Summer 2023 | Issue 44
Strategic Plan: Our Five Pillars for Success
The rise of Covid-19 rocked the world, especially within the health care industry. While the pandemic has de-escalated since its inception in 2019, many organizations are fi nding their previous strategy work cannot simply be applied in the aftermath— adjustments are necessary. “The last three years have been particularly challenging,” said Bill Jones, President and CEO of Integritus Healthcare. "The vast majority of our time, e ff orts and priorities have centered on Covid since the beginning of the pandemic. As a result, our long-term strategic work was 'hijacked', and we are only now beginning to make our way back to a longer view." Integritus Healthcare is well aware of the need to not only implement procedures to address the post-pandemic landscape but to also curate and develop a strategic plan capable of withstanding—
and fl exibly accounting for—future endemic- and pandemic-level events. As a leader in the post-acute care, long-term health care, hospice and senior housing markets, Integritus knew the importance of fi nding a way forward amidst the continued outbreaks. Since mid-2022, the organization has honed in on its next generation of strategy, considering community bene fi t and the value proposition of its work. “Last year, we thought there might be an opportunity to start pivoting back toward taking a longer view of our work,” explained Jones. “By summertime, we were able to fi nd some third-party assistance to help us do that evaluation, and, essentially, what came out of it was a tune-up to the strategic plan that we were following going into Covid.”
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the development of its workforce; the clinical and service quality outcomes that it achieves as an organization; growth; innovation; and, lastly, operating on a platform that’s e ffi cient and e ff ective in driving the organization toward its desired result. According to Jones, “Each of these priority areas has been tactically built out with action plans to begin moving us in that direction over the course of the next twelve months. Mileposts along the way will help us evaluate where we're at, how we're doing, what's working well and what isn't working so well, so we can continue to move this organization forward on our desired path.” Building and Strengthening Our Workforce As the foundational block that allows the other pillars to stand, the fi rst strategy is rooted in fortifying Integritus Healthcare’s workforce. It is no surprise that organizations across the nation continue to face labor challenges—particularly in the long-term care sector. We have begun the climb back post pandemic, but our success is reliant upon a diligent, persistent focus on building and strengthening our teams. Experienced, compassionate and engaged employees are essential to our organization's continued health.
According to Jones, this strategic “tune-up” is more of a refocusing than a reshaping; the organizational direction remains the same in many respects. Jones explained Integritus Healthcare’s visionary nature— looking at the organization’s work as strategic with a longer view than others: “We're focused on building out the post-acute network of services by leveraging markets that we've operated in for many years and our good reputation in each of those markets. We're a consumer-centered organization focused on being innovative, providing leadership in the industry through a structure of actively engaged sta ff and meeting the health and residential needs of the people in the markets we support. That directional aspect of our strategy remains unchanged. What got ‘tuned up,’ so to speak, is how we approach new and emerging challenges that weren't quite as apparent as they are now.” “Not to oversimplify it,” Jones continued, “But we're focused on creating exceptional experiences that will cause key stakeholders to always prefer an Integritus a ffi liate if and when they're needed. And then we're mindful of that work being purposeful.” When Integritus Healthcare completed its strategy work in late 2022, leadership came away with fi ve priority areas to focus on over the next three years:
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“You hear time and time again, ‘there just aren't enough people to fi ll the jobs that we have,’” said Jones. “We're not immune from that. For us to achieve our long-range goals, we have to deal with those gaps, strengthen capabilities and drive higher performance standards than we have in the past.”
satisfaction data illustrates how customer satisfaction is fed, ultimately predicting the achievement of service and clinical outcomes—that they are representative of the highest standard of care someone would evaluate when measuring the performance of one organization versus another.
