Building Better Lives: Heather Tussing’s Aspenwood Story

Intro  

Welcome to another edition of inspired stories where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes, how they’ve overcome adversity, and explore current challenges they’re facing.

Anthony:
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast, where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from their successes and be inspired by how they’ve overcome adversity. My name is Anthony Cotaspodi and today’s guest is Heather Tussing, president of Aspen Wood Company, a boutique manager of high quality senior living communities throughout Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Their foundation is built on exceptional hospitality, fine dining,

outstanding architecture, design, and premier finishes. Residents can choose from independent living, assisted living, or memory care options. Put simply, residents choose an Aspenwood community to live life well, where they will encounter remarkable experiences and enjoy unparalleled convenience every day. They choose locations close to vibrant entertainment, cultural, and recreational opportunities with easy access to outstanding health care.

Heather has a long and storied career in senior living, and we’ll hear about the path that led her to Aspen Woods Front Door. Heather is an experienced president and sales leader with an extensive background in startup and new acquisition communities. She is focused on organizational growth, enhancing culture, associate development, and improving satisfaction. Now, before we get into all that good stuff, today’s episode is brought to you by my company, Ad Back Benefits Agency.

where we offer very specific and unique employee benefits that are both great for your team and fiscally optimized for your bottom line. One recent client was able to add over $900 per employee per year in extra cashflow by implementing one of our proprietary programs. Results vary for each company and some organizations may not be eligible. To find out if your company qualifies, contact us today at addbackbenefitsagency.com. Now back to our guest today, the president of the Aspenwood company, Heather Tussing.

Anthony Codispoti (10:29.122)
I appreciate you making the time to share your story today.

Heather Tussing (10:32.588)
My pleasure, thank you for having me.

Anthony Codispoti (10:34.719)
Okay, so Heather, let’s go back to the beginning. What first drew you into the senior care industry?

Heather Tussing (10:40.462)
So unlike some amazing stories about what brought you into the industry, I happened into it by accident somewhat. My brother was a nursing home administrator. He sell a role. He thought it’d be great for me. So I applied and I started my career as a sales director in a nursing home community in Washington Courthouse, Ohio. So a little off the beaten path, but it was a great opportunity. And then I just was able to…

work my way up. somehow somebody got me a chance to be an executive director of a assisted living community. I don’t know how I got hired because I zero experience, but I had drive and sales knowledge. I got hired that year. We had the turnaround award for the most turned around community in the organization out of 52 communities. And it just started my career from there. So I just worked hard and driven and a people person and it worked out for me.

Anthony Codispoti (11:34.53)
So did you have sales experience before you started at that first senior community?

Heather Tussing (11:39.982)
I did not have sales experience, but I had worked in public relations. I had done public relations for Ohio State Fair throughout college. So I had public relations experience, but not specific sales experience.

Anthony Codispoti (11:50.882)
but they hired you as the sales director.

Heather Tussing (11:52.994)
They did, and I got hired as an executive director without experience either. I got lucky.

Anthony Codispoti (11:59.584)
Got lucky or you’re a good sweet talker? Yeah. Okay, so how did you first come to work at Aspen?

Heather Tussing (12:01.454)
One or the other.

Heather Tussing (12:07.246)
So I was recruited by an external recruiter. They presented me with the opportunity. I wasn’t looking at the time. I was very happy with the organization I was with. But it was an amazing opportunity. I love the opportunity to really drive change, to think up the ideas, work, collaborate with the team, and then to bring that change to happen. So Jim Gray, the CEO and founder of the Aspenwood Company and Bridgewood Property Development, he owns both. He hired me to bring change to the Aspenwood Company.

which is both very exciting and it’s also very difficult. And there are really challenging times to that as well. I mean, when you start in any new role, there are challenges that come with that as well as excitement. Then when you’re bringing change and having to change out a lot of people and processes and protocols, it’s really hard. But after about a year in, we were able to look back and like, dang, we did that. And now two years in, over two years in, it’s really incredible to see.

the team we formed, the collaboration we have together, the trust we have in each other, and everything that’s been accomplished, and then just our goals moving forward. We always want to continue to be better and to do better.

Anthony Codispoti (13:15.692)
So give us an idea of the size of Aspenwood.

Heather Tussing (13:20.76)
So we have 20 communities across the southeastern United States. Some are independent living, some are ILALs and memory care combination. We specialize in urban infill communities, are, for example, in Houston in the Rice Village area, Southampton, River Oaks area. We have a community opening in early 25 that’s actually in Green Hills area of Nashville, and it’s literally on the Green Hills Mall property.

So really just really cool opportunities that we have for our residents and members to live right in the heart of everything that’s going on. And then we also have amazing communities that are just outside the perimeter as well, which are slightly more affordable than our urban infill type communities are.

Anthony Codispoti (14:08.13)
So I’m going to go back a little bit to the beginning. Girl from Washington courthouse, Ohio, which I know a little bit because it’s not too far from Columbus where I live, small town. And I think you were being a little bit modest when you were like, I got lucky along the way. I don’t know why somebody hired me. But I think there’s more to the story there. How you go from small town girl to big time corporate exec. There’s something that happened here in the middle. Like talk us through this.

Heather Tussing (14:18.52)
Yes, very small.

Heather Tussing (14:38.382)
It’s honestly just, I think it’s just a lot of hard work. It was a lot of long days, a lot of reaching out to family and friends to come help me with their project. But it was really just, and a lot of support from my family as well to help me get where I am in my career. But it really was just a lot of hard work and a lot of different roles. And also working for organizations that gave me the opportunity, they give me a hard task to accomplish. And once I completed that, they would give me another stepping stone to a different role within the organization. So for example, one organization I was with,

just one month shy of 11 years. And I think I had six or seven different roles within that organization. Starting there as an executive director, not my first ED role, but starting as an executive director and working my way up to throughout the roles, I was a regional, I was vice president acquisition and community startup. I did training, created new programs, I was a regional. So, but when I ended my time there, I was the VP of.

the AL portion of the organization. And then from there on, I went to be a COO of an organization and VP of sales at the same time. So I think it’s really just hard work, working hard and not being ashamed to speak up when you have your accomplishments and also be willing to speak up when you make mistakes. Because I think anybody that’s successful in their career has made mistakes as well along the line. Anybody who says they didn’t will either.

it’s not truthful or they have some sort of magic. But I think it’s important to own your success, but also own your mistakes that help you get success.

