Preserving Cincinnati’s Heritage: The Hillandale Family of Communities Joining Carespring
The Hillandale Family of Communities have been an integral part of the Cincinnati area’s nursing home options. For over 60 years, this local family-owned company has been operated with tender loving care by the Dixon family. When the opportunity was presented to Carespring to acquire these special facilities, we were determined to make it happen. It is Carespring’s goal to assure these locations continue to operate with local roots.
We are excited to share Carespring Health Care Management’s culture with the teams at our newest locations. Chesterwood Senior Living, Advanced Therapy Center at Chesterwood, and Doverwood and Birchwood Skilled Nursing Facilities are now part of a larger extent of facilities, adding more depth to the services we offer in the Butler County community and beyond.
A Company Run by Clinicians, Not a Corporation
One of the things we are most proud of at Carespring is that we are a company run by clinicians, which is unusual in our industry. Our founder, Barry Bortz, began his healthcare career as a phlebotomist after serving our country in the Marine Corps in Vietnam. This work led him to nursing homes, where he eventually became a nursing home administrator. He believed that people who were asking others to “do the work” should have also had experience “doing the work”.
By intricately understanding the operations, he recognized what it took to provide a high level of care, empathy, and compassion to patients and families. He instilled these values in our current leadership, who all began their Carespring careers as clinicians themselves under Barry’s guidance and mentorship.
“It’s really difficult to offer that kind of TLC without clinical experience—when you haven’t ‘done the work’—or are located in a state thousands of miles away from one of your operations. We believe in our model of regional presence. We want to be able to support our teams as leaders. When they need our help, we will be there,” said Kim Majick, Chief Development Officer, Licensed Social Worker, and Carespring team member since 1999.
Carespring’s Caring Culture
Our team members create our culture. As leaders, we hope to live and embrace what we learn from them. Annually, we conduct employee engagement surveys through an independent, third-party resource. Year after year the same theme emerges, Family. We are very proud of this as we want our team members to love and care like family. The fact that this is the word most commonly chosen to reflect their feelings is very powerful. We are hopeful that our newest team members will feel a part of this family.
Although we’re an organization and have to have policies and personnel structure, our culture is to take care of one another. When we do that, we are all prepared to take care of the patients. If one of our team members is going through a tough time personally, we do our best to support them. It all comes down to just doing the right thing for people so they can do the right thing for the patients.
Environments That Heal
We describe our newest locations as environments of care. From special memory care features to luxury independent living apartments, the facilities at Chesterwood, Doverwood, and Birchwood are simply stunning. The concept of family extends here as well. These locations were built with an abundance of TLC by a family of builders and caregivers, which is consistent and complementary to Carespring’s tradition.
Several of our original buildings were designed by Barry, our founder. Today, our current leadership continues to honor this approach through thoughtful designs created by caregivers, for caregivers and patients. Although needs are constantly evolving and require change and improvements, our core facility designs continue to stand the test of time because they were built with heart. Our 17 locations are welcoming and supportive to healing, which you can feel as soon as you walk in the doors.
A Thoughtful Approach to Change
Acquisitions, policy updates, and procedure changes are a constant in the health care industry. At Carespring, supporting our team members and building trust with them is our number one priority. We strive to take a careful, thoughtful approach when it comes to making changes. Adjustments take time, and we want to make sure our staff members we value and hear them throughout the process and beyond. Before implementing new processes, we begin by asking questions and seeking to learn. Protecting connections and knowing what is working is just as important as improving business functionality and moving forward.
Proud of Our Culture
We’re proud of our culture at Carespring, and we know it makes a difference in the care we provide. Our family-owned approach means that we have a vested interest in the well-being of each and every one of our residents and team members. We take great pride in being clinician-led, which allows us to focus on providing high levels of empathy and compassion for everyone.
Our commitment to taking care of one another is evident in everything we do, from the facility environments we create to the way we treat our staff. Whether you are looking for a skilled nursing home or retirement community or to become a member of an incredibly caring team, consider Carespring.
