Since last November, one of the nation’s biggest television stations, WBAL-TV in Baltimore, has had a special news team investigating assisted living and it hasn’t made the industry look good.  Even the logo the station developed for this news series appears menacing (here’s the logo on the left.)  Its latest report appeared recently  and it talked about seminars instructing attendees on how to make “fast cash” in assisted living.  This coverage follows a wave of negative news about the industry that appeared all last year in such major media as USA TODAY and the Washington Post.
As a senior living executive, are you prepared to handle this kind of publicity?  Are your communities prepared?  Think about this – even at the best-run AL communities in Baltimore, management and staff must be fielding questions from residents and families who’ve seen these reports and are alarmed.  Families seeking care for the relatives are bound to be influenced by these reports and think twice about seeking AL versus home care.  It’s highly likely that media around the country will continue these kinds of reports in coming months and it’s crucial that senior living executives be ready to handle them.  Our recommendation: Review your operations to make sure you’re shipshape and then prepare a series of speaking points to use about your operations and this issue in case the media calls you.  Identify who in your organization is authorized to speak on this topic and make sure media calls are referred to that person or persons.  If you’d like more insight on this issue, call our team at (757) 625-2518.