The Community Family is dedicated to providing high-quality adult day health services designed to keep adults in their homes and communities as long as possible. Our services are based on a deep respect for the dignity, self-esteem and vitality of all those we serve. We are committed to improving the quality of life for both our participants and their families.

The Community Family (TCF) began in Everett, MA in 1978 as one of the first adult day health providers in Massachusetts, with a $20,000 grant and borrowed space. Today, TCF is fiscally stable, with a $3 million budget and three beautiful, state-of-the-art centers that provide care to 120 frail elders and disabled adults each day, with approximately 325 individuals enrolled in our programs.

Since its inception, TCF has provided services to thousands of elders, disabled adults, and those with Alzheimer’s disease. Our Medford center is an Alzheimer’s-specific center while the Lowell center has traditionally been an Alzheimer's center until recently broadening its base of clients. In addition, our Everett center serves a broad demographic and is one of the few programs in the area that caters to such a wide variety of cultural, ethnic and medical needs.

TCF serves an extremely diverse group with varied backgrounds. Clients range in age from 32 to 99 and come from ethnic and cultural backgrounds that include Haitian, Chinese, Cambodian, Hispanic and African American. It is largely a low-income clientele we serve, with more than half meeting the strict financial eligibility criteria for Medicaid - including 80%+ at the Everett center. What they share in common is their desire to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their homes. The Community Family is dedicated to providing compassionate “care above and beyond” in support of our participants and their families.

In addition to opening one of the first adult day health programs in Massachusetts and building and operating three new or newly renovated centers, exceptional leadership and progressive thinking since its inception have allowed TCF to:

* Open the first green adult day health center in Massachusetts

TCF’s three adult day health programs are responding to pressing societal issues such as a rapidly aging society, an increasing incidence of Alzheimer's disease, the escalating cost of long-term health care, growing elder isolation and overwhelming physical and emotional caregiver stress.

Top accomplishments in 2017 include:

* Providing more than 32,750 days of adult day health and specialized Alzheimer's services among our three centers to individuals in need of our care. Individuals from 26 communities in Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire were served.

* Updating our website so it is much more professional looking and user friendly. We also increased our social media presence, particularly through our Facebook page. This continues a several-year effort to bolster our marketing efforts, including printed materials, promotional items and a video.

Goals for 2017 include:

* To have each center meet its operating expenses.

* To maximize enrollment levels across all three centers.

* To continue implementing our marketing strategy to increase awareness and visibility of TCF.

* To expand TCF’s relationships with wider health and social service systems to better serve our clients and meet emerging elder care needs in the greater community.

* To increase our philanthropic revenues by 5%.

* To remain a leader in the adult day health industry while fulfilling our mission of high-quality and compassionate care.

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The ultimate goal for The Community Family’s intended impact is to increase the quality of life for those we serve by offering comprehensive services they cannot get in their homes. In doing so, we are keeping with our mission of keeping people out of nursing homes and in their communities as long as possible. And we make sure to do this while treating everyone we care for with dignity and respect.

Our target population includes the frail, the elderly, disabled adults and those with dementia, all of whom need assistance with daily living.  

Goals for long-term include:

• To have each center meet its operating expenses annually.
• To increase enrollment, as pertains to capacity, by 1-2% each year at each of our centers.
• To increase our philanthropic revenues by at least 5% annually.
• To continue to expand awareness and recognition of TCF through increased marketing and outreach efforts.
• To develop strategic alliances in a rapidly changing healthcare environment so that our services play an important role in new, collaborative community-based efforts. 

We will know if we have been successful with some of our goals simply by looking at data - enrollment/capacity, budget analysis and consumer satisfaction survey results from clients and caregivers. For other, more subjective goals, we will need to take a more comprehensive look at adult day health – and the overall healthcare industry – and determine if we are meeting the needs of the people and the communities we serve.

The Community Family recently concluded a comprehensive strategic planning program to help the organization meet its goals. Sessions with key members of our organization and led by a professional consultant are conducted quarterly for this purpose. A number of initiatives have been implemented in response to the sessions.

One of the primary outcomes to date has revolved around the increase in our outreach, marketing and communications. During the strategic planning, increasing enrollment has been made a top priority and one of the principal means of doing so is to reach out to the various healthcare agencies that refer clients to us – both current and potential new ones.

Our center directors have been visiting these referral agencies in recent months and become more active in increasing visibility and public awareness in the communities we serve.

We recently updated our website, for which we are receiving positive feedback, and we have committed to a larger social media presence, particularly our Facebook page. We also created a promotional three-minute video. The video is being utilized strategically on our website, in social media and with prospective clients and referral sources. Together, we are confident they will prove very effective in demonstrating to prospective clients and families the top-notch care and warmth we provide.

The entire strategic planning process continues to be energizing and we look forward to future meetings that will help prepare us for the internal challenges we have recently faced, as well as the larger external changes going on within the healthcare industry.

