Judas Could Not Have Done Better

This weekend the Board of Directors of my place of work hauled in the management company that they thought placed well in their line up of choices to come in and clean house.  Many residents came to hear the PowerPoint presentation with all of the marketing folks who came in suits with vague answers to allay the fears of all. The were very slick and had an answer, albeit amorphous, for every concern that was presented.  Too slick some said.  Too many suits some said.

A Quaker inspired retirement facility, we are very different, or so I thought. Quakers do not believe in drawing attention to themselves but it seems that they are still susceptible to being marketed like the rest of us. A very well rehearsed presentation by Pacific Retirement Services Inc. had won over almost all of the residents, some adamantly opposed previously, to the idea of all of the wonderful qualities that suits can only promise. 

It was clear today when the BOD claimed they had chosen PRS that they had chosen before the presentation.  Clever board members led the residents down the primrose path with the suits leading the way to a better, more solvent world.  The residents are no longer worried about the loyal staff of our campus, they just want the goodies. 

It is a sad day when something so right becomes co-opted by corporate interests because in an iPhone world, temptations of plenty rise far above integrity, simple values and authenticity.  Strange and true at the same time, a good slogan can win over a person who has fears running parallel to aging in a fiscally weak environment.  Suits help slogans even if the promises are said while holding a handful of employee termination slips behind their backs. 

Today there was no going back to the idea of the three branches of governance with an Executive Director, BOD and residents to keep one another honest.  The ED and the Director of Nurses will be PRS employees. As the BOD  have already hired two interim EDs who have fired and suspended their way through our workplace, it is clear that they cannot wait to have PRS do their dirty work.  Gone will be the Quaker inspired environment of egalitarianism with open communication.  Gone will be the feeling of family and work in unison.

The BOD in their subterfuge have parlayed a way of life into a deceptive marketing ploy to save themselves from being responsible to the residents and staff.  They stood shoulder to shoulder with others who have sold out values for expedient corporate efficiency and in doing so proved out that Judas could not have done better himself.