Where were you born and raised and where did you go to high school?
I was born in Cleveland , in 1941. My dad worked the 3-to-11 shift at a foundry, and in 1943, to deal with the effects of the war, my parents moved out to Avon , Ohio , where my grandpa and my dad had a small working farm and had built a house.
[Laughs] I was an Avon farm girl. We had cows and chickens and grew most of our own food.
You came of age in the 1950s. How do you think that shaped who you are today?
I think that may be the greatest era we have ever known. It was a wonderful time to grow up. Not just for me, when I was growing up, but for everyone. It was a time when things were clear cut: family values were strong, social values were strong, the work ethic was strong. And that's the background I came out of.
Growing up on a farm was good, too, though I'll admit at the time I thought that the kids in the city were having more fun.
During that time, my grandparents were always coming out to the farm and spending a lot of time with us. When they came, grandpa would work outside and grandmother would put on her apron and say: What are we making today. I learned a lot about cooking and baking from her. And I know that's when I developed a love for older people.
What got you interested in nursing? And was there any particular person you can point to who steered you in that career direction?
Growing up on the farm, we kids were expected to work, too, so from an early age we were always doing something on the farm, picking berries, picking tomatoes, things like that. At 15, I talked to Mom because I had to find something else to do that summer. She'd heard of a summer program at Fairview Hospital [in Cleveland ]. I fudged my age so I could get a work permit and they hired me.
That summer – this was just before 10 th grade – I was a nursing assistant.
There wasn't any one person who mentored me. It was all the nurses. They were wonderful mentors and from the moment I walked into the hospital I knew I was going to be a nurse. I went back the next summer, and eventually I started working there on weekends.
After I graduated from high school [in 1959], I started immediately at Baldwin Wallace College to become a nurse. The first year was academics and I lived on campus and the next two years we rotated between the college and Fairview …When I graduated and went to sit for the state nursing exams, our class had the highest pass rate in the state.
I went to work at Fairview in the maternity-surgery department. Then I moved to Lakewood Hospital , and worked a couple of years there in pediatrics.
When John and I married [in 1962], and he finished school and became a CPA and I became pregnant with our first child, I stopped working as a nurse. [Laughs] But I wouldn't say I stopped working: I became Mrs. Volunteer. I was even volunteering back at Fairview .
Since most of your professional career was spent caring for children, what got you interested in caring for older adults?
That was in 1965, when John and I had just had our second child. A friend was doing some volunteer work at the Eliza Jennings Home….When I found out what they did – in essence the volunteers helped care for about 80 elderly residents, all of whom were women and most of whom had been professionals, such as teachers and nurses – I was intrigued, and started volunteering.
Volunteers helped the place run on a day-to-day basis: we washed curtains, we did mending, we helped with meals. I helped found a Young Women's Board – doing things where we could bring our children, too – and it was wonderful.
From volunteer to President and CEO of The Jennings Group. How did that happen?
One day a woman called. She was on the Board of Trustees, and said she'd like to have lunch with me. At lunch, she invited me to become a member of the Board of Trustees. I told her I didn't even know what a Board of Trustees did, so she explained.
Then I asked her how long they would want me to be on the Board: For the rest of your life, she said. I was 28 at the time, so I asked her if I could try it. At the second meeting I attended, they voted me treasurer.
This was around the time that Medicare and Medicaid – government funding – started becoming important in what we were doing. Those programs literally changed the payer system and how people financed coming into a long-term-care facility. And they changed the way facilities raised money for care of residents. We set up our first endowment fund shortly after Medicare went into effect.
When we [the Board] decided to build The Renaissance, I applied for the position to manage the project. Eventually, and still on the board, I became President and CEO of the Eliza Jennings Group. During those years, so much changed. We grew from one facility into the Eliza Jennings Group. We began accepting men. We built a life care community, The Renaissance. We started it in 1984 and it took five years to complete.
It was during this time – when we were building The Renaissance – that my beautiful and smart mother-in-law began showing signs that something wasn't right. We discovered she had mild [early-stage] Alzheimer's disease.
We cared for her at home, but it became obvious that she needed more than we could provide. It also became obvious, as John and I looked for the kind of facility she needed – a home-like environment that was also safe and secure – that what she needed was not available. So I began doing research on other options, other alternatives, and as I mentioned already, The Renaissance was under construction then, so we created a special care unit for those with dementia. And when we built Jennings Place , across the way from The Eliza Jennings Home, it was built specifically as a 30-bed unit specializing in dementia care.
By then, I had a dream – to focus entirely on specialized care units – so I left Eliza Jennings in 1994.
You founded Kemper Company in 1995. From chief executive of a thriving senior care group to chief executive of a start-up company that planned dementia care facilities is a huge leap. How and, more importantly, why, did you make it?
For one thing, I'm a high energy person; always have been. And I am a great believer in planning, so I spent time before I started the business deciding in my mind where I wanted to be, and then setting goals – one, two, three – to get there.