Anthony Codispoti (16:05.11)
Hahaha.

Anthony Codispoti (16:10.826)
Yeah. So what I heard you say many times there was hard work, hard work, hard work, hard work. Somebody would give you a new project. I’m going to guess a lot of times you didn’t know what you were doing at the beginning. You you rolled up your sleeve. asked some questions. You got your fingernails dirty and you figured it out.

Heather Tussing (16:14.968)
Hard work, drive.

Heather Tussing (16:21.261)
No.

Heather Tussing (16:26.754)
Yeah, a lot of it honestly, as I think back or even like Facebook memories will come up and like the I saw one over the weekend and it was like, I just returned home to Florida after 11 straight days of travel. It was my 11th week in a row of traveling. So it’s just one of those things I think where you look back or one time I opened three communities in two different states in a two month period of time and I did a lot of it by myself. And so it’s just like, you look back and you’re like, how did I do that?

But that’s how you get through hard things. You just get through it and then you look back and you learn so much through it and you just build better. You’re better. You’re better because you did it. Not that you wouldn’t always do it that way, but you’re better because you did it and you learned from it.

Anthony Codispoti (17:09.172)
Have you developed any coping mechanisms is the right term to help you through some of those more challenging projects and those really busy times?

Heather Tussing (17:18.914)
Definitely. Definitely. I’ve learned that no matter how busy you are, you have to take a little bit of me time. And that’s something different for everybody. And it doesn’t have to be a huge deal. I mean, it could be working out. I wear an aura ring to prioritize sleep. So it could be prioritizing your sleep. It could be making a couple phone calls to family members. Or it could be just doing your skincare routine. Like it doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, but I’ve learned that when you’re so tied up in things and traveling,

multiple days or multiple weeks in a row, you have to find some, you have to have some semblance of normalcy. Because otherwise it’s like you’re working so hard, what are you working so hard for if you don’t have any of the things that you enjoy in life? And so, and it’s a time being too. It’s a fleeting moment. And so I think as I’ve grown in my career and learned that those hard times, there’s a brighter side on the other side of it. But even during those hard times, you have to take some time for yourself. Even if it’s 10 minutes a day, you have to do something for yourself.

Anthony Codispoti (18:01.634)
Mm.

Anthony Codispoti (18:18.988)
Where’s your happy place? What would be your first choice?

Heather Tussing (18:22.044)
My happy place is on a boat in Sarasota, Florida. Yes, beautiful, beautiful water.

Anthony Codispoti (18:26.831)
I’ve got beautiful beaches down there. So when you first came into Aspenwood, you talked about a number of changes that you implemented. How was it that you identified these changes? What were some of them? Why were they so powerful?

Heather Tussing (18:42.296)
Sure, so first I just came in and assessed and evaluated and looked and what processes and systems do we have? What could we do better? What team members were on board with change and which team members were not on board with change? Which team members had the capacity to do what we needed them to do? And some people were great individuals, but they might have been promoted slightly above what was their comfort zone.

And so was really looking at all those and then forming a plan of what needed to happen first. So really just going through that list and making those changes. And it took me, it took a full year to definitely get everything in place that we needed. And then the next year was really a growing year for us as a team forming together. And then also as an organization we grew. So in March of this past year, so about a year and half into my tenure,

We actually grew by number of communities by 63%, which is crazy. So talk about a hard time. So we opened one luxury community in Charlotte, an urban infill project. This is fairly exciting. We took over management of a community here in the Tanglewood area, a very luxury community in the Tanglewood area of Houston. So we have two communities in Tanglewood now. And then we also…

Anthony Codispoti (19:39.98)
Wow. Yeah.

Heather Tussing (20:02.51)
co-purchased and managed four communities in the North Dallas market, which is our first extension to the Dallas market as well. And then we also, in addition to that, we also took over management of another community in Dallas. So it was crazy, crazy times, but it definitely helped us as a team come out stronger. And during all that hard work, our stabilized portfolio census actually,

maintain 90 % occupancy. So I was so proud of not just the senior team, but also our community’s ability to keep these going in a great direction when some of our eyes were turned to other projects.

Anthony Codispoti (20:42.287)
Was there something going on in the industry that made so many opportunities kind of come about at once or was it just sort of coincidental timing?

Heather Tussing (20:51.182)
I think it was coincidental to a degree. We co-purchased four together. So that four, I think it was a market timing and it was the right thing with the right partner at the right time. So four of it was that. The others were just some banking industries were going through some, know, disposing of some communities and so forth. So, and then we opened a community, which when you open a community, the timelines are a little bit fluid, especially in urban infill project, because those are very.

very challenging builds because you’re building on a very small plot of land and you’re going vertical.

Anthony Codispoti (21:22.785)
Do you see there being economic conditions that are favorable for growth going forward? Or do you guys feel like you’re sort of hanging out where you are right

Heather Tussing (21:29.996)
I think I think I’m

We do not have another urban infill project underway right now. So those usually take us a couple of years to get off the ground. we’re actively looking. The Bridgewood side of our organization finds those sites and they do tremendous job at that. So they’re actively looking for the next site. Obviously we’re looking at interest rates and what that looks like for those projects. But definitely we’re definitely in acquisition mode and taking on additional management agreements as well.

definitely looking to continue to grow in a way that makes sense. So what’s important to me and I think, and a lot of my team members, and this comes from us, myself and my team members came work our way up through the community level. And so one of the things that’s important to me is as we take on new communities that we’re able to still provide the appropriate support to our current communities, but also provide that extra dedicated support to the onboarding community. Because this is really turbulent time for them. I mean, they’re learning on new systems and processes and

It’s a lot for our community to take on. So I want to make sure that as we do it, it’s in a meaningful way that I ensure that we have the people and resources available to support them at the same time. We did that in March and it’s because of an incredible team that was able to do that. But that’s the reason we want to footprint this day the Southeast type. So would we take on a portfolio in Oregon? Possibly, but it would have to be a portfolio to where we would be able to have people stationed there to provide support to those communities.

Anthony Codispoti (23:00.492)
they would have to be people from the Aspenwood team that would need to be positioned there in Oregon in that example. Yeah.