For example, last year, Integritus created a new recruitment structure across the state. Now, the organization has dedicated resources focused on meeting the needs of its a ffi liates for additional sta ff . Raising Clinical and Service Quality Performance The fi rst pillar supports the second, which is raising Integritus Healthcare’s clinical and service quality performance levels, back to, and exceeding, where they were pre-pandemic. “We were at the highest levels in every rating category that one would
Prioritizing Growth But the cost of providing great care does not go down; it continues to rise year after year, fueled by labor costs, in fl ation and all the necessary expenditures of running a successful organization. This is why the third strategic pillar is growth. “We need to be able to fi nd new ways to spread that cost over a broader range of services, given that we're so highly dependent on federal and state revenues to support that cost base,”
“It's incumbent upon leaders across the system to role model behaviors to engage sta ff and demonstrate that they are making a positive di ff erence in the lives of the people they serve.” Bill Jones, Integrit Healthcare President and CEO
said Jones. “They're not inclined to just provide handouts to providers matching that cost. So, the challenge is fi nding more e ffi cient and e ff ective ways to do what we do.” In the decade prior to Covid, Integritus grew signi fi cantly in senior housing services in Western Massachusetts, particularly in the Assisted Living arena. The organization then began to build out, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, hospice services to complement the inpatient health care and residential communities it supports. “We'd like to re-engage on that work in the eastern part of the state,” said Jones. “And there's some potential to enter markets we think we can add value to, given our not-for-pro fi t status.” Opportunities for Innovation When combined, these three pillars necessitate innovation—particularly when situated directly following a global pandemic. With growth comes the need for relevance. In order to exceed pre-pandemic standing, Integritus is constantly evaluating its o ff erings to ensure the organization is appropriately growing and evolving to meet the needs of the communities it serves.
consider to be the ‘standard bearer’ for what great quality looks like in post-acute care,” said Jones. “As I said, the pandemic hijacked that work. We now need to pivot aggressively to get back to where we were and surpass it.” According to Jones, achieving outstanding quality performance—and being the preferred choice for service providers—is grounded in the performance of Integritus Healthcare’s people, and sta ff at every level, feeling a sense of alignment with that strategy. He went on to say, “It's incumbent upon leaders across the system, myself included, to role model behaviors and performance aligned with our vision for excellence. And to work every day to engage sta ff in what that looks like for them—what's in it for them; how to make their work purposeful, so they can feel it's worthwhile. Then we can demonstrate to them that they are making a positive di ff erence in the lives of the people they serve.” Data charted over the last 12–14 years shows the trajectory of employee engagement and satisfaction over time. Leadership calls this “the big picture correlation.” The trajectory of the employee
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“Some of the pressure points we feel on a regular basis are around behavioral services, support and systems that are made available to the residents in our communities who are struggling with mental illness, substance use disorders or other dependencies,” said Jones. “We have seen opportunities to elevate the level of sophistication with which we respond to those needs during the pandemic.” Another example of innovation is in virtual care— which has become a standard, particularly as service providers could not overcome distancing requirements during the height of the pandemic. “There are a number of innovations we've identi fi ed that we think will be attractive to hospitals and our other health care partners in each of the markets we serve,” said Jones.
The Importance of Synergy The four pillars are stabilized by the fi fth; a continuous dedication and vigilance to ensure the organization’s strategy work is moving cohesively in the same direction—that each pillar is working and supporting the others e ffi ciently. “If you think of these priorities as spokes on a wheel,” explained Jones, “At the center of the wheel is a determination by Integritus to be the leader in each market it serves. So, you can imagine the metrics and the deliverables are set to re fl ect what that looks like as we engage in that work.” Jones emphasized the importance of synergy— ensuring strategy work is supported with the right technology platforms. “For example,” he o ff ered,
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“With a long-range capital plan that allows for continuous reinvestment in people, programs, services, buildings and equipment.” “We never want to take our eye o ff that ball,” said Jones. Continued Commitment In order to maintain and exceed expectations for this strategic plan, Jones reiterated the importance of constant vigilance. “In every meeting, it’s making sure it's clear to participants how the discussion and action plan align with strategy—whether that's day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter,” said Jones. “It’s making sure that people's time and e ff orts are really focused on those priorities. If not, frankly, we’re wasting energy on things that we shouldn't be.”
