Paul Contris Interview - November 2015

1. Katherine: Helloeveryone,thankyousomuchfor joiningusaswe talk withPaul Contris.
He's goingto talkwithus againaboutassistedliving,and101 care forour
parents,skillednursing.
Before we getintothat,Paul,will yougive themalittle bitmore aboutyou?
Some people will rememberyoucomingoneverymonthwithus,andsome
people are justhearingyouforthe firsttime.Youcan give abrief synopsisabout
whoyou are,and yourcompanyWelcov.Okay?
Paul Contris: Sure. I have a companycalledWelcovHealthcare andit'sa seniorcare company.
We have a chainof skillednursingfacilities,assistedlivingfacilities,independent
livingfacilities,andhome healthcare agencieslocatedthroughoutthe Midwest.
Our headquartersisinEdina,Minnesota,andI've beeninthe longtermcare
businessprettymuchmywhole career.
You can findouta lotmore about Welcovinour website,it'swww.welcov.com.
That's W-E-L-C-O-V.com.
Katherine: All rightnowwe've talkedondifferentscenariosaboutputtingourparentsinto
an assistedlivingfacility,orevenwhentohave thatconversation.Iwanttogo
back justa little bit,because Ikindof jumpedinthe middle there.
Whenis the besttime tobringthis up?What's the bestquestion?Okay,the
bestquestioniswhatare we noticingaboutour parentsthat saysto us,"Okay
it's time tohave thisconversation,orwe needtomake a decision?"
Paul Contris: Well a lotof timesitsepisodic.Theyhave,youknow maybe theyliveina2 story
home and theyfall downthe stairs,andtheybreaka hipor something,andit's
like,"Wowthey're really"...sometimesitcanjustbe a compellingeventthat
kindof pusheseverybodytoreassessandreevaluate.Say,"Manmaybe we need
a safer,more secure environmentforthem,"andat thatpointtheykindof
realize ittoo.
I thinkyoumighthave touchedonthe lastconversationabout,there is
definitelyashiftinthe perceptionof the seniorcare settingoptions.The older
generationthere wasn'tawhole lotof alternatives,asinnursinghomes40,50
yearsago, and nobodywantedtogo to a nursinghome tospendtheirtwilight
years.
Nowwithindependent,assistedlivingsettings,reallythey're verynice
apartmentresidential settingsthatprovide servicesforpeopleof greaterday
and age.It's a veryattractive optionnow forpeople thatare inadvancedyears
and I thinkmore ...the current populationof elderlyare definitelyrealizingthat,
and seeingthat,andgettingmore comfortable withit.

2. Paul Contris November 2015 Page 2 of 4
By the time,Ithink,we getto that pointit's goingtobe evenmuchmore
acceptable.It'sleftlike we,asthisindustrymatures,thatitwill have tobe
somethingepisodicwhere somebodyfallsandbreaks...it'slike youcankindof
...people will be,youknow the parentswill be,makingtheirowndecisionsand
movingtoa more secure settingwithpeople thattheycansocialize with,and
theydon't have tokeepup the maintenance of the yard,andthe house,andall
that.
It dependsoneachindividual.Imean,there will alwaysbe peoplewhosay,
"hey,I neverwanttomove out of my house.Idon't care."In those cases,it
reallydoeshave togetto a pointwhere it'sobviousto,notonlytothe kids,but
to the parentsthemselvesand"heyIcan't maintainthishouseholdanymore,it's
time forme to move intoa more appropriate setting."Itkindof dependsonthe
times,andthe individuals,Ithink.
Katherine: Is that where skillednursingcouldcome inif the personisprettymuchrefusing
to leave home,orskillednursingsomethingthathappensatthe assistedliving
facility?
Paul Contris: No,no, skilled...Well,yeah.Skillednursingtodayisalmostwhathospitalswere
40, or 50 yearsago. People wouldvisit...it'sroundthe clockcoverage withthe
nurses,RN's,LTN's,Aids,it'sreallymore state.It'sfor more kindof rehab
oriented,people whohave beeninthe hospital,people whohave some chronic
disease,people whohave some needfor...They've gotsome medicallycomplex
situationwhere theyneed24hour nursingcare.
That's a whole differentdeal thenwhatwe're talkingabout.Whenisittime for
your parentstogo from theirownhome,tosome sort of residentialcare
facility?That'smore kindof a matter of choice.It dependsontheirneeds,and
theirability,tokindof maintainthe home andfunctionsafelyandsecurelyin
theirhome.
Skillednursingislike okay...inthatepisodicexample thatIusedbefore.Now
theybreaka hip,they're goingto go to the hospital care,they're goingtohave
an operation,andtheymighthave a shortstay ina skillednursing.Afterthe 3,
or 4, daysinthe hospital,they'll gotoa skillednursingfacilitytorecoverforsay
2 weeks,3weeks,maybe 4weeksatthe most.They'll have intensive rehab
services everyday,andyouknow getthemback up andmobile.There'sthe
pointat the endof that 3 or 4, do theygo back to theirhome,orshouldtheygo
intoan assistedliving,orindependentsetting?
Yeah.Skillednursingisreallyonlyforpeople whoneed24hournursingcare.
Katherine: Okay,that makesa differencethere.Youtalkedabouthow accommodatingthe
communityisforassistedliving.Iwonderif it'sa conversationthat'shad,like
will theirfriendsbe similartothe friendsthey've hadbefore?Will theyhave to
adapt to new,a diverse backgroundof people?Maybe aroundthe same age.

