Don’t miss the preview of the ASHA 2024 Annual Meeting with David Schless, President of ASHA Living. Hear how ASHA addresses national press and provides crisis communication insights, plus the bright future ahead for the seniors housing industry.

Bridge the Gap is a proud media sponsor of ASHA.
‍

Produced by Solinity Marketing.

‍

Become a BTG sponsor.

‍

Listen to more episodes here.

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, Hamilton CapTel, Service Master, Patriot Angels, The Bridge Group Construction and Solinity. And produced by Solinity Marketing.

‍

Lucas 00:55

Welcome to Bridge The Gap podcast, the senior living podcast. And a great episode on today, a good friend of the industry and the program. We wanna welcome back to the show, Dave Schless of ASHA. Welcome to the show.

‍

David 1:10

Thank you, Lucas. It's always good to be with you.

‍

Lucas 1:12

Absolutely. Good to see you back on. And for our listeners, they're probably thinking, "Okay, I know why Dave is back on, is because they're going to talk about the membership meeting. Because that's typically when we have Dave and we have the membership annual meeting coming up January 22nd through the 24th. And I was actually surprised by the location. This is going to be fun. It's in Miami. Dave, what can people expect to get out of the annual meeting coming up in January?

‍

David 1:42

The ASHA meetings are usually very high-level participation. So we expect a very good turnout, probably somewhere 650 to 700 industry leaders across the space. So developer, owner, operator, lender, investor types, for-profit, not-for-profit. All of the different product segments from active adult through AL, memory care, life plan. So we really kind of cover the gamut. We really try and make the meetings a mix of educational content with great networking. I mean, I think that's really what we try to do with these meetings. Very cognizant of why do people come to these meetings? They come to the meetings to learn and they come to the meetings to network with other industry leaders. We really do encourage people to participate fully in the sessions, try and block plenty of time for activities and networking. So it's what we've tried to do since ASHA was started 30-plus years ago.

‍

Lucas 2:46

Well, and you take great care of the members and you really do put a lot of intent and thought into these annual meetings and just a great support around the industry. I mean, I noticed even recently you've been sending out a lot of information to your members in regards to negative press that's been out there about our industry. And it's always nice to know that we can rely on ASHA we can rely on an organization like yours that you've been a part of for so long and so many years to get our back, to get the senior living industries back. How has the response to some of those things that have just recently come out?

‍

David 3:23

Couple of different major publications that you know, that you're referring to. The first was the New York Times, which ran a series a few weeks ago that they did with the Kaiser Family Foundation, mostly focused on the cost of long-term care. There were some jabs taken about the AL industry in particular, but we kind of viewed that piece as an opportunity to talk about some real societal issues that are out there. The need to try and revitalize long-term care insurance market, the need to plan for one's retirement and they're complicated issues, but they're real issues. And with expanded longevity, there are costs associated with providing care for people who live to advanced stages. So we're fortunate enough to get our letter published by the New York Times. That piece, again, was focused on a real issue and it's a real challenge.

‍

David 4:22

And we know, yes, there is definitely a population that has pensions, they've saved for retirement, they've got home equity, they can afford the various products, but we know that there's a number of people who either didn't make enough money or didn't plan and didn't save. And so it identified some some very real issues. And that piece was probably neutral relative to the several stories that ran this past Sunday in the Washington Post, which as you mentioned, we knew that was coming. That was several months and several reporters in the making. The Post invested heavily in that piece. We over the years have spent a lot of time with crisis communications folks and legal counsel and we have a lot of people that we work with. And so I think we tried as best we could to get people in the industry prepared for what ultimately was published.

‍

David 5:22

The pieces focused on a variety of things, but certainly elopements with fatalities from AL and memory care settings. It's unfortunate, but when a Washington Post devotes that amount of time and money to do an investigation, if you will, they don't necessarily put any balance into the article and in this instance, articles. And that was what we thought would happen and that was what happened. So I mean, there's a lot of mischaracterizations, a lot of things that are in the articles that are really unfortunate because I don't think they help the consumer. They don't really tell the complex story of taking care of folks that have cognitive impairment and they really mischaracterize an industry that is overwhelmingly positive, that overwhelmingly does a terrific job taking care of a lot of people. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

‍

David 6:20

One of the things that ASHA's been working on, we've talked a little bit about it, but we'll talk more about it at the annual meeting. We've been really working hard on our, Where You Live Matters website. There is a vehicle for us to help the industry tell its story in this instance to provide a response to a very negative story. So those are the things that we expect to be able to do with a much better platform when the new Where You Live Matters rolls out next year. But there's a number of things in those Washington Post articles, I would say they really do a disservice to everyone. They do a disservice to the consumer. They certainly do a disservice to the hardworking women and men who put everything that they have into their job and take great care of the consumers.