The tactics associated with each of these pillars have deliverables attached—in terms of metrics and a clarity around the level of performance that Integritus is looking to achieve. These markers become a matter of accountability. Leadership is committed to ensuring everyone is aware of deliverables, that there are regular check-in evaluations and that adjustments are made, if necessary, to the work being done on the ground. “There's an important obligation a not-for-pro fi t has,” Jones emphasized, “to ensure it is providing a bene fi t to the members of the community that it operates in and to those who access its services.” With this in mind, Integritus Healthcare continues to step into the future.
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Bourne Manor
Upward Trajectory: The Strategic “The strategic value these assets has and is critically relaunch on our tuned-up strategy.” Linda Manor Assisted Living
Integritus Healthcare has operated the fi ve buildings that comprise the Chakalos portfolio, including Charlene Manor, Linda Manor Extended Care Facility and Assisted Living, Hathaway Manor and Bourne Manor, since they were built—many in the late ‘80s to early ‘90s and Linda Manor Assisted Living in 2014. “We opened the fi ve properties after they were built by the developer and landlord—John Chakalos—who was our landlord for 30-plus years,” said Bill Jones, President and CEO of Integritus Healthcare. “We built those brands and had tremendous success in each of those markets.” But Integritus leadership knew, despite the organization thriving, that acting as operator and not owner of these properties was not advantageous to their growth trajectory. “The pressures on rental streams, as you might imagine, escalate every year; the reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid
doesn't,” Jones explained. “And the license that one gets from the state and the federal government to operate in those environments has value. In this case, the landlord owned the licenses, so we always felt somewhat disadvantaged by that structure even though we had tremendous success over that 30-year period.” According to Jones, the relationship—the dynamic of owner versus operator—is similar to renting an apartment: “If you think of it as an apartment that you might rent to live in, it's never really yours, right? If you're renting it, you don't feel a sense of ownership and control over how that apartment is built to best suit your needs. It has somewhat of a transient context to it. The extent to which you make improvements to it over time—the bene fi t from those improvements don't extend to you if and when you might decide that apartment no longer meets your needs. That’s similar to the situation we were in.” Jones went on to say,
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Charlene Manor Hathaway Manor
Value of the Chakalos Acquisition
Linda Manor Extended Care Facility
associated with now changed important as we organization’s
Bill Jones, Integrit
Healthcare President and CEO
“We were building the brand and creating the value around that brand—certainly, the bene fi t that fl owed to the real estate associated with it—but we weren't really in control of our own destiny.” When the Chakalos family—who built these facilities— decided they no longer wanted to own the properties, Integritus knew the value of acquiring them as the sole operator since their construction. Jones remembers this pinnacle moment for Integritus, recounting, “About two years ago, an opportunity presented itself for us to begin conversations with the landlord, and we ultimately reached an agreement in January of 2022. We were able to close on that transaction just before the end of the 2022 calendar year.” The licenses, as well as the buildings, are now part of the Integritus ownership structure, allowing the organization a more advantageous cost structure and the necessary degree of control to ensure success
and viability in the long run. This acquisition allows for important, strategic control of assets, provides a positive cash fl ow to the organization and aligns with our vision to meet the needs of the communities we are in. According to Jones, “The stakeholders of Integritus are in a stronger position as a result of this transaction than they were otherwise. The strategic value associated with these assets has now changed and is critically important as we relaunch on our organization’s tuned-up strategy.” After an enduring relationship with the Chakalos family, Jones had nothing but gratitude to express for Integritus Healthcare’s former business partner as we look to the future: “When you do business with someone for 30-plus years, you're grateful for the opportunities that came your way over the course of that time. We'll always be grateful to the family and supportive of them as they move forward from here.”
