THE INSPIRATION COMPILATION BE READY FOR YOUR CHANCE


was working at, and I did activities with the residents. I was on my way to an interview for an-


other job in North Carolina, got lost on 485, and pulled into Waltonwood by mistake. It was holding open interviews. I did a quick Google search and thought: Well, this is interesting; I’ll give it a shot. I didn’t know how good I would be be-


cause I’d never been a full-time third-shift person. It took some getting used to. I think the most inspiring thing for me


was that the community was brand new. I had never been in a community that was a startup—trying to figure it all out and just making successes as you go. The building was incredibly new and exciting to me. Even though it wasn’t the first-shift job


Eric Davis, executive director, Waltonwood Cotswold  He started as a third-shift wellness nurse, in 2015.


 An encouraging culture and community made the difference in advancement.


My mother is a nurse, and my grandmother was a nurse, and when I graduated from high school, my mom suggested I give nurs- ing a shot. Of course, just like any other high school graduate, I didn’t want to do what my mom had planned for me. I was going to do social work. But I began to feel like it wasn’t the right


fit for me, so I thought, “You know what? Let me give nursing a try.” Once I realized that’s where I wanted


to be, I enrolled and went through nursing school, in upstate New York. All the while when I was in college, I was working at this skilled nursing community that my mom


THE POWER OF “CREATIVE CARE”


Creativity has the power to transform lives—Dr. Anne Basting has seen it. The MacArthur “genius award” grantee created the award-winning TimeSlips storytelling and theater alliance to help older people and people with dementia bring meaning to life. Her latest book, Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care, is a trove


of ideas, exercises, and explanations of how “arts can both reshape how people think about aging and also foster growth and meaning in later life.” The book has a companion Creative Care Imagination Kit with cards, prompts, and tools that make putting these ideas into practice easy. Visit anne-basting.com for more information.


or the coordinator position that I thought I would want as a nurse new to North Carolina, it let me get my foot in the door. It would be interesting to be part of opening a community. And it was maybe three or four months later that I was promoted to the wellness coordinator position. When I was promoted to associate execu-


tive director, the stars aligned, and one of our med techs had just finished nursing school as I was leaving my wellness coordinator position. She was able to step into my position, and I was able to train her. I’m championing the fact that she worked really hard and stayed with us through nursing school, and we were able to promote her into my position. I think that’s the greatest thing. People want to stay with a good company. We recently just promoted a wonderful


second-shift concierge to our move-in coordinator at Waltonwood. She’s doing a wonderful job—some people hated to see her leave the concierge desk because she was so good at it. We gave her the training and the tools to do it, and we recognize her for where she’s taken it. She wants to become a marketing manager, so that could definitely be in her future. At our new hire orientation, I talk about


how I’ve grown with the company, and that if you’re a med tech, you can become a business office manager, for example. We will home in on that goal, and we will give you the support.


TIP: Sometimes a chance meeting—or taking a chance—can open your eyes to new possibilities. 20 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021


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