Upper Management Does not take employee's feedback seriously. More concerned with image than reality. promises more to families than they can deliver. What they claim to do, and what they really do are often worlds apart. For example, Silverado's web site claims that at one particular community, the residents do A, B, and C. I worked in that building for two years and it didn't happen. One community might be really good in an area--say, resident engagement. Another community might be completely different in budget and priorities.
Pets--residents keeping pets, and the community animals are a lovely idea and a great marketing tool. However, Silverado doesn't prioritize animal safety and quality of care. it varied according to the employees' level of concern, ability and willingness to advocate for the animals who are in most cases more defenseless than residents. Even if Silverado as an entity doesn't actually 'care' that the animals are living creatures, they should invest in one of the most popular features to prospective and current families. In my experience, an animal has to be strangled or suffocated several times before anyone listens to concerns. There was a turtle who outgrew her tank and had almost no room to move. it took over a year before anyone took action, in spite of family and employee concerns.
I realize all employees are busy, and may not have the time or the training to be concerned with animal well-being when resident well-being can be so overwhelming. However, I actually had more than one organized solution to the issue, that would not have cost corporate anything extra, overall. No one with any power was really interested in listening to solutions--because maintaining status quo wasn't really affecting them.
Resident care is the same. I saw some very unsafe transferring practices in at least two separate communities. Unsafe, yet not against policy. I mentioned to supervisor of the particular department-- and she became angry and sarcastic. She has no training in PT/OT and I do, if she doesn't care about the residents or employees getting injured, she or upper management should at least care about the potential lawsuits.
In summary, in my opinion, the Silverado I experienced was very short-sighted. I feel the way things were handled at my primary community is analogous to landlords I've had in the past: a house could be structurally unsound, crumbling at its foundations. Yet they slap a few costs of paint on, maybe replace a board here or there--so they can rent it out to someone else--buying up more properties so they can repeat the process exponentially.
Silverado has a great mission statements, and I believe, most likely began as a solid structure. But it's crumbling in ways that require more than short-term solutions.