Heather Tussing (23:00.588)
Having a happy first birthday.

Heather Tussing (23:05.526)
Yeah, we would probably need to have additional hires. But now it’s nice because we’re somewhat central. We have large airports with all of us everywhere we serve. So it’s really nice.

Anthony Codispoti (23:18.034)
Yeah. I think a sign of a good leader is oftentimes giving credit to their team for the successes. What, as your role as president there at Aspenwood, I’m curious, what is the part of the job that you enjoy the most?

Heather Tussing (23:34.126)
I love collaborating and bringing out the best ideas from people. I love creating an environment where ideas are okay to be discussed, to where we can take an idea, and it doesn’t matter if I came up with it or one of my team members, and then as a team, we can collaborate and poke holes at it, and then we come up with a better idea. Because all of us come with different personal backgrounds, different professional backgrounds, sometimes even different industries.

So the more input we have into an idea, that’s how we’re going to make it better. But I also think it’s important that we’re willing to go with it, but then reevaluate and see if it’s six months down the road. Is it still the best idea or do we need to pivot some? And I think that’s fine to pivot. But I really believe anybody who’s a leader of an organization is a huge portion of your job is setting the culture tone for an organization. And that’s vitally important to me. And we have extremely high expectations. We expect a lot of our team members.

Anthony Codispoti (24:23.618)
Mm.

Heather Tussing (24:30.808)
but we also recognize that everybody has a life outside of work and we want them to have a life outside of work. So we really do stress work life balance because that’s how they’re going to come to work their best. But it also, I want happy team members and they’re going to be happier if they have something outside of work as well. And they’re seeing this when we went through that huge acquisition mode in March, that was a work heavy mode, obviously. But then, you know, it’s important that we also understand and give individuals grace because there’s going to be times.

Anthony Codispoti (24:46.818)
Mm.

Heather Tussing (24:59.128)
where something comes up with their family or in their personal life where they need to have more family centered for a period of time. That’s part of being a work family.

Anthony Codispoti (25:07.531)
With an organization the size of yours, I’m curious, what are some practical things that you can do to establish that culture and push it out or have it trickle down to all the different locations?

Heather Tussing (25:17.837)
Wait.

Well, so there’s lots of things that different team members on my team do. I can speak to what I personally do, but there again, it’s like setting the tone. So my team members have the ability to make their decisions on how they want to ensure that culture is infiltrated as well. But one of the things I do is I do videos for new team members. do videos welcoming new team members. do videos for director level birthdays.

I do videos for director level anniversaries. We send out cards for all those. So I think it’s very important to recognize your team members and let them know how in their role, what a pivotal way they’re going to affect. So say I have somebody come on as a director of resident care for one of our communities. They truly have the ability to impact the lives of our residents or members, their family members of those residents and members, and also our team members.

So they really have so much influence. So I think it’s important as we welcome these team members to let them know, they may think I’m coming on to take care of clinical and they are, but they really, they have a lot of power. And our executive directors, our executive directors are running multi-million dollar organizations in their own community. So I think it’s important that we empower these individuals and let them know. But I also try to be very real and I try to…

tell people the why as much as I can behind why we’re doing something or why we’re rolling out a process or why we’re rolling out a new program. And there’s sometimes I can’t. But as much as I can, I try to explain the why behind it. Because I go back to when I was an executive director in an economically challenged area in North Dayton, Ohio. And I think that I thought my community was like the BLN though. got to like, I took a challenge community, we got to 100%, we had strong NOI.

Heather Tussing (27:10.36)
But in reality, it was such a minor piece of the organization. So what I think is important is as my roles grew, my lens grew that I could see through. And I think it’s important, and that’s why I try to clue our team members in so that they can see a bigger view than what I saw as an executive director, personally.

Anthony Codispoti (27:27.906)
Mm hmm. I think that that understanding the why is huge. And my I’ve got two young boys, they’re eight and 10. And sometimes the lessons that they reteach me are are so powerful for sort of my grown up adult life. You know, because there are times where I just want to be a parent and be like, do this. And they’re like, why? Like put on your coat. I don’t want to put on my coat. You’re gonna do it because I’m your dad. And I told you

Heather Tussing (27:33.816)
Mm-hmm.

Heather Tussing (27:46.062)
Right.

Anthony Codispoti (27:55.894)
You know, but if you stop and tell them, it’s 30 degrees outside, you’re going to be outside for recess. I don’t want you to be cold and you know, your fingers to turn blue. Sometimes that helps a little bit with kids, not completely, but it like when they, when I give them the why and they can wrap their heads around it, it, it’s so much more powerful. And you know, as grownups, as adults in the workforce, we’re basically just big kids. Right. And so knowing that why behind, you know, why we’re doing something, I think, you know, it helps us to also think about what

Heather Tussing (28:05.869)
Right?

Anthony Codispoti (28:24.994)
Well, what’s better way to help the company get to this end goal and gets them more invested in the process? Yeah.

Heather Tussing (28:31.918)
Definitely. And also they’ll be able to give feedback and give ideas that we might not have thought of to help us be better.

Anthony Codispoti (28:38.258)
Mm hmm. So so important. You know, I’m looking at your website here, which for folks is the Aspenwoodcompany.com. And I’m looking at imagery of some of these places. And I have to tell you that I wasn’t sure that I was looking at a senior living facility company here. I’m like, this looks like, you know, where, you know, young up and comers, you know, the places that they want to live, like, you

gorgeous buildings, like beautiful lobby areas. I mean, this is really upscale.

Heather Tussing (29:13.567)
very luxurious and are really, it goes aside. mean, the communities are absolutely stunning and beautiful and the design team does a tremendous job and the architectural teams developing these communities and especially the urban infielders. Obviously you’re working with land that is at premium, so they’re really maximizing the potential for each space and they do a tremendous job at it. But above and beyond that, it’s also the culture that’s created within that community and putting those residents or members first and really making sure that our

like enrichment programming is really catered to what they care about. And that’s gonna be very different from one area to another. So for example, a luxury community in Charlotte and a luxury community in Nashville are still gonna be very different. They may aesthetically look somewhat similar. There’s gonna be some differences based on the regionality, but there’s also differences in what people wanna eat, what they wanna see served on the menu, how they wanna be greeted, what they wanna do.

