San Juan Capistrano, CA, October 10, 2007 — Contacts:
Mark Mostow
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Silverado Senior Living
949-240-7200
Seniors Housing Industry Riding Unprecedented Wave on Demand for Better Care
Silverado Passes $100 Million Mark
Meeting the growing demand for quality care has been the driving force behind Silverado Senior Living doubling its revenues since 2003. The memory care company has crossed $100 million mark. Providing quality care also has been a key element in the growth for the seniors housing industry in general, which is riding a new wave, according to the 2007 Dealmaker’s Handbook, an annual assessment published by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News in partnership with the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry.
“The tide has never been higher for the seniors housing and care industry,” says writer John Andrews in the Handbook’s article “A Wave Like No Other.” The fourth quarter of 2006 was the best quarter the industry has had since the NIC started tracking indicators in the late ‘90s. Loan volume placed during the first quarter of 2007 was $2.28 billion, a 172 % increase form the first quarter 2006, at $838 million. Median occupancies for seniors housing in major metropolitan areas are consistently between 94 and 97 %, supply growth is balanced, demand is growing steadily and revenue growth is strong. The publication says that the most commonly cited reason for the industry’s robust financial health is a sharp improvement in resident care by facility operators, noting that some companies founded in the 90’s were “essentially real estate plays, with little or no focus on operations.”
Michael Hargrave is a vice president of NIC Market Area Profiles service.
"The proliferation of the assisted living industry has helped drive the overall growth in the number of private paying residents residing in seniors housing," Hargrave says. "Today's assisted living product is more desirable to prospective residents and families compared to older institutional models, and that's increased penetration of that sector. Silverado is a perfect example of this phenomenon. There's lots of opportunity, but also a great deal of smart growth going on right now in seniors housing."
Established in 1996, Silverado Senior Living’s model from the beginning has been providing very personalized care that “gives life” and the “freedom to live” to those with Alzheimer’s and other memory-impairing diseases. While high-quality buildings and grounds are important Silverado features, what’s always been even more crucial is offering care that improves seniors’ lives, even for those for whom improvement was thought impossible.
“By using non-medical therapies, in addition to the best science has to offer, investing in high caregiver-to-resident ratios and nursing staff and providing care that’s unique to each individual, we’ve consistently transformed lives,” says Silverado president and CEO Loren B. Shook.
Silverado provides care at its assisted living communities and through its home care, care management, and hospice care services. More than 1,400 memory-impaired people have regained the ability to walk and over 1,100 have resumed feeding themselves again while in Silverado’s care.
“At Silverado, we’d like to see the lives of all people with memory impairment improve, whether or not they are in our care,” Shook says. “The seniors housing industry shift to a quality care-focused/quality of life model is important, because with the aging population and increasing number of memory-impaired people, many more services will be needed.”
More than 5 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia in people age 65 and older, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The amount of people with Alzheimer’s has doubled since 1980, with about one person in 10 being affected by the disease by age 65 and nearly half of all people by age 85. The direct and indirect costs to the nation are estimated at $148 billion annually. By 2030 the number of people in the U.S. with Alzheimer’s is expected to be nearly eight million.
Based in San Juan Capistrano, California, Silverado has a staff of about 1,800 employees and operates 16 communities, nine in southern California, six in Texas and one in Utah. The company expects to open another community in Texas in 2008 and has two other California communities under renovation and slated to open in 2009. Silverado also has five home care offices and six hospice care offices, with two more hospice sites to be opened in early 2008.
For the longer term, Shook sees Silverado continuing to significantly expand the number of its communities. The company’s home care division, Silverado At Home, will also expand to better serve an aging population that increasingly will look to find ways to stay at home longer. Silverado home care and care management services were started in 2004 and had revenues of about $1,110,000. Projected revenues for 2007 are above $10 million. Hospice services have also grown dramatically and are expected to continue. Shook says Silverado by 2011 will be a $250 million company with 35 communities, $45 million in home care revenues and more than $50 million in hospice care revenues, serving 1,000 hospice patients.
For more information, visit: www.silveradosenior.com, or to interview Mr. Shook, contact Scott McCaskey at Goldman & Associates Public Relations at 757-625-2518 or at:
scott@goldmanandassociates.com.