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“There's no magic to it,” Richardson assured. “Though we do encourage every a ffi liate to submit at least one nomination so all a ffi liates are represented.” After a quarterly review, where a ffi liates submit their nominations to the Home O ffi ce, a committee meets—representing all lines of business—to review nominations. Every sta ff nomination must detail how the employee has gone above and beyond typical job expectations. The PIC Committee looks for Celebrating 15 Years of Pro fi les in Care
Integritus Healthcare has been recognizing sta ff through the Pro fi les in Care (PIC) program since 2007—with the fi rst PIC ceremony held in March of 2008—when leadership decided to focus in on the employee experience. “It's less about a Human Resource program than it is a talent recognition program,” explained Debbie Richardson, Vice President of Talent Management. “We believe that recognition is essential to our success. PIC was developed as a way to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our sta ff , and this helps us cultivate a culture of engagement, build relationships and improve performance across the entire organization.” The PIC Process Since the conception of the program, PIC has recognized nearly 600 winners nominated by their colleagues, residents and their families. And despite having no minimum to the number of nominees, the committee selected to oversee PIC anticipates receiving three to four nominations per a ffi liate— totaling approximately 40 winners each year.
nominators to depict how each nominee demonstrated compassion, dedication and
professionalism—describing how the employee implemented a system that ultimately improved the quality of life, or quality care, of a resident or enhanced employee morale or employee relations. Each nominee gets recognized with a letter from Richardson and then, after the committee meets, the individual receives another letter saying whether they were chosen as a winner. All nominees—whether selected or not—are gifted a box of chocolates and honored by their nominating a ffi liate. “PIC brings out the best in our people,” said Bill Jones, President and CEO of Integritus Healthcare. “We can’t
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achieve the long-range goals we have without sta ff feeling a level of excitement and a high degree of motivation to want to do what's right and to do it at the very highest level. So, every year, to bring 30 or 40 of those individuals together and honor them for setting that example—it’s a tremendous night.” “It's a celebration of sta ff whose impact—on our residents and the patients in our care—really exempli fi es our mission, vision and core values,” Richardson explained. “The actual event gives us an
But the power of PIC also comes from the sharing of these stories because it reminds us of the importance of being seen and heard. “I'm not sure how we would know about half these stories if we didn't have this
process in place,” admitted Richardson. A Commitment to Excellence
Though aspects of the Pro fi les in Care program have changed over the years, its purpose and meaning have remained the same. “The PIC program is a remarkable opportunity to highlight people, shining the spotlight on their stories and how they made a di ff erence,” said Jones. “Just the other night, we celebrated our 15th annual event. And it's always amazing to me—how touching it is for the honorees, and how emotional it is for them, to be so recognized. It’s a real honor to share the stage with them.” “I get goosebumps,
opportunity to thank sta ff who go above and beyond—those who are creating exceptional customer and sta ff experiences.” The Power of Engagement
According to Richardson, “We promote a culture of engagement and recognition. What better way to do that than to recognize our sta ff ? We look at each winner— each honoree—as a leader. They're setting the example for the rest of the sta ff to follow.” “Each honoree’s story is inspiring, reminding us why we do what we do and why our mission is so important to us,” Richardson continued. Integritus Healthcare’s ability to continuously uphold the PIC tradition of
“I get goosebumps, sometimes, when I read the nominations and learn the amazing things that the sta ff are doing for our residents and
sometimes, when I read the nominations and learn the amazing things the sta ff are doing for our residents and our patients,” Richardson con fi ded. “Pro fi les in Care is the most cherished recognition program that we have. It truly is an amazing evening.” Many PIC stories have touched the hearts of Integritus Healthcare’s leadership, sta ff , residents, patients and families since the program’s conception in 2007.
our patients.” Debbie Richardson, Integrit
Healthcare Vice President Of Talent Management
recognition comes from the correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. “Together, those two metrics, or performance levels, drive clinical quality outcomes,” said Jones. “When sta ff are engaged, excited and inspired by achieving quality goals—and they understand the role the customer plays in reinforcing that and connect it to the outcomes you're looking to achieve—it’s very powerful.” The impact of PIC on employee relations, and on all those who learn the stories of their excellence, is a testament to the necessity and weight of the enduring program.