Other strategies employed at TCF to ensure we meet with success include conducting consumer satisfaction surveys for clients and their caregivers and providing extensive, structured training for new staff, part of a systematic approach to building and sustaining strong morale among all staff and leadership. Finally, we make it a priority to retain a strong, active Board of Directors and to preserve and maintain our state-of-the-art buildings. Through a special client assistance fund, we attempt to ensure that every person interested in attending our programs is never turned away because of financial considerations.

All of TCF’s activities and strategies benefit our target audience – the participants and caregivers we serve and potential new participants/caregivers – as well as our own organization, by compelling us to plan for own immediate needs and goals while simultaneously preparing for the ever-evolving healthcare landscape.

The Community Family’s capabilities for completing this work is considerable. Perhaps most important are the organization’s internal strengths, led by our personnel.

The three centers each has a Program Director that oversees day-to-day activities at their particular location. The Program Directors work closely with the Executive Director to ensure that quality care is being delivered to our clients every day. Nurses, social workers and program staff at each center all work under the supervision of the Program Directors. The Executive Director and Program Directors provide exemplary leadership and are all actively and enthusiastically involved in the strategic planning efforts that are helping guide the organization into the future.

Another important internal resource of The Community Family is its governance. TCF is led by an 11-person Board of Directors that is deeply invested in the organization, offering strong support and guidance. The Board consists of a combination of healthcare professionals, businessmen, attorneys, entrepreneurs and past consumers of our services. Through their expertise and dedication, the Board of Directors has provided close oversight of the organization and enabled us to remain financially sound, particularly in times of economic and industry-related uncertainties.

TCF’s history of stability and innovation has us uniquely positioned to achieve successes, in our strategic planning and elsewhere. We are the oldest adult day health program in the state and our founder, Gerald Sohn, is still involved 40 years later. Our Board and management have been hallmarks of stability over the years as well. The Community Family is recognized as being innovative leaders over the years and have survived and even thrived in an industry that is often in flux.

The Community Family utilizes multiple indicators to assess progress toward its goals. The most straightforward indicators are the quantitative measures, particularly as it pertains to our budget, enrollment and philanthropic revenue goals. The numbers alone will indicate progress towards those goals although the underlying reasons for the progress (or lack of) will be consistently reviewed and analyzed.

TCF has been historically successful in providing a place of quality care and service and of trust and dependability for caregivers, ultimately extending the length of stays at home for our clients. In doing so, we are providing a practical, affordable solution for the aging population and increasing incidences of Alzheimer’s and mental health disorders.

To measure progress – and contentment - from our most important constituency, our clients and their caregivers/family members, TCF regularly conducts Consumer Satisfaction surveys. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback in our most recent survey - more than 90% rated TCF's services as excellent and 100% said that they would recommend TCF to their friends. We also seek informal feedback from clients and their families and receive unsolicited comments and letters, nearly all of which is positive and complimentary.

The Community Family is proud to have marked 40 years as a community-based non-profit provider of adult day health care and specialized Alzheimer's care. In recent years, The Community Family provided an unprecedented volume of services to more than 300 people per year. 150,000 hours of respite have been provided annually to caregivers over that time, giving them a break from the demands of their elder care responsibilities.

Other accomplishments include sponsoring numerous community educational events and hosting caregiving support groups, and increasing philanthropic revenues each of the past several years.

We have made qualitative progress as well, cultivating relationships with referral sources that we believe will lead to stronger partnerships in the future. We have met our goal of becoming compliant with the new adult day health regulations in MA, including reorganizing/hiring staff and updating our activity recordkeeping. And we have implemented some of our marketing/outreach efforts (noted in the previous question). The results of these strategies are still mostly unknown at this time, but we are hopeful we will realize increases in our enrollment, revenues and other outcomes. The positive feedback from the Consumer Satisfaction Survey is one very positive outcome that should only contribute to fulfilling our long-term goals.

The success of some of our newer initiatives and strategies will only help to further establish our credentials. We are constantly learning from our past, even as we continue to move forward. Evaluation results are regularly used to improve the performance or impact of our organization. Quantitatively, the previous year(s) results/outcomes are used as basis for the current year. Our operating budget and all the other goals that fall under it are based on an evaluation of past results. The ongoing evaluation and analysis of revenues, expenses, enrollment, etc. prompts us to respond and make revisions as necessary. A prime example of this is several years ago when stagnant reimbursement rates and increases in costs led TCF to freeze wages, cut certain expenses and revise its budget. We were pro-active to ensure that we could continue to deliver high-quality care in a fiscally responsible manner. Those are measures we may need to consider once again moving forward. Careful monitoring and timely revisions have guided The Community Family’s growth to become one of the few providers in the state with three stand-alone, state-of-the-art adult day health centers.

The Community Family understands the potential risks and/or obstacles that exist which may impact full attainment of our goals, primarily increased competition and an evolving healthcare industry. But we also believe we are preparing ourselves to confront these issues through our strategic planning initiative. We expect goals will be adjusted as we delve further into the strategic planning process and as outside factors take shape. Additional goals will surely also be formed. We understand that we are in a business with narrow revenue margins and ever-increasing competition and that we must be prudent with all of our decisions, financial and otherwise. But with every strategy and every decision that is made, we make sure to always remember our mission and our overall goal of increasing the quality of life for everyone we serve.