Interview: Gerald Stryker, President

Filling the gap

Business Incubation Lab is expected to be a bridge between four generations in the workforce

Gerald Stryker

President & CEO – John Knox Village

How is John Knox Village bridging the generational gap while helping its residents live a more purposeful life? We are helping our residents who want to keep working determine what they want to do and how to create a strategic plan for those aspirations. Many of the residents at John Knox Village want to be able to live purposeful lives up until their last breath. With help from other collaborators, we are making this possible by identifying meaningful part-time or vocational opportunities. I do not think society has been willing to accept that retiring can be a secondary phase of someone’s career. Here at John Knox Village, we have four generations in the workforce, and we are helping to bridge the generational gap between all of them through our Business Incubation Lab. We planted the seed this year with Florida Atlantic University and while there are all sorts of incubation programs around the county, ours is the first one that is going to bridge older adults working with younger adults. The lab looks to improve services and products for older adults as well as creating new ones. These are the types of programs that are helping our residents have a purpose and that’s what is most important to us.

John Knox Village broke ground on its $135 million expansion plan last year. Where does the project stand? We have been executing our Master Vision Plan, which has been developed over the last three years. Part of that plan, Our Welcome and Innovation Center, was completed in August of this year. The center serves as a place where future and current residents can explore John Knox Village’s lifestyle and amenities. It also boasts conference rooms and a 2,500-square-foot indoor/outdoor space for Village meetings, events, and gatherings for the community.

The other piece that is opening is the $7.6-million Aquatic Complex that will consist of a four-lane, 75foot long lap pool and a resort-style pool adjacent to the new Glades Grill restaurant and Stryker’s Poolside Sports Pub with an open-air entertainment space. The Aquatic Complex also includes Pickle and Bocce Ball courts, jacuzzi and fire pit.

How is your community encouraging sustainability and eco-friendly e orts among your residents? One of the things we are doing in our master plan is our collaboration with Florida Power and Light. We are harnessing the sun with solar energy to increase our cost-effectiveness. We are building an energy plant in an environmentally-friendly way that will create power here on our property. We have many mature trees on our campus, so it is very important for us to repurpose and help keep our environment green.

Local universities are vital in training healthcare professionals to meet increasing demand from health providers in South Florida.

( ) academia. A 2020 TEConomy/BIO profile notes roughly 6,700 employers and over 93,000 jobs in biosciences in Broward County. The Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance reports over 13,000 private-sector jobs in the life sciences sector, from manufacturers to suppliers and distributors.

On the academic front, Nova Southeastern University is expanding its presence in the life science and research fields, while the University of Miami and Florida International University are both expanding their Miller School of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering Department, respectively, the GFL Alliance reports.

Broward Health has active clinical trials underway for COVID research, numerous cancer research trials for both adults and children, and pediatric HIV. South Broward Research’s Clinical Research facility is operating clinical trials for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease and Type-2 diabetes.

Investment in the region has been strong historically, with the National Institute of Health contributing $705 million in 2019. Venture capital investment from the years 2016-2019 totaled $1.27 billion and academic research and development in the bioscience field totaled $1.53 billion in 2018 alone, the TEConomy/BIO profile noted.

Jobs outlook Despite expectations to the contrary, Broward County largely has been able to avoid a contraction in the healthcare workforce throughout the past year. Broward Health is an example. Gino Santorio, CEO from December 2018 to November 2020, had shored up the network’s finances pre-pandemic and the system is now able to withstand the post-COVID recovery without widespread layoffs. And some executives voluntarily donated up to 20% of their income to an Employee Relief Fund, as reported in the Sun Sentinel. The hospital’s actions have been recognized by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s, which affirmed Broward Health’s outlook and BBB+ longterm rating on June 12, 2020. “The rating reflects our assessment of Broward Health’s manageable level of operating losses, especially given its solid liquidity and