“I have witnessed remarkable sel fl essness in the face of signi fi cant stress, professional uncertainty and personal grief,” said Jones, referring to the hardships of the pandemic but also to the everyday struggles all those who work in health care endure. “I am regularly reminded that our patients and residents are in such good hands.” The Pro fi les in Care celebration is a night to recognize and celebrate the dedication that employees have shown—not only to the company but to those who have been entrusted to our care. They represent the thousands of people who change lives every day at each of our a ffi liates. They are Integritus Healthcare.
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Allen Jimmo Williamstown Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Alma Dolan Linda Manor Assisted Living
Carole LaBelle Pioneer Valley Hospice & Palliative Care Charles Bouley Linda Manor Assisted Living Deb Bessette East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living Diane Kimball HospiceCare in The Berkshires Diane Plant Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility
Edilene Simoes Windsor Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Evelyn Ortiz Mt. Greylock Extended Care Facility Felicia Simpkins Hathaway Manor Extended Care Facility Kane Johanson Pilgrim Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center Laura Lipoufski Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center
Ashiiki Robinson East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Facility Beverly Turner Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center Brittany Bourassa Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center
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Luis Resto IntegriScript Lynn Lak Kimball Farms Life Care Margie Laurin Integritus Healthcare Home O ffi ce Martha Viveiros Hathaway Manor Extended Care Facility Mary Casseday Hunt Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Ohinene Asilijoe (NeNe) Kimball Farms Life Care
Ramon Velez Pilgrim Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center Sharon Karlin Hillcrest Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Sheryl Guettler Integritus Healthcare Home O ffi ce Shirley McIntosh Mt. Greylock Extended Care Facility Suzanne Galbraith Pioneer Valley Hospice & Palliative Care
Tayla Kriesen Pilgrim Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center Terri Bird North Adams Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Theresa Monterosso Hillcrest Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Vernetta Bigelow Fairview Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Von Vitto HospiceCare in The Berkshires
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A Return to Strategic Evaluation Integritus Healthcare and its a ffi liates understand the importance of normalizing Covid operations—not only to face the reality of the potential enduring presence of this virus but also to pivot back to strategy. “In order to be the organization that we want to be, and that we have prided ourselves on being in the past,” asserted Gaudet, “We have to be able to focus on what it means to be a leader in the markets we're in. Customer experience and employee experience are key components to that.” Improving Our Approach to Customer Satisfaction Surveys
“Customer experience is a key component in ensuring the ongoing viability of the organization. That people still want to be with us because they know they can rely on us to provide everything they need,” said Lisa Gaudet, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. “Not just in a way that is acceptable but that is exceptional.” According to Gaudet, to do that, you must be able to focus your teams; provide them tools and a path: “I think it's very easy to get lost in that—particularly with a new platform and tool set. But we’ve found, in working alongside our a ffi liates, that we're learning together. We're going to get there together. And we're almost there.”
