Diligence & Decisions

With just two months remaining in 2015, I am very excited by what United Church Homes has accomplished in a very short period of time.

Since January, the organization has secured a major management contract with Friendship Village of Columbus, adopted a fresh set of Vision-Mission-Core Value statements, completed three strategic acquisitions in the Marietta and Dayton markets to augment our existing business plan and expand our ministry, and launched a new and transformative intervention program — Music & Memory — for use with our residents suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s been a busy and productive year.

What’s more, these accomplishments have occurred while we continue to improve upon our track record of providing quality care, as evidenced by having two communities earn Silver Quality Awards, an honor reserved for about one percent of the nation’s long-term care centers. We’re also engaged in a wide range of capital expenditure projects, looking to improve, update and modernize our physical plants for the benefit of our residents.

In every community, there is change and transformation, initiative and growth. These have become the hallmarks of United Church Homes as an organization, and will continue into the foreseeable future. The list of achievements is long and grows with each passing day.

Amid this flurry of visible activity there is a myriad of behind-the-scenes meetings, debates, analyses — the lifeblood of activities associated with an expanding ministry. We’ve become adept at the art of conducting the diligence needed to make these strategic decisions, conscious of the unifying principle that all decisions are based on embracing our mission to create community, wholeness and peace. We’re able to consider these opportunities for the future because we’ve been prudent with our resources in the past. Our journey has led us here.

This issue of Spirit magazine covers many of these achievements — the acquisition of a new community in Dayton, the progress of our ongoing capital improvement projects, and the impact of the Music & Memory program on one family. This coupling of diligence with decisions is also a recurring theme in the life stories of residents who are featured in these pages — John Rainey and Gene Finnegan of Parkvue, Fran Gottfried of Fairhaven, Miriam Buss of Oakhaven, Bob Perdue of Trinity Community at Fairborn (formerly Patriot Ridge), Carol Guinn of Biimaadiiziiwiin, and the Armed Forces veterans of Chapel Hill. Each of these residents conducted some of their own diligence before proceeding with a life-changing decision.

United Church Homes is a vibrant and expansive organization, providing healthcare and housing services for over 4,000 residents who are equally vibrant, with equally expansive stories to share. We invite you to join us on our individual and collective journeys to become one in community. And may you find wholeness on your journey, and peace at its conclusion!