3. Paul Contris November 2015 Page 3 of 4
Whentheygo to thisnew neighborhood,orthisnew community,what'sthat
transitionlike?Are theygoingtosee some familiartypesof people?Will they
have to move intoa foreignplace forthem, butjusttheirhome?I'mjust
thinkingaboutthe people ...because friendshipissoimportantandas we get
olderwe lose some of those friendships,andbythe time we getto a certain
age,some of ourfriends have passedon.
What isthat like whentheygettothiscommunity?Are theyexcited,youthink,
aboutthe opportunitytomake new friends?How similarisittowhat theywere
usedto intheirsocial livesbeforemoving?Doesthatmake sense?
Paul Contris: Yeah,that's a reallygoodquestion.Ithasa ... I meanthat definitelydependson
the individualssituation.Ithinkingeneral thatisone of the thingsthat reallyis
heavyonthe mindof these people whoare movingtothese places.It'snotlike
they're movingtosome place where,"HeyI've gota bunch of friendsI've known
for yearsalready."
In all likelihoodpeople atthisstage right,buta lot of theirfriendshave passed
on.If they've gotto cut 1, or 2, reallyclose friendsthenthose friendsprobably
visitthemat theirhome now.Well those friendscanvisitthematthe assisted
livingfacility,unlessthey're movingoutof state,orsomething.That'sa bigdeal
for people because,grantedthe facilityhasabunch of people theirage,itisa
bunchof people thattheydon'tknow.There isthat whole processof meeting
newpeople,andmakingfriends.
Typicallypeopleatthatage are,you know youget kindof setin yourways.You
don't reallywantchange,andyou're not inthe state of mind to socialize and
make newfriends,butit'sa gradual process.
On the otherhand there'sa lotof times,people atthatage,they've beenjust
livinginisolationalmostintheirhomes.Reallyall theydoiswatchTV, and their
friendshave movedon,or passedaway,andmaybe theysee theirkidsonce a
week,orwhatever.
On the otherhand itis,for some of them, veryinvigoratingandit'sa positive
thingto be able to all of a suddenbe arounda bunchof people theirage.Once
again,it dependsonthe individual.Sometimesthe individuals,they're
introverts,theyjustdon'tsocialize.
Katherine: Theydon't wantto socialize anyway.
Paul Contris: Yeah theyneverhave,andsome are reallyoutgoingandextroverts,andthey're
goingto love it.It really dependsonthe individual.
Katherine: One lastquestionbefore we wrapupourtime today.What thingsare offered
there?Like whatkindof servicescanone expect,ingeneral,fromassistedliving
facilities?

4. Paul Contris November 2015 Page 4 of 4
Paul Contris: Well assistedlivingisveryhigh servicelevel.Independentlivingismore like an
apartmentwitha little more limitedservices.Assistedlivingis,that'sforpeople
whoneedreallyhelpwithalotof theirdailyactivitiesof dailyliving,ADL'sis
whatthey're called.
You get3 mealsa day,you getyour housekeeping,yougetpeople whocanhelp
youwithyour medications.Theytake youon...theyhave activities,andyoucan
go on trips,andtheyhave events,ortheycan cater them to yourwhatever.You
needtogo to the eye doctor, go to the doctor,the pharmacy.I mean assisted
livingisaprettyexpansive arrayof services.
Katherine: All right,soundsgood.Paul we're goingtocontinue thisconversationnext
month.It's gettingmore andmore excitingtome,as I'm realizing,it's goingto
be time one day to have thisconversation.Asyousaid,asthat time comesfor
us,it's goingto be more natural thenitis forour parents,or those whohave
had to findotherarrangementsastheywere gettingolderandtheirhealthwas
fading.I like thatwe're goingto keephavingthisconversationbecause itmakes
people comfortable,andwe canexpose the elephantinthe room, andwe can
getthose conversationsstarted.Thissoundsnice,Iwanttogo to the assisted
living,itsoundsnice.Icanplan,thisis the nextphase,ora phase inmylife.
Thank youfor sharingyourexpertisewithus,andwe'll talkwithyouagainon
nextmonth,all right?
Paul Contris: Great, thankyouKatherine.
Katherine: Thank you,have a wonderful day.
Paul Contris: You too,bye.