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While customer satisfaction work has always been important to Integritus Healthcare, more pressing priorities prevailed in recent years. “We were on a path. We had a strategic plan. We worked that strategic plan. Then Covid emerged,” Gaudet went on to explain. “The landscape changed, and it's been hard to return to that path because Covid isn't gone. When you are in an operations world, where you're trying to take care of people, it makes it di ffi cult to lift your head up from the day-to-day fi re fi ghting and say, ‘I have to focus on the customer experience. I have to focus on employee engagement." As a leading provider of post-acute care, long-term health care and senior housing, Integritus Healthcare knew it was time to address this virus-induced disconnect. But the decision to switch survey administrators cannot be attributed to the pandemic alone. According to Gaudet, “We were still looking at making a change because our prior provider was shifting from a percentile ranking to a net promoter score, which didn't give us a line of sight into how we're doing against others; it really only gave a comparative against yourself.” Leadership had previously been able to see results as a percentile rank within the industry; if 100 skilled nursing facilities were being surveyed, the score would show if your facility was, for instance, in the 80th percentile. “We always felt that was useful,” said Gaudet. “Because you were comparing yourself against people who did that same work across the nation." Leadership understood that a net promoter score would not be the best way
forward with our demographic as it changes over time and people become more comfortable with completing an online survey versus a paper survey. Enhancing Customer Experience Given the breadth of Align’s capabilities, a ffi liates can further mine their patients, residents and their families for continuous feedback throughout the year. Where there once was a single, annual customer satisfaction survey, now there can be ongoing evaluation. What Align calls ‘In the Moment’ surveys allow skilled nursing facilities, for example, multiple, brief touch points throughout a resident’s stay. How did your admission go? Did we provide you with everything necessary for a successful rehabilitation? Are you equipped to make the transition back to your house? A ffi liates can even utilize Align’s online improvement resource library to dig deeper into their results and issue ‘Drill-Down’ surveys targeted at clarifying perceptions. “That’s why this company was a bene fi t,” Gaudet emphasized. “Align breaks performance down into domain areas—quality of services, quality of life, dining, communication—in terms of the relative importance to your demographic, as well as your overall performance in the domain. The domain priority map highlights your domain for opportunity. This helps focus the a ffi liate instead of trying to boil the ocean. They can then use the tools to analyze if they have a process, people or performance issue, and the platform guides them through dissecting
responses to narrow the problem more. So they know, here's what we need to focus on if we want to move the needle.” Access and Guidance “We tried to fi gure out this new system and its many helpful components, but it was challenging to navigate because, along with all these surveys, we were constantly getting results,” said Gaudet. “For every kind of survey you were doing—an admission
for a ffi liates to know whether they were improving within the industry. So, leadership looked to service providers that did have useful benchmarks— comparatives that could be used to assess individual performance against a broader industry performance. The interview process yielded a partnership with Align—chosen for its data-rich benchmarking. From a technology perspective, Align’s dynamic platform also enables Integritus to move
“We’ve found, in working alongside our a ffi liates, that
we're learning together. We're
going to get there together. And we're almost there.” Lisa Gaudet, Integrit Healthcare Vice President Of Business Development And Marketing
survey, a transition readiness survey,
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a discharge survey, an annual survey—you were getting reports from Align. We could tell people were feeling overwhelmed. They didn't understand the process. They weren't sure how this all fi t together.” But Gaudet and her fellow members of the Marketing department and leadership were not discouraged by the initial trepidation of a ffi liates, understanding that change takes time. “We chunked it apart,” Gaudet explained. “Our representative from Align joined meetings and walked us through the online portal where a ffi liates could see their survey results. We never had that before. And it's easy, I think, to overlook a lot of those assets when you don't understand, or have context to, how they relate to what you're doing.” Align’s partnership with the Home O ffi ce, and then with the a ffi liates, helped teams start to see how this all comes together. Leadership could see the value not only in solving for the right customer service experience issues, but buildings started to see the voice of their customer come through in the comments of the results.
“It's always nice to get positive reinforcement,” said Bill Jones, President and CEO of Integritus Healthcare. “But of equal value are people's perspectives when things don't quite go the way they expected. We take that seriously. We channel that back through respective service lines and work on opportunities to continue to improve. Without that, why would you take the survey and on its face value? It's not worth much if you don't do something with it.” “This has become a powerful platform to help us guide people,” explained Gaudet. “We're not having to create these resources on our own now. We can point people to tools that give clarity on their survey results, so they can start to take actions that result in a better customer experience.” According to Gaudet, “We received great scores, and from a benchmark performance perspective, we did quite well. But I think what’s just as vital is that team members now feel like they have access to resources they can use to help guide a performance improvement project.”