And that’s normal. And so it’s very important to us that we go with that and we trust those communities that they know what’s the right thing for their residents or members in that community.

Anthony Codispoti (30:17.014)
So yeah, in the intro we talked about fine dining. What does that mean in a senior living facility?

Heather Tussing (30:23.148)
I mean, I think it depends on whether it’s our luxury community or a mid luxury community, but it’s still very much catering to the residents and what their desires are. So we have food committee meetings, have chef demos every single month because we really want feedback from those residents and what they really want because it’s the whole 100%. That’s the goal. That’s the goal. We want them to participate. We want their feedback. And we want to meet that whenever we possibly can because it’s

Anthony Codispoti (30:26.892)
Okay.

Anthony Codispoti (30:40.181)
These are committees that the residents can participate in. Sorry to interrupt. Okay, wow. Yeah.

Heather Tussing (30:52.778)
Dining, we want people to come to the dining room as well because dining is so much more than just it’s a nursing experience, but it’s also a social experience. And it’s where you meet people, where you gather, just like as a family at home. And that’s important to us. But when we talk about dining, it brings me back to a funny time. One time when I was an executive director of a luxury startup community in South Jersey, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, I actually had a family member call the owner.

Anthony Codispoti (31:00.066)
Mmm.

Heather Tussing (31:18.754)
Because we had eight flavors of ice cream, but we didn’t have their mother’s favorite and the owner called me to tell me and he’s like Heather if they’re calling to complain about ice cream y’all are doing a great job Because that’s the worst concern, but that’s how important food is. I mean food is pivotal to individuals So it’s important to that we have a wide select wide availability of selections as well so that it’s not just one opportunity There’s multiple items available our luxury communities also have bistros and juice bars and so forth. So there’s lots of different

Anthony Codispoti (31:28.354)
You

Heather Tussing (31:48.566)
amenities available to serve those different individual’s preferences.

Anthony Codispoti (31:52.396)
Wow, I mean, it sounds like a place I would have fun at. So I’m kind of curious, how would you say you kind of compare to some of the competition in the area, in the areas that you guys work in?

Heather Tussing (31:54.701)
I love it. I love it.

Heather Tussing (32:06.312)
Typically, in most of our communities, whether it’s luxury or mid-luxury, we’re going to be at the usually to the top of the price point. And we’re fine with that. What that means is you have to be excellent. Whether it’s luxury or mid-luxury, you have to be excellent. And you have to ensure that you’re doing what you say you’re going to do, which is something that’s very important to me. I never want us to over promise and under deliver. And so we actually created a position that at one time in my career I had. we created it. I created it. I added it this past year here at the Asmo Company.

And so it’s an individual. We’re very blessed to have somebody who’s both an RN and a former executive director. So she sees things through both the clinical but also an operations role, which is an amazing combination to have. And they do first impression visits to really looking at that first impression, which is not just the parking lot and the entry, but the first impression throughout the entire community. But also she does compliance audit visits as well. So a minimum of twice a year.

Anthony Codispoti (32:45.11)
Yeah.

Heather Tussing (33:00.684)
She’s done an unannounced compliance audit, which not only looks at state regulatory items, but also our policies and procedures. So what we’re saying we’re doing, are we doing it and are we doing it well? So I think it’s very important that organizations have their own checks and balances to really ensure that you’re providing the services and amenities that you say you’re going to provide.

Anthony Codispoti (33:20.034)
So these would be private pay environments, is that right? Yeah. Okay. I’m kind of curious to hear your perspective on this. What do you see is the biggest concern that families have when trying to find care? Well, either for themselves during that stage of choosing or for their loved ones. And what do you tell them to help ease their mind?

Heather Tussing (33:22.99)
prep all of our environments or private pay environments.

Heather Tussing (33:41.634)
I think the biggest challenge can be leaving an environment that you’re comfortable in, that you know. Even if it’s not safe any longer, or if it may not be socially, you may not socially be thriving and you just, you might need to move into an independent or assisted living community just for the environment of it itself. So I think that the biggest challenge is leaving what you know. And so leaving your home environment. And it’s scary. And I think it’s just important to be open and transparent with them.

Anthony Codispoti (34:01.292)
Yeah.

Heather Tussing (34:08.182)
and be like, these feelings are natural. So go with them on their journey. The feelings they have, validating those feelings because they’re very natural feelings. mean, even kids going off to college and flying the coup, like, yes, they’re excited, but I think it’d be unusual for them not to be a little bit nervous at the same time. It’s very similar if you’re moving into one of our communities or any of our competitors’ communities. There is still a change and change is hard. So I think it’s important to…

explain to them that we understand change is hard and this is what we’re going to help you with the transition and we’re here for you. We want your feedback and we do surveys just to get their feedback on what the experience was both for our associates and for our residents on what that new experience looks like for them so that we can help learn and make it hopefully more seamless for future residents members or new team members.

Anthony Codispoti (34:55.01)
Yeah, my, can sort of back up what you’re saying from personal experience, my grandmother who passed away several years ago, but, you know, before she passed, she was living by herself for a number of years because her husband had passed earlier than her. And we kept trying to kind of like, Hey, you know, grandma, why don’t you go to a facility, be around people more often. And, you know, there were times where she had a procedure and she’d need to go to one of these facilities to recover for a little while we would go visit her and she was just, you know, all light up and smiles because she gets

She’s so social, she gets to talk to everybody and like you would have so much fun here. that was what kept holding her back to the house is everything that she knew, everything was familiar was in that home. And so yeah, exactly what you’re saying.

Heather Tussing (35:34.392)
Right. I also think there’s a misconception of what senior living looks like. So senior living nowadays is, know, independent living, assisted living or memory care is not a skilled nursing environment. And even skilled environments have come so far from what they used to be. So I think there’s also a misconception and people think it’s like the home or I’m being put away. No, like your life is going to grow if you move into a senior living community, not just ours.

Most any your life is going to grow your life is going to be fuller. You’re gonna have better meals. You’re gonna have better social experiences If it’s a child, you know this whether it’s a young adult child that’s helping take care of their parents We’re gonna get that parental relationship back so they don’t have a caretaker. They can just enjoy and have fun with their parents That’s what we want to get back I my goal is always for people to live a fuller life with this and they did before so that that’s learning They you know learn new food

Anthony Codispoti (36:17.184)
Mm. Mm.

