Small-setting senior living is typically discussed in relation to the benefits it holds for residents. Indeed, most seniors requiring care today are housed in big facilities, on big campuses, with long hallways and large populations. This expansive model creates care and service challenges that the small-setting model alleviates.
But operators and entrepreneurs are increasingly flocking to the model for tangential reasons, including owner equity, brand consistency and proven processes and systems. Scott Hemenway, Visionary/CEO of Meraki Assisted Living, sees that interest rising.
“I owned and operated several Visiting Angels home care franchises for close to two decades before creating this small-setting model,” Hemenway says. “I get to live out these two areas of my life each and every day and I absolutely love it! I get excited when other entrepreneurs share the same caring vision and want to build a business for their family and their future.”
Minnesota-based Meraki Assisted Living is a senior residential care franchisor that is creating new opportunities and benefits for residents and entrepreneurs alike.
“For years, home care agencies and large assisted living facilities have been the only options that most people consider when seeking care for a loved one, until now,” Hemenway says. “Meraki Assisted Living is a unique residential senior living home that combines personalized care that seniors look for in home care agencies along with the socialization benefits seniors value in large, assisted living facilities.”
The model, Hemenway notes, allows Meraki Assisted Living franchisees to provide unmatched quality of care at a lower cost for better access to a higher quality of care for all seniors regardless of income.
“We call it Intelligent Human Care™,” he says. “Entrepreneurs now have an opportunity to have ownership equity along with brand consistency and proven processes and systems.”
The Meraki solution’s business case: healthier residents, staff retention
For aspiring senior care and assisted living entrepreneurs, the road to ownership is arduous.
“When someone looks to enter the senior care industry, where do they go? The home care market is flooded, and attempting to become an assisted living facility owner is cost-prohibitive. There’s been no one to push and pull the small-setting to scale, to become the radical transformation home care/housing so desperately needs, and that our seniors need.”
Meraki Assisted Living offers business-minded, care-focused professionals a path to small business ownership while responsibly serving their local community.
The Meraki franchise model would not work if it did not also work for residents. It does. Meraki delivers a holistic approach addressing all aspects of wellness: physical, intellectual, spiritual, social, environmental and emotional. Seniors should live and thrive in a home where staff members have enough time to care for each resident individually.
This holistic small-setting model isn’t simply a quaint idea or a nice wish. It’s real, it’s happening — and it’s profitable. Meraki homes are mildly-converted houses, nestled in quiet residential neighborhoods. They are typically about 4,000 square feet and include private bedrooms, three to four bathrooms and a range of other standard spaces a person expects in his or her own home, including:
- Individualized and group social activities
- Industry leading staff to resident ratios that result in less falls and ultimately an increased level of care
- An average of 6-8 residents, which allows for more consistent attention to individual cares
- Chef-crafted, customized meals, set in a family dining room
- Daily strength and balance exercises
- Pet/music therapy
- Nursing and physician visits
“Small-settings deliver far more humanistic and individualized interaction because there’s time to care for the resident appropriately, but it doesn’t stop there,” Hemenway says. “This intimate environment also means that our care partners can actually develop meaningful relationships with residents instead of rushing from one bed to another. Retention is much higher when your team feels like they are making a valuable difference as part of a community.”
Small-setting care done right
Small-setting care is also essential for residents. Because big-setting operations typically have only three-to-six minutes per hour on average to devote to each of the residents in their care, those operators can only address the most basic of human needs.
“The time it takes to simply bring a resident to the bathroom takes longer than that,” Hemenway says. “It’s not that they don’t care about their residents — it’s that they don’t have enough human resources to provide individualized, comprehensive care.”
Over the last several years, Hemenway and his team have built and operated several small-setting residences in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. With his team, they built a model that has pioneered a holistic formula for assisted living care.
“Many residents come to us after months, or even years, of struggling at large assisted living facilities,” Hemenway says. “Seniors in a big-setting are required to adhere to schedules and routines that fit within the constraints and timelines of the facility. This limits, and sometimes removes, any freedom of choice, which can lead to depression, aggression and other adverse behaviors.”
At Meraki, where the ratio of care partners to residents is a minimum of one to four, each care plan is customized around the individual. “If a resident prefers the routine of taking a shower in the evening, followed by a cup of chamomile tea before bed, then that’s how we will structure their day,” he says. “This shouldn’t just feel like their home — this is their home.”
Meraki’s model is scalable across the country. Using Montessori principles, Meraki allows for individual social involvement of the residents at each home, reducing resident anxiety by giving them a true community. Activities within the Montessori method, such as putting flowers in a vase or making cookies, contribute to resident happiness.
Scott has seen the power of that approach firsthand.
“I’ve lived the home-care model, and I’ve built it, so I know the difference between the home-care model and the assisted living model,” he says. “Meraki Assisted Living gives you the best of both worlds: caring for people one-on-one and living in a social setting. I’ve lived in both models, and the small hybrid care model is the right way to go for both residents and entrepreneurs.”
This article is sponsored by Meraki Assisted Living, which is scaling its model of care nationally. To become a Meraki franchisee and gain the support of an experienced team of professionals working together on a mission to transform senior care to the way things should be, visit MerakiAssistedLivingFranchise.com.