Words from our President
By Jeff Shireman, President/CEO
Each year, LeadingAge (our national trade association) and Ziegler Securities jointly publish a compendium of statistics related to nonprofit senior living organizations in the United States. In just under 200 pages, they provide data on just about everything you’d want to know (and perhaps not want to know!) about retirement communities like Londonderry Village. They always compile a list of the 100 largest ‘single-campus’ communities, which they calculate by adding the total number of independent living units and health care beds on each campus. In the last published list (2016 data), Londonderry Village was ranked in position #53 with 473 total units; however, that did not include our new Wheaton apartment building (phase 1 or 2), which would add another 36 units. At 509 units, we would rank somewhere around the 42nd position!
Pennsylvania has more nonprofit retirement communities than any other state (about 180 of them) in the nation, so it is not surprising that there were several other PA communities that joined us on the list. Two of the largest are Brethren-affiliated: Cross Keys Village (829 units for position #9) and Brethren Village (766 units for position #14). Other local organizations of interest included Tel Hai (577 units for position #28) and Cornwall Manor (446 units for position #67).
Is community size important? In many ways it can be, as greater size tends to come with greater resources, so a community has the ability to afford to provide the types of services and amenities that prospective residents are looking for. In other ways, size can be either an advantage or a detriment. It usually depends on whether potential customers are looking for a smaller, more intimate setting, or conversely, for a larger campus where there are more people to meet and more activities to enjoy. The challenge confronting LVBH is to continue to grow to meet the needs of our increasing senior population, while at the same time maintaining our positive reputation for high quality care and personalized service.