Category: Corporate Office

July 26, 2021

Dear Summit Residents and Families,

On behalf of LifeSpire of Virginia’s Board of Trustees and our leadership team, I’m excited to welcome you to the LifeSpire of Virginia family. The addition of The Summit to our family represents an exciting time in the history of both organizations as we build on our common faith-based heritage. At LifeSpire of Virginia, faith as our first core value means:  Loving God. Loving People. Respecting Dignity. Welcoming all.   

We hope you’re excited to be joining the LifeSpire of Virginia family and we have quite a bit of information to share with you about what to expect in the days, weeks and months ahead.   Our team is looking forward to meeting you and celebrating The Summit’s 18^th Anniversary on August 4th. Then, on August 5th, at 11 a.m., members of our team will be attending your town hall meeting. 

Our leadership team will be learning from The Summit’s team as we work closely together to ensure a smooth transition for all residents and team members. We’re eager to learn from you as well and are planning a series of events to provide those opportunities. 

Again, we’re thrilled to welcome you and The Summit into the LifeSpire of Virginia family and look forward to seeing you next week. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Jonathan R. Cook

LifeSpire of Virginia President and CEO

LifeSpire of Virginia and Pinnacle Living, both with corporate offices located in Glen Allen, have entered a joint venture agreement to provide home health and other organizational support services. The terms of the agreement created Senior Living Partners of Virginia, LLC (SLP). The newly formed organization will allow both organizations to formally collaborate and expand their mission-focused growth to serve those who currently do not reside inside the walls of a retirement community. SLP has also finalized the purchase of Williamsburg Landing Home Health and has acquired its existing assets, including state and federal home health licenses and certifications.  The home health company will operate as Affirmation Home Health.

SLP has hired William Mayes to lead the new venture as the chief executive officer. Mayes has significant experience in the development, operations and sales of home health, hospice and home care services, having served most recently as a senior vice president at WesleyLife in Des Moines, Iowa. During his 30-year career, he has served as a senior executive for both regional and national multi-site home health and hospice care organizations. SLP has also hired Jennifer Rauschenburg, OTR, as the Administrator and Director of Clinical Services. Jennifer brings more than 25 years of home health clinical and leadership experience, having served most recently as Director of Clinical Operations for a large Richmond based home health provider.

LifeSpire operates four life plan communities with 1300 residents across Virginia and one continuing care retirement community without walls program in Richmond with 100 members: Lakewood Retirement Community located in Richmond, Lakewood at Home also in Richmond, The Chesapeake in Newport News, The Glebe in Roanoke and The Culpeper located in Culpeper. LifeSpire employs 850 team members.

“I am very excited to begin this new collaborative home health organization with Pinnacle Living, a mission-oriented organization, that has the same passion and dedication for quality services as LifeSpire.”

Jonathan Cook
LifeSpire President and CEO

Pinnacle Living operates five life plan communities with 1,100 residents in Virginia: Cedarfield and Hermitage Richmond in the greater Richmond area, WindsorMeade Williamsburg, Hermitage Northern Virginia in Alexandria and Hermitage Roanoke. Pinnacle Living employs more than 865 team members.

“This new joint venture will allow Pinnacle Living to collaborate with a leading mid-Atlantic senior living organization and focus on the growth of our mission beyond the campuses we currently operate.”

Christopher Henderson
Pinnacle Living CEO

SLP’s home health division will initially provide home health services in the greater Richmond, Newport News and Williamsburg areas.

On June 1, just 27 months after launching the program, the Lakewood at Home team welcomed its 99th and 100th members. Lakewood at Home’s Executive Director Tammy Mackey said the milestone is an accomplishment that brings excitement and satisfaction as goals are reached and surpassed.

“We were confident from our launch that the Lakewood at Home program would reach this level, but based on the startup experience of other programs around the nation and our actuarial budget, it was anticipated that it would take at least four years to achieve this goal,” Mackey said. “Gratitude is the overwhelming feeling that I have at this point.”

It is that same gratitude that members of the program said they feel. Gary Grove said when he learned about Lakewood at Home he realized it was exactly what he was looking for.

“The primary reason I was interested is that I didn’t want either of my two daughters to have to hold my hand as I go through my declining years. I wanted the comfort and reassurance that I’d be cared for. I’ve got that. I’m just delighted and very comfortable with it,” he said.

Mackey said other members continually echo Grove’s sentiment: they are thankful for the peace of mind.

“They are thankful to have a plan in place. They are relieved that they will not have to worry about being a burden to their family and friends. They don’t have to wonder about where they may end up if they need skilled nursing care. They are thankful that a devastating stroke or a decade of Alzheimer’s won’t cause them to spend down all of the hard-earned assets they hoped to bequeath to their children and grandchildren,” she said. “With a phone call or text, our members can get in touch with their personal care coordinator and have the advocacy, support, knowledge and resources of our program available to them.”

