SPRING 2008Tom Smith
Director of Institutional Advancement
This Holiday Season, I attended and played host to several holiday parties. It is always nice to dust off old friendships and to hug relatives that you only see during this time of year. Bragging about your kids, listening in on old family gossip, and quick naps tend to fill in the time gaps between feedings. Inevitably, old family photographs magically appear into the hands of the family historian as the children gather and listen to the many funny stories about their parents and grandparents.
It was at one of these holiday gatherings, in the middle of choking down Aunt Betty’s Fruit Cake, when my Uncle John, my father’s younger brother, began to ask me about Friends Village. I shoveled out, as best I could, all of the generic marketing information that I thought he might find interesting. In the middle of congratulating myself for another fine marketing pitch about Friends Village, he began to ask a series of peculiar questions; how many resident activities are scheduled in a week? How many meals are served in a day? How many RN’s do you have on staff? And here I thought the Fruit Cake was going to be my biggest challenge of the night.
As I stumbled through some guesstimates of what I thought were close enough figures, I realized that I had some homework to do after the holidays. The week that I returned to work, I began asking department supervisors these intriguing questions. From the puzzled looks on their faces, I immediately knew that they haven’t given previous thought to the matter. Thus, I began a hunt for answers. This is what I found…
As a whole, Friends Village has 230 staff members. Some departments staff only one person, while others staff upwards of 90 people. The Healthcare Staff has 12 Registered Nurses, 18 Licensed Practical Nurses, and 52 Certified Nurses Assistants. The Activities Department has 7 staff members and 48 volunteers providing the residents 696 group activities per month. This figure does not include resident driven activities which at best guess is over 80 activities per month.
Housekeeping staffs 18 people broken down into Laundry, Housekeeping, and Floors. The Laundry department washes, dries, and folds over 486 loads of laundry per month. Housekeepers are responsible for the 223 resident rooms and dozens of general area cleanings.
Morrison’s Senior Dining Services operates the Dining Department which staffs 60 people. There are 6 dining rooms, 5 pantries, and 1 kitchen. In an average month, the Dining Department serves 15,000 meals to our residents. Selectively broken down, the following are some examples of food volume in an average month; 320 Lbs of chicken breast, 840 Lbs of fresh fish, 120 gallons of ice cream, 114 gallons of milk, and 416 loaves of bread—staggering figures when compared to your own kitchen pantry!
Shortly after completing this research, I emailed my uncle these figures. His response; “I thought that your original figures were a little low.” Knowledge of these figures will obviously not help you in Final Jeopardy, but will give you a better appreciation for what it takes to provide superior service in the continuing care retirement community sector. Friends Village’s model for success has been the benchmark of our industry for more than 110 years. The devotion of our staff and the guidance of our Board of Trustees propels our success and insures the best possible care for our residents.
If you are interested in obtaining more information about Friends Village at Woodstown, please contact Jeni Beske, Marketing Director at (856) 769-5035 or visit us at www.friendsvillage.org.
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Last modified:
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 11:04 PM