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“I think it was a nice win for people who, throughout the pandemic, have felt really de fl ated,” said Gaudet. “They haven't had a lot of great feedback to say, ‘You're doing a good job.’ You're usually fi nding yourself feeling a bit like there's another fi re to put out. So, organizationally, we found a way to take what the customer is telling us and use that in a way to share with our teams and other customers.” Continued Improvement Organizationally, we are pushing for a 60% response rate for 2024, and our three-year goal—for the end of 2025—is to get to 95% “would you recommend.” With access to the right tools and the right support, our teams can look toward continued growth and purposeful improvement.
“It's critical to not only get feedback but also to let our customers talk for us,” was Gaudet’s mantra. “We've been able to marry up the marketing team with our admissions directors to start to say, ‘Look at your reports. What are the 10 words that appeared most often in the comments section?’ We should be using those when we're talking to our families. We should be using those when we're talking about making an adaptation to a brochure.” Despite the service lines each having their own surveys and speci fi c demographics, the results were unanimous. Collectively, the patients, residents and families of Integritus Healthcare agreed on how to describe the organization, its team members and its a ffi liates’ accommodations: caring, friendly, comfortable, safe, clean, happy, excellent, pleasant, helpful and welcoming.
Survey Results Overview
Response Rate
Overall Quality of Services Recommendation to Others
55%
83%
82%
Skilled Nursing Facilities
52%
96%
96%
Assisted Living
Independent Living 99% Collective Mean Ratings 63% Response Rate 93% Good & Excellent Rating 92% Good & Excellent Rating 81% 99%
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Meet Hillcrest Commons’ Artists: Rising Above Adversity
The Central Block 75 North Street, Suite 210 P.O. Box 2489, Pitts fi eld, MA 01202 www.integritushealthcare.org
We’re right where you need us: Berkshire County Fairview Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Hillcrest Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center HospiceCare in The Berkshires Kimball Farms Life Care Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center Kimball Farms PineHill Assisted Living Mt. Greylock Extended Care Facility North Adams Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Williamstown Commons Nursing & Rehabilitation Center Pioneer Valley Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility Day Brook Village Senior Living East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Center Pioneer Valley Hospice & Palliative Care Linda Manor Assisted Living Linda Manor Extended Care Facility Northeastern Massachusetts Hunt Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Pilgrim Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center Southeastern Massachusetts Bourne Manor Extended Care Facility Hathaway Manor Extended Care Facility Windsor Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Massachusetts Statewide
Photo credit: Stephanie Zollshan, The Berkshire Eagle
Hillcrest Commons’ residents are encouraged to pursue their interests and goals by our supportive health care team. Our employees get to know the personal history, routines and preferences of every resident to help them feel more at home. When we have residents with roadblocks keeping them from following their passions—like Brandy Trigona and Christopher Fuelner, who were featured in The Berkshire Eagle—the Hillcrest Commons team steps up to bridge the gap. Trigona was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease in 2019, losing function of her body at age 52. As an artist, she knew she would have to think outside the box to learn new methods of creating that would not involve her hands. Now, Trigona uses a bite-controlled Bluetooth headset linked to an iPad to make her works of art through head movements. Having iPad access has enabled Trigona to create 500 drawings and connect with a tight-knit community of those who share her diagnosis. No stranger to adversity himself, Christopher Fuelner was six years old when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor that had caused him to endure two strokes, leaving him with a poor prognosis. Against all odds, now 49-year-old Fuelner has been creating art for 12 years— describing the act as therapeutic. He uses acrylic pens and Sharpies—supplied through Hillcrest Commons—to draw anything that comes to mind. Trigona and Fuelner have made the most of their circumstances, adapting to live how they want. They are an inspiration to us all.
IntegriNurse IntegriScript
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