like that. We are a hundred percent custom design for all of our communities. Our newest community that is going to be, I’m sorry to communities from now that’s going to be opening here in Bellevue is is designed after the guard lest in France. So it is, it is going to be. It’s going to be very recognizable for for US francophiles out there that have been to France and seeing design elements, so cutting edge design elements. I think for the past three years our communities have one design awards from variety of different publications and I think we’ll continue to do that. So but above and beyond that treatment philosophies. We’re always working with with large educational institutes to be able to better understand how we can treat dementia’s what medications and really incorporating our family members in in the educational process with a variety of different speakers that are always in our communities through our educational seminar, and I think we’re always going to continue to do that, and also just designing educational curriculum for for students as well, partnering with The Washington State Universities Degree program that they’re putting out there as well. So and really being, you know, having a voice in what goes on in the entire industry, with you guys being involved in that, and that’s so important. And you know, as a family, you know I had a mother with dementia. Bless your heart, I was I did everything wrong that I probably should have done. You know, I like we’ve had previous conversations and you know, I decided I was going to take charge and not be the daughter anymore, and that went over like a lead balloon, Huh. But I didn’t know anything about what was out there in the industry at the time and I didn’t know what the options were going to be for me or, you know, how I could actually, you know, be best help my loved one. And so I think a lot of the world out there they have an idea of what, quote unquote, senior living is or what retirement living is or memory care, quote unquote, and and yet there’s you guys are so different. You totally completely changed that model and and that mindset and I think that’s just so commending. So thank you for from somebody like me that had those kind of, you know, feelings, preconcests feelings, because now that I’m in the industry and I see that, you know, cutting edge work that you guys do, it’s pretty phenomenal. Thank you. Yes, so you guys have didn’t done also, you know, I know you do a lot of training with your staff. That’s unique and and one of the things that I really love is the fact that the quality of care that you really work with. And could you kind of Adam elaborate a little bit about the kinds of programs that you do with your staff? Sure, absolutely. I think the the number one thing is that we do all of our training in house. We have incorporated some highly qualified individuals that are have experience outside of assisted living in human resources, but I think that just having a pulse on what the staffs needs are incredible aspect. Will we do? We have a program that’s called the dream give big giveaway that we do twice a year. Or we actually give away I think it’s something like seventy twozero. So it’s a variety of a hundred dollar gifts, certificates, some thousand and Elevenzero winners, and then we have a Fiftyzero giveaway that we do twice a year. It was very impactful for me because last year we were able to give one of my old staff members who’s a housekeeper, a new immigrant to this country. She won Fiftyzero and was able to establish a foundation by a home and support of ass so that’s really soft touches really help to increase staff satisfaction and help out with the rovements. That is so cool. So and we are talking with Mr Adam Clark and he is the Vice President of growth strategies for ages living. You guys have communities all over the place. We’re tell us a little bit, but wow, where they’re located? Sure, we have thirteen communities that are currently in operation in the Seattle area, with five in development, and we have thirty one communities in total, mostly in the Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles area. We have an outlier in Las Vegas and we are in growth mode. So we’re developing five communities right now and are currently looking to expand both the bay area in Los Angeles. It’s awesome. So it just here in western Washington. You go as far south is Kent, Kent A is our furthest okay, and then as far north you have inwood. You have one in Lynwood. So you really are, including the east side, very prominent. I know I’ve heard of your branding facility in west Seattle. That’s got to be beautiful. So that’s really cool. It’s an amazing I mean it’s hard to miss if you’re a resident of locas of West Seattle. If you go up Admiral Way, it’s right there on the top of the community. It’s brand new, beautiful construction, very much a nod to the neighborhood, very nautical in its theme. We have a tough boat outside, a theater that is on the roof where you can see the whole sound. It is incredible community and incredible staff and incredible people that have singed in and, you know, so needed with the quote unquote, silver tsunami happening, you know we Babymo we’re getting older and obviously, you know, we all think about what’s going to happen, you know, as in our aging years, and it’s so nice that as there’s a company like a just living that’s really that at the cutting edge and doing things like that, because when we get to be that age, we’re going to be looking for, you know, your breakthroughs a lot. Will have beautiful homes for you with incredible and amenities, incredible food and, of course, incredible care. So it just in closing, I know we don’t have a lot of time left. True, what is the I’ve heard something that everybody in your organization starts out being a caregiver. Yeah, tell me about that. We are in the midst of transitioning our presidents and we recently were very fortunate to have a starbucks executive, Chris Angscroff, come over to our communities and, you know, a lot of communities will, our organizations will introduce them to, you know, the the organizational structure at the corporate office, you know, maybe meeting with some financial partners. We found it essential to say, Chris, you know what, you’ve never been a caregiver. You’re going to spend your first sixty days in the trenches, working knock shift, working in the morning, learning how to do laundry, you know, making food for all of the residents. Learning from the ground up, and I think that that really is a differentiating factor of ages, is that all of our executive team learns from the ground up. You need to understand everything from from Perry care to negotiating building leases. I mean that’s important to be a incredible leader in our organization. We think that that’s a central part of our secret sauce. So, Adam, in closing today, obviously, what makes ages different than any other company out there? You know again, I think that it’s our personal touch. I think that being part of a family owned business is essential. I mean we’re all always in the communities. During the snowpocalypse that we had here invent yes, yes, my kids, I have five children, they were all out delivering cookies and coffees to all of our staff transporting. So we are engaged always in all of our communities. That the design elements, understanding what holistic living looks like is is just an incredible feature of what he just does. That’s so awesome, Adam. So how do we reach you? Yeah, you can reach us at our website, ages livingcom a egis l I viimngcom, or you can always reach us at our toll free number one eight hundred and sixty six, six, eight, eight, five, eight, two nine. I am so glad to have you on this thank you for having you. Answers for elders radio show with Susan Newman. Hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. Check out more podcast like this to help you find qualified senior care experts and areas of financial, Lego, health and wellness and living options. Learn about our radio show, receive our monthly newsletter, receive promotional discounts and meet our experts by clicking on the banner to join the Senior Advocate Network at answers for elders RADIOCOM. Now there is one place to find the answers for elders
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Originally published March 30, 2019