In this week’s episode of Bridge The Gap, Josh and Lucas are joined by Peggy White, National Director of Sales at Accushield, to dive deep into the essential topic of risk management in senior living communities. Peggy shares her expertise on how risk management is not just a buzzword but a crucial component in maintaining the safety and trust within senior living communities. 

Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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00:18 - 00:44

Intro

Welcome to season seven of Bridge The Gap, a podcast dedicated to informing, educating, and influencing the future of housing and services for seniors. Powered by sponsors Accushield, Aline, NIC MAP Vision, Procare HR, Sage, Hamilton CapTel, Service Master, The Bridge Group Construction and Solinity. Produced by Solinity Marketing.

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00:44 - 02:21

Lucas McCurdy

Welcome to Bridge the Gap podcast the Senior Living podcast with Josh and Lucas. We are in Atlanta, the headquarters of Accushield. Right. This is where the headquarters is.

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00:00:54:03 - 00:00:59:05

Lucas McCurdy

Right. And we've got one of Accushield's very own. We got Peggy White on the show today. Welcome to the program. Some people want to, when they hear the topic of risk mitigation or risk management, a lot of people just want to be like, you know, they want to cover their ears and say, I don't want to. I don't think about this. I don't want to talk about this.

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But then there's a whole nother group of people that actually have to deal with this on a day to day basis and a large group of our audience, and they're saying, no, no, no, no, we cannot ignore risk management and senior care. It's just such an important topic, and there's so many different tools and resources that every operator of all the hats they have to wear and all the stuff they have to juggle.

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Risk management is one that cannot get left, unchecked, on a consistent basis. And our listeners know Accushield has been a long time supporter of Bridge the Gap and has been a big force in helping us underwrite the costs of bringing this free content every single week. So we're very, very grateful and also very excited to have you, Peggy, onto the show.

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So risk management, this is something that is obviously near and dear to your heart. You're head down in the weeds on this every single day. So I'm excited to pick your brain and what our listeners will gain from this. So lead us down the risk management risk mitigation path.

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02:21 - 03:07

Peggy White

as you said, not something that's super exciting to talk about but really, really important. And there was a quote that I want to read because I just think it's kind of impactful.

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00:02:30:05 - 00:02:48:21

Peggy White

Ben Pierce had said “Poor risk management will empty a building faster than good marketing will fill it.” And so just kind of taking that concept and identifying what needs to happen as people are coming and going into buildings and how you can protect the residents as well as the staff. And so that's part of our mission has always been that safety and security component. We feel that, obviously coming out of the last couple of years, being able to identify why people are there, who they're seeing, whether they should be there is a really important part of every senior community.

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03:07 - 03:55

Josh Crisp

I think a lot of providers were forced, over the last 4 or 5 years, during the pandemic and Covid to track who is coming in because of natural reasons and infection control and things like that. It sort of forced our industry into doing things that we probably should have been more aggressive on in the beginning, but it's been a, probably as we were past that, getting past that.

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It's really easy to go back to and relax and maybe let our guard down a little bit. So what are you seeing some of the trends and things that operators are concerned about that they're seeking to address? How are you helping them address these issues on the topic of risk mitigation?

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03:55 - 05:11

Peggy White

So there's probably one of the more important things is being able to identify that people have, somehow signed in, whether it's signing in at a kiosk or signing a guestbook, but being identified as to why they are there is very, very important, not just for the safety of the residents. Actually, the residents are sometimes the most vocal about making sure that they want to see a badge on everybody that's walking down their halls.

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But also for the enterprise, the owners and the operators to know who's in the building, if there's some kind of trend going on. Has there been an increase in home health coming in or hospice in the building? Knowing why somebody is there is really important. Also, conversely, knowing if somebody hasn't been in to visit certain residents is also a really helpful thing for an operator to be able to identify. So and in one other part, that's happened a lot. Probably within the last year we've seen the most of this is where enterprises are asking for consents and waivers to be acknowledged. When people come in, let's say that they're a third party care provider and they are coming in for the first time to the building. They may want them to sign a waiver of consent. Self-employed third party care providers, these are all being included in that.

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05:11 - 07:09

Josh Crisp

Along those lines, I'm assuming there are so many data points that you can also collect because there's a digital system, knowing who's in your building, the frequency of the visits, what organizations, and even understanding what kind of credentials do those organizations have as they're entering your system? outside of just the residence, I would imagine families.