Heather Tussing (36:29.538)
whether they learn new life enrichment activities, they might learn a new language. Our Southampton, we have a partnership with Rice University. We have professors in and out of the community nonstop. Or if it’s learning to use an iPad or a different type of technology, just living a bigger life than they had before they moved in with us.

Anthony Codispoti (36:48.512)
I’ll draw from another personal example to kind of back up what you’re saying. have a great aunt who’s in a senior facility here in central Ohio, and she could not be happier. We went to visit her earlier this summer and she spent an hour taking us through the whole facility, giving us the tour, introducing us to everybody who worked there and a number of her friends in the hallway. She was living her best life. It was great to see. yeah.

Heather Tussing (37:13.371)
And that’s the goal. That’s the goal.

Anthony Codispoti (37:19.008)
What’s something different or innovative that you have introduced to enhance the patient experiences at your facilities, Heather?

Heather Tussing (37:25.72)
So I think we’ve done a lot. We’ve rolled out life enrichment platforms that are electronic. now things are available to see electronically for our residents. They’re very tech savvy. So they want to be able to, on their phone, be able to look at activities. What is the menu for the day? We can also, families can look in if the residence allows and see what their loved one participated in that day or what activities were available to them.

We also use a electronic ordering platform for when the residents order. it’s very much like a restaurant. Our dining experience is a restaurant dining experience. And so as opposed to doing the old fashioned way where they’d write things down and so forth, no, everything’s electronic now. So it’s a quicker dining process. So the order’s getting back quicker. We’re able to bring it back out quicker. And so I think it’s just, senior living as a whole can be a little…

Archaic in regards to rolling out technology and so I think that’s one of the things that is an industry We’ve gotten a lot better at and it’s one of the things that I’ve embraced here at the asthma company is really just Ensuring that we’re using technology and then if we’re paying for a platform

fully utilize it. So our work order systems, our residents can either input work orders or they can go right to the front desk and they’ll input it and it’s all electronic. And so we can update individuals. So everything is just about keeping people informed, right? I think nowadays we all want to be informed and we want to know, even if we have a question or a concern, we want to know where that is in the process. And then we’ve also rolled out

Like I mentioned, we’ve rolled out through a partner, a vendor partner, where we do new resident member surveys so that after 45 days in, we want to gather what their experiences were so that we can learn and pivot and make that resident experience, onboarding experience better. And we do the same for our new team members as well. So I think it’s really using technology, but then you have to use any technology you use. It’s going to usually provide you some data points. So it’s not only getting the information from the survey or

Heather Tussing (39:23.714)
to streamline the dining process. It’s also taking that information you get from that technology so we can see what our residents prefer in this community versus this community. So we can order smarter to reduce some of those costs associated with that. So we’re ordering the right numbers of quantities of food, but also making sure you use that resident satisfaction information or.

the participation in life enrichment and what was highly participated and what wasn’t. So either you pivot and you go away and do something different or you make that experience better so that more people want to participate in it. So it’s gathering the information and streamlining it, but also using that information then retrospectively to be better.

Anthony Codispoti (40:02.154)
Sounds like you’ve made a pretty big investment in technology to be able to offer these ordering platforms and these feedback mechanisms.

Heather Tussing (40:08.282)
We definitely have.

Heather Tussing (40:13.646)
We have, and it’s been a learning experience and we’ve had to do it over time, right? So I couldn’t come in and roll out all these new systems at one time. Because if you try to roll out too much new at one time, very little is gonna penetrate in. So we had to do it and stagger it. And again, pick what software was most important at that time and then roll the other platforms into it as it made sense time-wise.

Anthony Codispoti (40:37.504)
What kind of events are available for residents to do during the week or on the weekends? What kind of activities do you have set up?

Heather Tussing (40:42.744)
my gosh, there’s so much of the whole, and actually when I’m in Houston, I live in one of our senior living communities when I’m in Houston. there is so much, and so every day I see the whole list and it’s literally a whole page. And again, every community is gonna be a little bit different. So what we do in one community may be very different than another, but there’s gonna be museum experiences, there’s gonna be opportunities to go fishing, to go to a ball game, to have a guest lecturer in.

Lots of different fitness programs because if you interview three different people they’d have three different ideas of what fitness is to them. So there’s a never-ending array of events to go to off-site and on-site to participate in. It’s so cool to see everything that’s going on within a community.

Anthony Codispoti (41:23.276)
You know, most business leaders I talk to say labor market’s still pretty tight. It’s hard to find good folks. It’s hard to hold on to good folks. I’m curious what Aspenwood has tried and what you have seen is working for you on the recruiting and the retention side.

Heather Tussing (41:42.222)
So from the recruiting side, I’m proud that with a rare exception, we’re agency free, which is great in healthcare because that was a big challenge through COVID obviously. Yeah, it is, it is. And so I’m very proud of that. And definitely there’s a financial side to that. But what makes me most proud is that if you have your own team members, then there’s a continuity of…

Anthony Codispoti (41:50.838)
That’s pretty unusual.

Heather Tussing (42:05.55)
of care and services for our residents and members, which is what’s most important to me. Yes, there’s a financial side to it that you don’t want to agency, but even more importantly is that continuity and that our residents having those familiar faces is so vitally important. They need to be comfortable and they need to be assured that their services are going to be uninterrupted. So that’s very important. But I think

One of our recruiting methods that we’ve utilized is through our recruiting software is we have the ability to push out notifications to all applicants for a specific role and have like open interview times and so forth. So I think that has been something that we’ve seen very successful. It’s kind of like an AI type thing, but when you come in, you’re meeting with real people, real people are meeting with real people. But I think that we’ve

Anthony Codispoti (42:46.499)
But the AI is helping to of sort of whittle the list down.

Heather Tussing (42:49.59)
Attract the right individuals and be able to bulk email out or text out actually it’s text bulk text out and because nobody answers the phone So you can’t do a phone call so you bulk text it out and we’ve had a well-meaning response to that But when you do that you have to have an interview process that’s very welcoming and you need to court them It’s almost like dating you have to court them and make because they can they can go to the next door and get a job at the same time was like

Anthony Codispoti (43:12.194)
Mm-mm.