The success of the program is directly related to the comprehensive and innovative nature of the program itself. While Mackey said it has a wonderful team who contributes daily in critical ways, the program is successful because it offers people what they were looking for, but in many cases didn’t even know existed.

Research has shown that most older adults prefer to stay at home and age in place. Research has also shown that most older adults will need some type of long-term care as they age. Lakewood at Home is a program that allows members to stay at home, know that they will have quality care provided to them if and when they need it and have financial protection against the rising costs of long-term care whether at home or in a long-term care community.

“Having my kids here is helpful, but they have their things to do too. My comfort is if I need something, I can call and my daughters don’t have to be running by to take care of me,” said Grove. “How quick the response, how efficient, marvelous contractors: Lakewood at Home is everything I expected it to be but I didn’t expect to need.”

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued new guidance regarding the use of face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The LifeSpire of Virginia leadership team understands that this information may be confusing regarding its implementation in our communities. For that reason, we wanted to share the organization’s interpretation of these guidelines.

Effective immediately, vaccinated independent living residents are permitted to be in public spaces indoors and outdoors without masks. Independent living residents do not need to go through a health screening to enter the community. Operationalizing the new health screening guidance may take a few days for the communities. Please await direction from community leadership. Residents and visitors who have not been vaccinated should continue to wear masks, socially distance and practice good hand hygiene.  

The guidance is a bit different for our higher levels of care. Per the CDC and CMS, masks are still required for residents in our assisted living, healthcare, and memory care neighborhoods. If an IL resident is visiting these areas, masks are required regardless of vaccination status. Visitors to these areas must also wear masks. If both a resident and visitor are fully vaccinated, mask use may be discontinued once inside the resident’s room. Visitors and residents in the higher levels of care will continue to go through health screenings.

All LifeSpire of Virginia team members will continue to wear masks in all levels of care at this time. Team members and residents with salon appointments must continue to wear masks.

Once again, the LifeSpire of Virginia team recognizes that these guidelines are ever-changing, and we appreciate your patience, flexibility and support as our communities continue to do our part to prevent the spread of the virus. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your community’s leadership team with additional questions.

LifeSpire of Virginia is pleased to announce that Lisa Legeer has been selected as the organization’s new chief strategy and integration officer. In this role, Legeer will be responsible for growing top-line revenues, as well as adding other complementary business lines to the organization. She will assist in leading strategic planning efforts and will be responsible for the cultivation of acquisition, merger and affiliation opportunities for the organization.

“For the last five years, the LifeSpire of Virginia leadership team worked diligently to put the organization in a position to grow. A new level of change is on the horizon for the nonprofit senior living industry,” said President and CEO Jonathan Cook. “I feel so fortunate to be able to bring Lisa on board to help our teams prepare and organize for this transformation.”

Legeer has more than 20 years of experience serving senior living and healthcare organizations with strategic and development planning, performance improvement and marketing. Prior to joining the LifeSpire of Virginia team, she served as senior vice president of strategic partnerships for GlynnDevins—a data, analytics and marketing technology company. She also worked for the accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP for 14 years. Legeer holds a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communication studies from the University of Virginia.

The LifeSpire of Virginia leadership team is also happy to announce the promotion of Peter Robinson to chief marketing officer. Robinson, who has served as LifeSpire of Virginia’s vice president of marketing and public relations since 2011, was promoted in acknowledgment of more than a decade of loyalty and dedication to LifeSpire of Virginia residents and team members. In this role, he will continue to provide oversight, strategic direction and leadership for the sales and marketing operations of LifeSpire of Virginia.

Throughout the past year, under Robinson’s guidance, the organization has continued to grow and expand despite the global pandemic. Additionally, he has led the marketing effort with expansion projects at The Culpeper and Lakewood. During his tenure, Robinson has worked to overhaul the training and onboarding process for new marketing team members across the organization.

“Peter is like the utility player on a baseball team who thrives in multiple positions. He spends most of his time directing and mentoring our marketing teams and executive directors, but he also plays an invaluable role in training, support, innovation and executive leadership,” Cook said. “I am grateful for his diligence, drive and dedication to LifeSpire of Virginia’s mission over the last 12 years.”

Robinson has more than 20 years of experience in the senior living industry. He first worked as a food services assistant at a local retirement community while attending high school and college in Harrisonburg, Va. Upon graduation from James Madison University, Robinson worked as a member of the marketing team at Sunrise Senior Living in various locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. He first joined the LifeSpire of Virginia team in 2009 as the corporate director of marketing and public relations. He was promoted to vice president of marketing and public relations in 2011.