‍

David 7:08

And so the reality is that on very rare occasions, very rare occasions, there are incidents that take place in communities with tragic results. So no one wants to diminish that. They're absolutely tragic and everyone is so negatively affected. The staff, the residents, I mean everyone, it's so horrible when it happens, but it happens extremely rarely. And the truth is, people who have cognitive impairments, those folks are far safer living in assisted living than they are living at home with an informal caregiver. And I believe that in my heart. I think that is the fact and it's a very complex population to take care of. Overwhelmingly the industry does a great job and its workforce deserves better than what the Washington Post wrote last Sunday.

‍

Lucas 8:05

Yeah, well said Dave. I totally agree with you. Again, this is a great testimony and testament to the reason why an organization like ASHA is so important to our industry because I'm sure you have lost count over the many, many years of how many times ASHA has stepped up to be a voice for our industry and be a voice for the caregivers and the workers that have given their lives to do this very heavy lifting, very complicated work in caring for older adults in various stages of their life. And so thank you for ASHA continuing to just hold that mantle for the industry. And so transitioning on into 2024, I'm sure there will be other battles fought continuing into 24 so much that is still settling from the storms that have been raging over the years as so many things have impacted the industry. And we have seen still the after effects of cost soaring and operators still having challenges being successful in in the marketplace. We have seen trends of occupancy rising. I'm hearing that, but costs are still a big factor. Development is still very strained and I know that labor is still strained. I've just gone down a litany of a menu of different things. What do you think 2024 is going to be like for senior housing?

‍

David 9:30

There's still a lot of issues that the industry will have to kind of slog through in 2024. When I look at the challenges, the capital markets, and the liquidity issues that are out there. And again, that's a little bit more broad than senior housing, but those are challenges that have affected a lot of people over the course of the past year. And some hopeful signs that perhaps the interest rates will tick down a bit next year. And dramatic increases in interest rates were one of the real challenges that affected us this year. This certainly some signs that some of the labor challenges have maybe tempered a bit. Again, it's still a challenging labor market. I think for most of the operators and most parts of the country. I am an optimist by nature, so I look at 2024 as a transition year.

‍

David 10:24

Again, I think we got to kind of get through 2024 beginning 2025 and beyond. I think there are really positive things that we're going to see in the industry. Ultimately I am one of those people who believes that we will have a lot more demand than we will have supply of senior housing. And I think that's in the not-too-distant future. I know there are people that don't necessarily want to hear that. I think that's going to happen. I think the demographics are real, particularly as you say, with the constrained construction environment and lending environment. I do think that we will see that again, I am optimistic that the industry has a very bright run ahead of it. We have a great product, we have a product people need, we have a product that the affordability is a challenge. But as I've mentioned before, there are plenty of people who have retirement savings, they have pensions, they have equity from their home. There are plenty of people who can afford market-rate senior housing. This was never an easy business, but we'll get through it. And I think there's a lot of reasons to be very bullish about senior housing.

‍

Lucas 11:36

I totally agree with you. These are the types of conversations that will take place at the membership meeting. Very important ones. It's a great time to come together and Dave, we really appreciate you, the years that you have been in leadership there and continue to bring this great content and a great platform for the members to come together and have these very important conversations and very excited to be all together in Miami coming up very soon. Appreciate your time today.

‍

David 12:04

Absolutely. Well, I thank you and we are big, big fans of Bridge The Gap, so I enjoy listening to your podcast, enjoy being on them and I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks and what will hopefully be a sunny, warm Florida.

‍

Lucas 12:18

That's right. That's right. Well, thanks, Dave. And to all of our listeners who want to know more information, just scroll down right there in the show notes and you can check out the links to ASHA and the membership meeting, and be a part of it. Come join ASHA and be a part of this important conversation. And thanks for listening to another great episode of Bridge The Gap.

‍

12:37

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.