During all this time we've talked about, my husband had left the CPA world to run his own business, so I'd learned a lot from him about what it takes to start and build and manage your own business. It's not as hard as you might think to start a business. All you have to do is fill out some forms and find the right people to join you.
I'd met Richard Martin, ND, a doctor of nursing, who had great interest in not just Alzheimer's but all forms of dementia. We both saw things the same way, especially the need out there for a special care unit, so we started the company together. Then my daughter, who had a degree in psychology and was working in geriatric care, joined us.
At first we did consulting – as far away as California . That provided cash flow while we put our plans together for the facility we were going to build and staff – a holistic care setting that would raise the bar for those needing dementia care. Then we took a management position for a long-term-care group in Euclid, the Gateway Retirement Community. And by the end of our three-year contract, we had fully developed the Kemper House concept and were ready to begin construction on our first Kemper House in Strongsville , which from my previous experience was the right location.
You have been involved in eldercare and elder housing for almost 45 years. What have you learned about how older adults want to live as they age?
That people want to maintain continuity in their life. They want to live their life as closely as they can like they have lived it up to that moment. They want housing and services that enable them to maintain their independence. They want things that enhance how they live.
A lot of what I'm talking about has to do with the environment they live in and using universal design, such as wider doorways, shelving placed at the right height for them, showers that are easy to use if they are using a walker or a wheelchair.
What I'm talking about is design that enables them to do things without so much struggle. As you age, you may not be able to change your health status, but if you didn't have to struggle so much just to do the things that you need to do each day, you would be able to remain independent, if not for always, than at least longer. And if you weren't struggling to do the things that have to be done, you'd have more energy, and time, to do the things that you actually wanted to do, such as reading or being with family.
And they want less paperwork, too. All the paperwork that comes with maintaining your independence and health, it's a huge worry and struggle. There ought to be some way to manage all that without the anxiety and frustration and exhaustion…I guess what I'm actually saying is that they want an environment – and I'm not just talking about where they live – that's more supportive.
In your almost-45 years of working with older adults, you have come into contact with people who are aging well and those who are not. In your opinion, what are the characteristics of the people who are aging well?
All the people that I can think of who are aging “well” have one thing in common, they have great attitudes. They don't feel sorry for themselves and they don't have negative outlooks. It's not that “things” aren't happening to them – health-wise, life-wise – it's how they think about what's going on and how they address what's going on.
What have you learned from working with older adults that you have incorporated into your own life, into your own aging?
From working with older adults, I think the most important thing I've learned is that we all have stories. Good stories. Over the years I've listened to so many people talk about their life, their families, their experiences, what they wished they'd done. Listening to all their stories has created a big patchwork quilt role models for me, personally. And it's given me the vision I have about – and raised the bar on – what life should be toward the end.
If you had to pick one project to be remembered for, out of all the projects you've done so far, which one would it be? And why?
Probably the Alzheimer's work I've been involved in. Before, when people who had Alzheimer's could no longer be cared for at home, they were usually cared for in a skilled nursing facility. I've helped take Alzheimer's care from the point where there was no recognition that there are specific differences in care needs to a point where there is recognition that many people with Alzheimer's don't need skilled nursing care, they need a holistic environment that provides continuity and normalcy, not just safety and security.
Some places were doing bits and pieces of that. We put all the pieces together and raised the bar for Alzheimer's care.
In essence, you have been working to advance the cause of eldercare and elder housing since mid-1960s. What do you do to relax?
[Laughs] Other things that are different, but not. I got evolved in the Cudell area neighborhood group. That got me involved in urban issues and urban planning. And that led me to deciding to buy the Chicle Building , one of the first chewing gum factories in America . It now houses our offices and 23 apartments. Renovating the building got me interested in urban housing issues.
That's how I do things. I look. I see something that needs doing. I do it.
But that's still work. What do you do for fun?
We have a boat, and we boat in the summertime. And all my children – four daughters and a son – and our nine grandchildren live around here, so I love spending time with family doing the “children things” at the Playhouse and going to games.
And I volunteer, but not as much as when I was younger. Probably the thing I'm most involved in my church, Pilgrim St. Paul Lutheran Church in Lakewood . But I also do some work with Naomi Feil and her Validation Training Institute* and I'm doing some work with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. And because of my interest in history, I'm on the Board at the Western Reserve Historical Society.
What do you do to stay fit and in good shape?
Not enough. The work I do is so sedentary, so I know I need to be more active, do more exercise. Finding the time for that, that's the problem.
At a time in life when most people are thinking about retiring, you're going full throttle with Kemper Company. So the question is, are there any retirement plans in your future?
Well, my husband's not retired either – he's like me, if something needs doing, we do it – and I'm not retiring until he retires.
But I am planning things. Kemper Company accomplished its original goal, so now I don't have to be in charge of day-to-day things, but I don't think I'll ever really totally retire. I'll probably be consulting till the day I die.
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(*Validation is a method of communicating with and helping disoriented very old people. It helps reduce stress and enhance dignity and happiness.)
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