603 LIVING / SENIORITY
Recovery Is Here Retirement communities are back
BY LYNNE SNIERSON / ILLUSTRATION BY GLORIA DILLANIN
T
he development and widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine proved to be a shot in the arm for the senior housing industry. The yearlong-plus pandemic broke the business model for continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), also known as life plan communities (LPCs), which is a long-term care option delivering independent living and an amenity-rich lifestyle with access to an onsite higher level of care should medical needs progress through the aging process. It was a time full of financial hardship, tragedy and fear. Expenses, including the widespread implementation of stringent new safety measures, professional protective equipment (PPE), cleaning and supplies, testing supplies, the bonuses and overtime pay for frontline workers and staff, and more, skyrocketed. At the same time, potential new residents were reluctant to leave their existing homes, meaning occupancy rates and the associated income from entrance fees and the additional monthly per person fees plummeted. Staying safe and staying social, which is the mission of every CCRC, became a challenge like no other. Chief executives soon found themselves under the gun.
106
nhmagazine.com | August 2021
“It was tough. It was financially challenging to make all the ends meet. Federal and state stimulus money was very helpful to us for closing at least some of the gaps. But it doesn’t close all the gaps, that’s for sure,” says Joe Deveau, the executive director of Riverglen House, which offers independent living and assisted living options in Littleton. “Our costs went up — and significantly so,” says Michael Flaherty, the president and CEO of the three Taylor Community CCRCs in Laconia and Wolfeboro. “But we managed. If we didn’t spend the money to do what we needed to do, we wouldn’t have had a product at the end of the day. I always took the long view on this, even though when you’re going through a crisis like this, you never think it’s going to end even though it always does, so you had to take the long view to make sure we had a successful jour-
ney through it so that people would look to us and think that’s where I want to be.” The development and distribution of the vaccine is the game-changer. With it, COVID is more under control in New Hampshire and across the country. Flaherty says that within the Taylor Community, 98% of his staff, 97% of independent living residents and 100% of the those in assisted living are vaccinated. Deveau reports similarly impressive numbers. As the fear of catching COVID, getting seriously ill, becoming a “longhauler” with ongoing side effects and/or possibly dying continues to subside appreciably, retirement communities are getting back to Boomtown. “At the beginning of this, we were stuck in neutral,” says Flaherty. “It certainly took a hit on the bottom line, but at the end of the day, we needed to manage the product and the service that we deliver. I went with the assumption that the bottom line would take care of itself if we did the right thing. We did the right thing and the bottom line survived and now it’s flourishing. We’re certainly experiencing a growth spurt.” Even amid the pandemic, the Taylor Community made a bold move to acquire its third property, Sugar Hill in Wolfeboro, adding to the portfolio, which includes Taylor Laconia and Back Bay in Wolfeboro. While the organization had anticipated and budgeted for no closings at all during the COVID crisis, 16 new contracts were executed and active adults are already moving into their desired apartments and cottage homes. The situation is the same at Riverglen House and many other communities statewide. “A lot of people had just waited. Potential residents waited and their families waited to see where this whole thing was going to go,” says Deveau. “What we’re experiencing now is that there is a pent-up demand in the community as people who would have moved in last year held off. Now we’re seeing a lot of activity from people who told us
“A sense of community has become that much more important than any of the other components, including health care.” — Michael Flaherty, president and CEO of Taylor Community