Heather Tussing (43:17.592)
So you have to make them, you want them to feel special because they are special. And you have to treat them like that. And then when they become a team member, it’s also very important. I hate the word staff. I hate the word staff. So I will never ever say that word. I like team member or associate. Team member is my favorite because that’s what they are. They’re part of a team and they’re part of our success or our luck and success, either or. And so we have to treat them with respect and…

And they’re very valuable to us. They’re valuable to our other team members because they don’t want to work shortstop. They’re valuable to our residents. And they’re valuable to our success as organization. So we have to treat them with that respect that they deserve. And I think that’s part of the retention is making sure everybody feels valued and important because we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our communities and our team members working in our communities.

Anthony Codispoti (44:04.938)
And I think that comes from what we talked about before with culture. So what you do to kind of help establish and push down that culture to your executive directors and then sort of embolling them, empowering them to kind of do the same thing in their local communities.

Heather Tussing (44:11.382)
One, two.

No.

big piece of that is me having a senior team that I trust, fully trust, so I know that they’re going to do the right decisions and they’re going to lead by example. And that’s what’s most important to me is that we lead by example.

Anthony Codispoti (44:30.082)
So you’ve got a strong sales background, Heather. Now, you’ve been a director and a president. You’ve worked your way up through the ranks. I’m kind of curious whether it’s here at Aspenwood or maybe one of your other stops along the way. Something creative maybe that you’ve tried to help increase sales that might be fun to share?

Heather Tussing (44:32.279)
Okay.

Heather Tussing (44:49.838)
I think we use a Shroffman methodology, is a sales methodology that I’ve actually used since 2009, even before it was a CRM. It was just a way of selling. And I think it’s hard to grasp. I remember when I was first introduced to it in 2009, coming into a community as an executive director, and I sent all these ideas through, and they’re like, great, that’ll be your job. And I’m like, so it’s just a different way of selling, but it’s a way of selling where you’re really forming relationships and

It’s not like you’re selling. It’s like you’re guiding individuals and really helping them. But I think that, and we rolled that out here at the Aspenwood Company. And so it was a huge undertaking because it’s really a way of changing people’s way of what selling is. And you’re really being a resource. You’re helping knock down obstacles. And it’s really going with people on their journey to become a resident or a member of one of our communities. And I think it really makes you rethink selling.

And even people who are very experienced at selling, it really takes them a minute to learn it. It was actually created by an attorney who bought some senior living communities and was very passionate about the sales process. His name is David Smith and he’s been very, very successful. But it’s an amazing process, but I think it definitely takes some time to get to learn it. And we continuously invest in ensuring that our team members are trained and that

they understand the selling methodology and how every single person in a community is part of the sales culture of that community. So everybody has an impact on sales. I don’t know why it’s called Sharp. I don’t know why that’s the name of it, but that’s the name that I inherited, that it was inherited when I started working with it in 2009. And when I had the opportunity to bring it back on here or to initiate it here, I definitely jumped at that opportunity.

Anthony Codispoti (46:28.796)
Why is it called Sherpa? Okay.

Anthony Codispoti (46:46.636)
But if we want to put it in our show notes, I’ll just search for…

Heather Tussing (46:49.73)
But actually now it’s actually got bought out by a line. So it’s A-L-I-N-E and they offer different platforms and the platform we utilize with it is Sherpa.

Anthony Codispoti (46:59.734)
Got it. All right, we’ll look for that. Thank you. How about something fun for reducing expenses? Anything creative that you tried along the way there?

Heather Tussing (47:02.574)
Uh-huh.

Heather Tussing (47:10.22)
I think it’s again, leading by example and being able to that myself and my team members are able to look at our income statements and really dig in and dive in and find where those areas of opportunities exist. And that’s because we’ve all done the role in the community. I think if we hadn’t been in the community, it’d be a little different or communities might take our suggestions a little differently. But if you come from at a point where this is what I did, it comes across in a more meaningful way.

And we also utilize a purchasing platform, but that’s kind of typical, I think. So we utilize a purchasing platform and things like that. That is important, but it’s really digging into those financials and seeing opportunities where we could do better.

Anthony Codispoti (47:36.663)
They’re like.

Anthony Codispoti (47:48.802)
Now coming from a sales background, have you kind of adapted to that side of the business well, or is that sort of a little less interesting to you?

Heather Tussing (47:57.58)
No, because I really, come from both, because I have a sales background, but also as executive director, you’re every role, like you fill in every role. I don’t even cook for my family and I’ve cooked in the kitchen in a community before, because you have to do what you have to do. I’ve unloaded trucks. mean, you just do what you have to do when you’re in a community level. And the executive director’s job is never the same job two days in a row, I can say that. And so I think that…

as an executive director, you are the operations leader. You’re really overseeing every function of that community, whether it’s sales or dining or the entry experience for a concierge or mechanical, like you’re overseeing everything and working with those different department leaders. So I love both sides of it.

Anthony Codispoti (48:39.776)
Heather, what’s a serious challenge that you had to overcome, either personally or professionally, and what did you learn going through that experience?

Heather Tussing (48:46.691)
COVID. My gosh, COVID. COVID and the impact it had on healthcare in general and definitely the senior living industry. It definitely taught you who’s strong and where the weak, yourself independently, like where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are. And you definitely saw that on your team members and you just had to keep raising each other up.

I actually heard somebody a week or so that they talked about what they did during COVID and like new hobbies they picked up during COVID. If you worked in healthcare, that was not a challenge you had during COVID. You had a challenge of you had to space out a little bit of free time to go outside and breathe. Myself and my senior team, we were working the floor during COVID. We were doing things in COVID that we didn’t normally do as a senior team because that’s what had to be done. So I think that COVID was definitely the most challenging time of my entire career.

you had many times you had no good options. Like when you were presenting with a problem, there was not a good option. You had to pick the least bad option. And that’s not necessarily a good feeling, but we got through it. And I think as an industry, we learned a lot. And definitely the team members that you worked with through that period of time, it really created a very strong bond amongst team members.

Anthony Codispoti (50:03.276)
What’s something that you’ve learned that you’ve been able to bring into post-COVID world that is helping to make you guys better?