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This is a huge thing. I think most of the senior living providers here were at the Interface Conference in Atlanta, talking with many operators. A good portion, if not almost all of the operators have, assisted living and memory care type of communities as well as more independent settings. But they're primarily telling me, you know, they're marketing to the adult sons and daughters that are placing their most valuable asset, which is their loved ones. Many times, their mom, their dad's, their aging, aging parents into these communities. And I've talked to so many providers here because you're right, you made that quote earlier. We spend so much time in marketing our services, our amenities, the excellent work, our staff, our teams do, our food and all these things. But oftentimes when you survey the families and you find out, well, what really caused you to choose our community, a lot of times it comes down to trust and to build trust and to keep trust.

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I think a simple ingredient of knowing who's in your community is such a critical piece to that. So I'm curious that as you're collecting this data, are there certain reports and things that operators are able to provide to the various stakeholders? And as we move more into everybody's talking about value based care, do you think this is going to be even more valuable data and why

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07:09 - 09:04

Peggy White

You're right. I am the daughter of a parent in a senior living community. And safety is very, very important to me as well. And so being able to have that peace of mind that the community she's living in is taking that really seriously and that she is protected. And it makes me feel a lot better. Being able to push, I think we probably all have been in communities where there is a picture of somebody who's set up behind the desk, like, do not let them in. Absolutely on alert. And so we talked a lot today about replacing manual processes with the aid of technology. And so being able to set up the communities for success, if there's somebody that's not supposed to be there, the system can be set up to stop them and prevent them or send alerts in the event they attempt to sign in just to help, kind of, as you say, get that risk mitigation, prevent, situations by having this technological assist. 

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And then, the insights are pushed to communities. It's funny today listening to the folks talk about how they want to get all this data into different systems. Value based care is something that I do believe will be adapted and hopefully will be in the near future. knowing the people that are walking through the door to provide care is something that right now the system is not set up to capture. So by having a digital visitor management system and knowing that they are there to provide this type of care to these specific residents is going to be instrumental in putting that, you know, closing the loop on all the total care. Family members want to know, did hospice show up today? Did somebody come in to change mom's wound? And so again, having that system to kind of support the team, there's just not enough time. for the folks in the community to be able to be on top of all that, unless they've got the assistance of this kind of a system.

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09:04 - 09:48

Josh Crisp

You know, I can remember, I'm starting to feel older in the industry now, but it doesn't seem like that long ago. Where the notebook at the at the front desk that that was hit or miss, you know, the pages getting turned and how difficult that was, even if you could get everyone to to sign it and be compliant, so to speak, and help you mitigate the risk, to to even be able to peruse through and figure out who those people are. Even if you could read the writing. And so, I'm curious, so we're talking about who's coming in and out of your communities. Can our communities also use this, in any way, to gate residents sign in and sign out as well?

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09:48 - 11:10

Peggy White

Absolutely. And in the higher acuity, independent living doesn't use it as much, but in assisted living, certainly in memory care, when a resident is leaving with a family member or going to be out of the community for, let's say, a doctor's appointment, being able to capture that that resident has left the building, how long they're gone for, who they're with is also very, very important information for the community to have.

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And so they can then track through, in our situation, a digital method where they're able to see who's out of the building right now, obviously very important in the event of an emergency. And if you have to do an evacuation, knowing who has signed out for the last couple of hours, is also important. And also talking about credentials, we have a number of our communities that are also extending that credentialing into a more complete rather than just signing somebody in. You can either do a driver's license scan to verify their identity. you also may want to have credentials. There's a group.

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Our company actually does a full credentialing of all their third party care providers, including a criminal background check. So if somebody is walking down the residence corridor to provide care to a resident, knowing that that person has a clear criminal background check is a huge peace of mind to not only the families, but obviously everybody in the community.

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11:10 - 12:41

Josh Crisp

One of the things I have loved, you know, we're blessed, here at Bridge the Gap for years. I think this is our eighth season. It's hard to believe we've had partners like Accushield with us for years, making everything that we do this information and education possible to the industry. But one of the things, I just saw your CEO here walking the walk in the halls.

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I think one thing you all do really well is you're constantly. You're never satisfied with. Hey, we've got this service. We've got this product, and we're pushing it out here. But, I mean, the number one question and conversations I'm hearing and overhearing when I'm seeing and interacting with you all is what do you need to be better?

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Is what you're asking operators, what can we do for you? What's keeping you up at night? What challenges do you have? I mean, Charles just asked me that question as an operator. He's like, what's keeping you up? Right, right now in these communities you're acquiring. And so I have such an appreciation for that, so that you guys have really become a partner to the industry and adopted tools, resources, and the thought leadership that you have and channeled that into being a true partner for the industry.

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So with that said, can you give us any teasers because you're talking to a lot of operators? I think that's kind of your day job. Right? And talking to some of the biggest influencers in the industry and what's keeping them up at night. So how is that informing what you're what you're doing and shaping your product to be? Is there any forecast for where you're going as a company?

