Nostalgia ain't what it used to be
My mom's hospital discharge planner asked me if I had a preference for the sub-acute rehab. facility my mom should be sent to. I named the facility I'll refer to here as "Restive Acres." Over the course of 20 years, I had had three different associations with Restive Acres and its parent organization ("BigCorp"). Thus, I knew more about them than any other sub-acute/long-term care (LTC) facility in the metro area:
My first summer in Minnesota, I worked as a temporary OT at Restive Acres. I didn't want the permanent job they offered me, having decided that long-term care wasn't a setting that suited me. I took the job to pay the rent while I looked for an OT job that appealed more to me.
Four years after my stint as part of Restive Acres' OT staff, BigCorp's workers' compensation coordinator (WCC) chose me as the preferred Disability Case Manager (DCM) for their injured workers. WCC first met me after BigCorp's claims administrator (TPA) assigned me to a complex case with a Restive Acres employee. My "insider knowledge" from my OT stint there helped me develop a cost-effective and successful return-to-work (RTW) plan. The WCC asked the TPA to assign only me to their work-injury claims from then on. In this role, I got an entirely different look at how Restive Acres functioned. I also provided DCM services for injured employees at one of BigCorp's assisted living communities. BigCorp was in the process of developing an entirely self-contained injury management program. As the preferred DCM, I also had responsibility for training the WCC and his team in the finer points of disability management. I "worked myself out of a job" with BigCorp and Restive Acres within three years.
My third association with BigCorp developed from one of my volunteer activities. I was on the Board of an Adult Day Activity Center (ADAC) that decided to affiliate with BigCorp in order to get the advantages of economies of scale. The process of affiliation gave me access to many details of BigCorp's corporate structure and human resource issues. My role as BigCorp's preferred DCM was now 3 years in the past, so it was very interesting for me to see what had and hadn't changed since we'd "parted company."
I left the ADAC Board a few years ago; but still heard through my various contacts that Restive Acres was still considered one of the best LTCs in the area, if not the whole state. So it seemed like a no-brainer to have mom continue her rehab. there.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.....