Village Shalom strives to be a place to nurture the physical, emotional, social and spiritual well-being of every individual served by the continuing-care retirement community. One of its six core values is to provide the assurance of a comfortable home and safe haven for all who are in its care.
That safe haven was shattered on April 13, 2014, when Frazier Glenn Cross Jr. killed Terri LaManno in Village Shalom’s parking lot, after he had killed William Corporon and Reat Underwood outside of the Jewish Community Campus minutes earlier. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}LaManno had been at Village Shalom, as she was often, visiting her mother.
Eighteen months later Village Shalom’s President and CEO Matt Lewis said the continuing-care retirement community is striving harder than ever to give the highest possible care to its residents and make sure its staff also knows they are well cared for. And Village Shalom’s management wants to make sure everyone knows the tragic events of that horrible day do not define what the organization is today.
“It probably did define us for a period of time and the trauma that was associated with it, but we’re now well past that,” said Board Chairman Joe Hiersteiner. “The focus of taking care of those who care for our residents is now ongoing, it’s a part of the organization and no longer related to any particular event.”
That day did bring a new normal to Village Shalom and Lewis said the organization is very grateful for all the support it received from the community as well as Jewish senior care facilities all across the country.
“As I look back on that period, I think certainly as an organization we have grown much stronger and throughout the weeks following the event we really challenged ourselves to remain laser focused on our residents and our staff. There were so many outside distractions so we chose to just set those aside,” Lewis said.
From the very beginning Village Shalom decided to stay away from the news cameras as much as possible.
“We didn’t do any interviews or anything of that nature and just stayed very focused on our residents and our staff,” he reiterated. “I think it has truly drawn us closer together as an organization.”
As would be expected, Lewis said the staff went through a period of shock and then a healing process. The prevalent feeling of the organization is the residents were less impacted by the tragedy than the staff.
“I think for the residents it’s back to business as usual. It’s the staff that has the new normal,” said Director of Sales and Marketing Jill Allin.
Lewis said Village Shalom has continued to be vigilant in helping the staff, providing counseling services on several occasions, including the anniversary of the event and throughout the trial, “particularly for those staff that were very close to Terri and her family and her mother Betty.”
Village Shalom took part in the SevenDays: Make a Ripple Change the World activities that commemorated the first anniversary of the event. It also organized its own SevenDays events.
“I thought that was a very special week and it reinforced the strength of our team and the importance of us relying on one another,” Lewis said.
Even before the tragedy, Lewis said Village Shalom has always been mindful of security-related issues.
“Obviously our board and our leadership team remains focused on security, but one of the things that we remind ourselves often of is that were working in the home of our residents. So we always strive to maintain that right balance of this being their home, but also reassuring them that we are providing a secure environment. It’s a delicate balancing act.”
Lewis said he believes the residents have persevered very well.
‘I think that’s in large part due to the work of our staff post 4/13. We had staff members come in on their days off. This is where they wanted to be. This was truly a team effort. We tried to keep things as normal as possible in those following days and weeks.”
But seeing extra security is something that can trigger anxiety for some of the staff members. So when extra security is needed, such as is normally the case during the High Holy Days, Lewis said management makes sure everyone on staff knows well in advance why the extra security is in place.
Caring for the caregivers
Board Chairman Hiersteiner said the tragic events on April 13 reminded them just how important it is to care for its staff.
“It was a catalyst for us becoming much more focused on our staff and our residents, and that really has persisted and it’s not any longer related to that event. It’s simply a recognition that we’re not going to be able to care appropriately for the long term for our residents unless we have a staff that is committed, feels good about their jobs, and feels that they are being well cared for themselves,” Hiersteiner said.
Village Shalom has always been known for taking good care of its staff. Hiersteiner said the event heightened and renewed that focus. Over the last 18 months there have been more staff recognition events, a new staff lounge and “various other things that are evidence of the organization’s commitment to those who care for our residents.”
Lewis points out that it’s not uncommon in the senior care industry to see turnover of 50 and 60 percent each year. Village Shalom’s turnover is well under that average.
“Over the last six to seven years we have probably averaged somewhere between 18 and 24 percent turnover. That’s a huge difference and when I look back on all those years that really was the difference in being able to provide care at a very high level. It’s something we’ve been very intentional about and we’ve worked very hard on,” Lewis said.
The LaManno family
While it’s been 18 months since that tragic day, there is not yet a memorial for LaManno at Village Shalom.
“We’ve talked to the family about doing something, but they were not ready. We are respecting that, but we will do something eventually,” Lewis said.
The LaManno family remains a part of the Village Shalom family.
“Terri’s family was out here yesterday (the day the jury recommended Cross be sentenced to death for his crimes).We still remain very close to her family and stay in touch with them,” Lewis said.
“At the end of the day this is about Terri and her family and how we can support them. They are still connected to the organization, they’ve been back to visit several times since the event. Her mother passed away a few months after the event. Betty had lived with us a long time and in different areas of the campus. They were the type of family that all the staff knew. They were here a lot. Betty was a wonderful person, who participated in activities. So at the end of the day it’s about supporting them,” Lewis said.
Hiersteiner concluded that it’s important for the community to know that Village Shalom is very strong today.
“We are now thinking about the longer-term future and how we can expand the services that we can provide to our communities. There’s a continued interest in making sure that Terri’s family feels well cared for by Village Shalom, but for the long term it’s our entire community that we want to make sure feels well cared for by Village Shalom. So we are looking at ways to make sure that the organization remains a vital part of the community for the long term,” Hiersteiner said.
“We’ve doing very well,” Lewis added. “We’re a much stronger organization, we’re very focused on our mission and future planning. We are looking forward and continuing to build an organization that will serve future generations.”{/mprestriction}
