Meet Michael
Executive Director
The executive director, along with our friendly and professional staff, strives to create positive, stimulating ways for residents to continue living life with meaning and purpose. We are a friendly family where we treat residents like real people with real life stories.
Our community is a great story that includes heartwarming chapters and incredibly unique characters all in a wonderful setting. Here is the executive director’s story:
How long have you worked in the retirement industry?
Formally 13 years, informally volunteering since age 7
What do you like best about your job?
On behalf of the residents, I enjoy integrating three components: whole-person wellness strategies maintaining high cognitive and physical function, engagement with life inside/outside gates of the community and creating a family atmosphere where love exists between residents and staff. I also enjoy ensuring high resident satisfaction with services provided while empowering and supporting a resident-centered approach.
What do you like to do in your free time and why?
Fly-fishing – being one with nature, using nature to catch fish (fly-tying). Fly-fishing reminds me of some attributes to keep in balance. For example, a fisherman’s absorbing consciousness of water – its motions, sounds, and texture; its variety, constancy and certainly its density of life – is a habit of mind and temperament I try to adopt everyday.
If you could meet one person, past or present, who would it be and why?
Nelson Mandela – to understand more about his views on leadership attributes of resilience, peace, humility and his positive influence.
What’s your favorite movie and why?
CaddyShack – classic slapstick humor, unforgettable characters, and endlessly quotable dialogue.
What’s your favorite dish or dessert and why?
Hogfish – it simply has a great natural flavor
Do you have any memorable experiences with a particular resident you would like to share?
The ocean ring story – a particular resident was not acclimating to the environment, lifestyle or people upon 60 days after moving into the community. As the team grew to learn her story, we learned that we could certainly connect with her through images, stories, recreation of the “beach”. This resident loved the beach and everything God has to offer in this setting – the sights, smells and tastes. We decorated her room and designed daily programming around events at the beach. One day after this resident “came out” from behind her Alzheimer’s she went around and gave every staff person a ring (which she collected over the years) symbolizing the beach. I have never taken the ring off.
How do you honor your residents at your community?
We intend to honor the residents by living out the Horizon Care values – engaging the residents with our 6 dimensions of wellness. We also strive to ensure all services provided are of the highest quality. Most importantly, though, we honor our residents through full engagement during any moment in time we can connect with them. We honor our residents by caring to know their story and allowing them to continue their story.
Tell us about a resident whose life changed for the better once they moved to your community.
A 91-year-old gentleman moved from Sarasota, FL. He seemed very anxious throughout the first few weeks in this new environment. As time went on, he embraced the lifestyle and took advantage of swimming and sunbathing. This resident, who was once an engineer and loves bird watching, is now extremely social and fully engaged in the community. He accepts the camaraderie, and feels the love from everyone!
In what ways do your employees inspire you?
They show that they really care about our residents through their actions. The family feeling that you experience at Horizon Bay at Hyde Park is due to the genuine love the employees have for the residents.
Tell us about an employee who embodies one of our core values – integrity, respect, responsibility, professionalism or teamwork.
An employee that comes to mind quickly is a caregiver, Rose. She has a tough job, as do all caregivers. They protect, empower, celebrate, and love the residents. She shares a very intimate and special bond with the residents – one that only Rose and the residents can fully understand and express. Rose has patience with each resident and spends individual time to ensure she satisfies his or her needs. She is a gem and sets an example for all of us to follow! I would certainly want my mother or father being cared for by Rose or someone with her character.