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Brookdale Senior Living Earns National Honors
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NASHVILLE, TN
6/13/2008 |
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Brookdale Senior Living is pleased to announce that two of its programs were honored with national recognition from the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA). Brookdale’s Good People program and the Culinary Arts Institute at Brookdale won ALFA’s 2008 Best of the Best Awards.
Chosen from questionnaires submitted by companies and interviews with ALFA staff, the annual Best of the Best Awards recognize innovative operational best practices at senior living companies.
“These innovations recognize companies that have put their imaginations to work to continually improve and streamline operations, enhance resident care and services, retain and train quality employees, and much more,” says ALFA President and CEO Richard P. Grimes. “Plus, the industry-wide benefit of the Best of the Best Awards is the program’s ability to multiply excellence as other companies adopt similar best practices or parts of outstanding programs as a result of this important recognition program.”
The awards were presented to Brookdale during one of the general sessions at ALFA’s annual conference held in late May. In addition, the winning programs are featured in the cover story of June's Assisted Living Executive magazine. Winning entries are also posted on ALFA’s Web site at http://www.alfa.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=4648.
The Culinary Arts Institute (CAI) at Brookdale takes a fresh approach at developing Brookdale Senior Living’s culinary talent. Designed to enhance the culinary abilities of associates, The CAI is a professional development program that has three main components. First, The CAI has a live element, which is a week-long session where associates travel to Chicago for classroom and hands-on training. Secondly, The CAI offers online, Internet courses to sharpen and expand associates’ culinary skills and techniques. Finally, The CAI has a road show, where CAI chefs travel to communities and offer a half-day session of hands-on training.
“Brookdale is committed to the success of its associates and their desire to grow with the company,” said Joska Hajdu, senior vice president of Dining Services for Brookdale. “Developing talent from within the organization supports the company’s mission statement and fosters Brookdale’s “better and different” philosophy.”
The Good People program is an associate retention campaign based upon the beliefs of a company founder who said “It is not the bricks and mortar that make an organization great. It is the people – good people who care, who have compassion, who have commitment. And always remember – good people beget good people.”
The Good People program is designed to reward Brookdale Senior Living associates who refer, help develop and retain others to work in its communities. Through the program, associates are paid for each hour their recruit works and may be eligible for a bonus for each person they refer to the company. As a result, Good People referrals embark on promising new careers, residents receive better service, associates receive compensation for their referral and the company continues to grow stronger.
“While truly a great recruiting tool for generating candidate leads, the program focus far exceeds recruiting and serves as a viable associate retention program as well,” said Dwight Tew, vice president of Talent Solutions for Brookdale. “The Good People program is an exciting initiative for our associates and valuable for our residents as well, which assists in achieving our mission ‘to enrich the lives of those we serve.” |
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Contact: Holly Botsford, Public Relations Manager, 414-918-5314,
hbotsford@brookdaleliving.com
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