Heather Tussing (50:10.728)
Definitely the use of technology because there is less ability to communicate face to face so you need to be able to communicate through technology and so we rolled out like LifeSweep was the one technology we rolled out and I initially rolled it out so that I personally could have drive communication through to family members across our target or entire organization. Now we use it for a resident engagement platform but I initially did it just so can have communication opportunities.

we do a work order system to where people can do that. Again, it came through technology needed during COVID. and then just, think disaster planning in general, it has gone up several notches because we encounter things that you don’t normally encounter in senior living and not in the independent system in the memory care world of senior living.

Anthony Codispoti (50:59.478)
You talked about how hard it was. There were no good options at times. What kind of coping mechanisms did people try? Did you try? Did you try to implement for the team?

Heather Tussing (51:11.432)
we definitely, I mean, we definitely tried to make sure that people took time for themselves as well. and we definitely gave individuals grace because they were really, really hard things that occurred during COVID. and a lot of loss that have unfortunately occurred throughout the entire world, obviously in the country. but when you’re there taking care of somebody and you’re seeing it firsthand, it really, really hits home. So making sure that we get people grace. and I think that’s something that.

that is sticking and I’m so glad to see that because people have lives in and outside of work but there’s also tough things that occur in a daily life especially if it’s more of clinical type environment not so much our independent living but more this is living in memory care there is a lot of life components that go into that but there’s also a clinical and a care component and people had to do really hard things and so I think it’s important that if they need to step away and take a longer break outside that’s okay let them come back in and be the best version of themselves they can be at that moment

Anthony Codispoti (52:11.67)
What’s something you wish you could teach a younger version of yourself? Something that’s pretty obvious now that, man, it would have been good to know back then.

Heather Tussing (52:16.814)
you

think that sometimes I thought things were like life-shattering and they really, really, really weren’t. You know, I think that as you grow in your role and you experience different roles, you learn that something that seemed so hard wasn’t that hard. You were overthinking it. And I also think that I’ve learned to really go with my gut. If your gut says no or your gut says yes, you need to go with that. And don’t second guess it. If it says no, there’s a reason why you may not see it right then, but there’s a reason and go with it.

Anthony Codispoti (52:48.546)
That’s a good one. What’s a fun or interesting fact most people wouldn’t know about you, Heather?

Heather Tussing (52:53.966)
I’m the pickiest eater in the entire world. eat like a child, which can be very challenging in my role, especially at some of these fancy things I get to go to, it can be very challenging to eat like a toddler. My husband is the one to keep this food ever. Like I literally will take protein bars with me to events so that I have something to eat. Like I don’t just sit at a table and eat it by any means, but I’ll take my own salad dressing or things like that. but I truly eat like a

Anthony Codispoti (53:04.492)
So what are the foods that you’ll do?

Anthony Codispoti (53:20.864)
I’ve got an eight year old and I think there’s maybe six or seven things that outside of like snack foods that he’ll eat willingly. Does that describe you? Are you on a short list like that? Okay.

Heather Tussing (53:27.318)
Yeah.

I mean if I have a salad, I’m pretty good. If I can have a salad, I’m good. Just give me a salad without a lot of stuff on it, I’m good.

Anthony Codispoti (53:37.026)
and I would love to get him to eat a salad. Just a piece of lettuce, that would be a big progress for us. Heather, any specific mentors or books or different kinds of mastermind networking experiences that have been helpful for you in your career trajectory?

Heather Tussing (53:41.388)
Right.

Heather Tussing (53:53.27)
I think that it’s important to look at, I mean, I think it’s important to mentor others and look for mentors within. And they don’t even have to be formally called a mentor. I think you can learn so much just be a sponge and just learn so much from those around you, both good and bad, right? You’re gonna learn what you want to emulate and what you don’t want to emulate. And that’s okay. I think there’s a book I love called Excellence Wins. There’s just, I don’t know, there’s another one I can’t think of the title of it.

right now, but it comes from somebody outside the industry and it’s literally about becoming a Michelin star restaurant and what it took to get that by putting everybody first. And it’s actually like, it was this very, very elite restaurant in New York City and they actually served somebody a hot dog because they heard them talking about their trip to New York and what they missed out on during the trip was having a New York City street hot dog. So they went out and ran and got that for them. So I think it’s a very,

Anthony Codispoti (54:29.377)
Mm.

Heather Tussing (54:52.175)
There are just so many books that can help you, but I don’t think you should ever stay within whatever industry you’re in. I think you need to learn from others and other industries as well.

Anthony Codispoti (55:02.04)
Heather, if a year from now you and I were toasting champagne glasses celebrating something, what would you hope it would be?

Heather Tussing (55:09.782)
I would hope that we’ll be toasting the success of our, communities that we have in our portfolio and hopefully potential future growth as well.

Anthony Codispoti (55:21.494)
I just have one more question for you, Heather, but before I ask it, I want to do two things. For those listening, you like today’s content, please hit the like, share, or subscribe button on your favorite podcast app. I also want to let people know the best way to get in touch with you, Heather. What would that be?

Heather Tussing (55:23.544)
Good.

Heather Tussing (55:34.958)
My email address is htussing, so h-t-u-s-s-i-n-g at theaspenwoodcompany.com. That’s the easiest way to get in touch with me or through the website. You can do a form fill and that’ll get to me as well, eventually.

Anthony Codispoti (55:48.567)
So last question for you Heather. I’m curious what do you see are the big changes coming to your industry in the next couple of years?

Heather Tussing (55:56.982)
I think that some of the changes are coming are continued use of technology, continuing innovative way to drive team members to your organization and maintain those team members. I think those are the two biggest things. And I also, one of the things that I’ve seen recently that I love is collaboration amongst different leaders within the industry. So like actually coming together to discuss best practices and what’s worked and what’s not worked for them as opposed to seeing each other just as competitors.

actually seeing a brainstorming session and I love that because there’s enough to go around for all of us.

Anthony Codispoti (56:33.248)
Yeah. Is it hard to find like-minded people in your industry to do that? Or do they kind of, do they view you as competitors? Yeah.