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12:41 - 14:33

Peggy White

We actually have quite a few exciting things on the docket that are coming out. One thing that we were just doing locally, was participating in a local event in a community. It was a glamorous grandma's day, and they got all dressed up and we helped them with makeup and hair, and they put on fun clothes and did a runway show for the rest of the residents.

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And so a group of our team was over there, including Allen and Charles, and took every opportunity to talk to the resident care director. What are the things that are really going to be helpful for you? Something that, they were able to share and we've heard from number of other partners, is that as somebody does come in, let's say, from a third party provider, any notes regarding the visit is usually going down on a piece of paper, getting thrown into a binder, thrown into a filing cabinet, and usually very infrequently referred back to obviously, it could be very important information into what's happening with the residents.

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So being able to capture that digitally and put that back in association with the visit and having the data pushed to the appropriate locations is definitely one of our top priorities. And then the second thing that I'll mention is, you know, we all talk about how labor is an issue. A couple people today, we're talking about how important it is for volunteers.

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And so the pandemic kind of put a big halt on a lot of the volunteers that were coming into communities. Well, Accushield has captured millions of people that have come into communities as volunteers over the years. And so helping to kind of create a program that's going to be, helping to facilitate matching residents that are in need of social visits with the volunteer networks, and actually has a number of different ways in which we're going to be able to help with that will help support, again, the happiness of the resident, the peace of mind to the, family members, and then certainly kind of easing the burden on the communities who are trying to get everything done and just don't have enough resources.

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14:33 - 15:54

Josh Crisp

On any given day and I'm sure you guys have data you could spit out, that would give us exactly these numbers. But on any given day, I think of any size community in any market, the number of visitors, family members, health care workers, partners, you name it, however, you want to classify volunteers that come into a community that we don't really know who they're coming to see.

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We may have an idea of generally what their position is, but you have no idea of what they're, what all they are, or what their background is. They have their interest, their passion. And I can only imagine a future where when you really understand, the more you understand about who's in your community and can better communicate with them.

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What an opportunity, as you said, for volunteers. Yes, potentially. Opportunities. I can only imagine even potentially filling positions. And I think of every single person that comes in not only controlling that from a risk mitigation, but just the opportunity to to touch those people, with communication points. what a valuable resource that is. And, it's great work that you guys are doing there. Lucas. I know you get to see tons of communities all over the country, as you're repositioning, communities and assets. I know you're seeing a lot of, acquisition across the across the country.

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15:54 - 15:58

Lucas McCurdy

I do. I get to personally sign in to many, many Accushields.

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15:58 - 15:59

Josh Crisp

You guys let him in?

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15:59 - 18:29

Lucas McCurdy

Yeah, I'm just waiting for, like, a ban. Charles' face comes up laughing at me or something. Gotcha. You know. As I'm touring communities and we're there with our teams, and oftentimes we're kind of doing some inspections, so to speak. so we're going down the corridors, we're looking at different things. We may even be going into units with staff and residents, they'll be going about their daily business and they'll be coming out of their rooms and, you know, this is where they live. Just like if you were to walk out of your bedroom and see somebody in your house, you want to know, who is this person?

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Are they with the staff here? Do they have an Accushield tag on their shirts? And, I can just sense that when I make eye contact with them it gives them a little bit of sense of relief that, okay, I can see that this person has checked in. This person is clearly supposed to be allowed into our community – in our home.

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And so I witnessed that and noticed it, when, when we do that and you talk about vendor management, it's a big piece of even for our construction teams that have multiple subcontractors and vendors that come into the building. It's actually a big part of how we maintain protocols and safeties, to make sure that we are maintaining that level of expectation for our client, which is obviously the operator of the community. It's a great conversation. Risk mitigation, risk management. you know, not often very fun to talk about, but it's a necessary thing to talk about. And it's very valuable for you, Peggy, to come onto the program and have this discussion. So for our listeners that are taking notes, I can sense that there's probably people listening going either yes or Amen or hey, you forgot to mention, you know, something like that.

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So we'd love to hear from our listeners. LinkedIn is a great place for that. and also on our website, btgvoice.com. But we'll put all those links in the show notes and a link to Peggy. And obviously Accushield is one of our premier sponsors. Their contact information, logo and links are always on our program because they're such a great supporter. So, Peggy, thank you for your time today.

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All right. Another great trip to Atlanta and a great round of podcasts. And for our listeners, please do go to btgvoice.com, download this content and so much more. And thanks for listening to another great episode of Bridge the Gap.

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18:29 - 18:40

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Outro

Thanks for listening to Bridge the Gap podcast with Josh and Lucas. Connect with the BTG network team and use your voice to influence the industry by connecting with us at btgvoice.com.

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