Heather Tussing (56:38.104)
I think it’s becoming far more commonplace. I mean, there are going to be competitions, don’t get me wrong, but I think that there’s a lot of collaboration occurring right now. And I think part of that came through COVID as well. And I love to see that because I think that’ll help provide a better resident or member experience for those involved, no matter what organization they’re with.

Anthony Codispoti (56:59.274)
Where do you see AI going in your space?

Heather Tussing (57:01.998)
I think AI is going to help us be better. I mean, it helps me write better. I think AI will help us be better. don’t see AI taking the place of a team member. I think I see it helping us be more efficient.

Anthony Codispoti (57:14.336)
In what ways? you have any sort of visions of, like are you hearing tools that are being worked on or do you kind of have an idea in your head of what you would like to see?

Heather Tussing (57:19.638)
Yeah, mean, even in writing job descriptions, we’re able to take our job descriptions, put them in AI, get something out that is more attractive to, because that’s what we’re doing, right? We’re trying to court potential team members so that it looks more attractive to them, but it still takes the human to go through it and look at it and make sure it makes sense. So I think there’s lots of different ways we’re going to see it within the industry.

Anthony Codispoti (57:45.792)
Heather, I want to be the first one to thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.

Heather Tussing (57:50.808)
Thank you so much. appreciate the opportunity.

Anthony Codispoti (57:53.772)
Folks, that’s a wrap on another episode of the Inspired Stories podcast. Thanks for learning with us today.

Heather, that was great. I appreciate those kind words. I want to say the same thing about you. Lots of interesting stories, lots of good gold nuggets. So fun to be able to help tell that story of, you know, small town, you know, just hard work, nose to the grindstone kind of a thing. Like I did it, you can do it too.

Heather Tussing (58:02.712)
Thank you so much. You’re amazing.

Heather Tussing (58:25.025)
Yeah, exactly. That’s my goal.

Anthony Codispoti (58:26.818)
I love it. So I’ve got a few things for you before I let you go. First thing is, can I get a mailing address from you? I just want to send you a small thank you for being part of the show.

Heather Tussing (58:37.583)
Of course. It’s 6363 or I can just email you if you want. You want me to just email it to you? It’ll be on my email. Perfect. I’ll just email you.

Anthony Codispoti (58:43.616)
Yeah, that’s that’s fine. Great. Next thing is I’ve got a good network of folks that I’ve had the chance to meet, you know, through my 30 years of being in business. Now with the podcast, I get to meet a lot of interesting people. Is there a particular challenge that you’re working through now that I don’t know, maybe there’s somebody in my network that I could introduce you to or make a suggestion that might be helpful?

Heather Tussing (59:08.29)
I just think, I mean, think obviously the biggest challenge is finding the right team members and maintaining them. That’s definitely, you know, but again, we’ve gone through lots of opportunities. Our VP of HR is amazing. She actually left and came back to us, which I love. So I think that that’s just one of our, I think that’s the challenge, but I think that’s a challenge for a lot of people right now.

Anthony Codispoti (59:28.97)
And it sounds like you guys have got a pretty good process for that. Would it be all right if I told you a little bit about our company in case it’s interesting to you? So we offer an innovative insurance product that leverages some well-established government programs so that we can offer employee benefits like unlimited free telehealth, unlimited free counseling and therapy. There’s 190 prescription medications that are free to use.

Heather Tussing (59:31.83)
Yeah, we’re working through it, yes.

Heather Tussing (59:36.524)
I’d love to.

Anthony Codispoti (59:56.93)
So there’s no co-pays, no deductibles. Every time the employees access the benefits, it’s completely free of charge for them. And then because of the way that we leverage those government programs, the employees actually take home a little bit more money in their paycheck. And then on the business side of things, there’s a pretty significant reduction in payroll taxes, somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 to $1,000 per employee per year.

So an organization with, you know, call it, know, 15, 1600 full-time employees, you’re probably looking at an increase in net profits about a million dollars a year. so it checks a lot of boxes, right? Extra benefits for your employees helps on recruiting and retention side gets them a little bit of extra money, you know, in their pockets. It, you know, rather than a benefit that’s sort of a net expense line item for the company, it’s.

actually putting more money into your pocket. I’m curious if it would make sense for us to set up a separate call to see if this is a good fit for you guys.

Heather Tussing (01:01:00.566)
Yeah, so I have a question. So we work with a PO, which I did not know what that was before I came here. And we used our first PO to a second PO that we really like. We were with Procare now and we really like them. So is that something that we can do and still have a PO? would just… it is? Okay.

Anthony Codispoti (01:01:01.92)
Mm-hmm.

Anthony Codispoti (01:01:05.612)
Okay.

Anthony Codispoti (01:01:15.168)
That’s sort of the one disqualifier. because, yeah, we could talk with the PEO and see if they’re willing to implement it. But as the employer of record, unless they’re willing to share it with you, those payroll tax savings would go to them rather than you. But the employee benefits could still be available to the employees. Who is the PEO? Procare?

Heather Tussing (01:01:40.654)
called Procare? huh.

Anthony Codispoti (01:01:44.362)
If you wanted to make an introduction to whoever your contact is there, I’d be happy to show them the program and see if it’s something that they would give sort of permission to implement. Yeah.

Heather Tussing (01:01:52.238)
Sure. Yeah, I can reach out to the owner. That’s who my contact is. So I can reach out and see if you’d be interested and then connect you up. Perfect. All right.

Anthony Codispoti (01:01:57.867)
Okay.

Anthony Codispoti (01:02:01.474)
That would be great. Thank you. And then so just to tell you how the process will work from here for the podcast, I’ll send the recordings to my producer. probably on about a five week schedule to get everything posted to all the podcast platforms. Once we do that, we’ll send you kind of like a little press kit that’ll have links to everywhere that it’s gone. Spotify, Amazon, Apple, YouTube. There’ll also be some things in there that are easy to share on social media if you want to forward that to your PR team.

We’ll also give you access to the raw audio and video files. So if your creative team wants to take that and sort of cut the interview up into snippets and use it in your advertising, you any blog posts or social media, that’s content that’s free for you guys to use. All right. Well, this was a lot of fun. Great meeting you, Heather. I’m looking forward to sharing your story with our audience. All right. Take care.

Heather Tussing (01:02:45.486)
Thanks Anthony.

Heather Tussing (01:02:51.864)
Thank you so much. Bye bye.