The Best of the Best Awards, honoring programs, services, and products that advance operational excellence and serve as the gold standard in senior living. ALFA 2011 Best of the Best Award winners were announced in the March/April issue of Assisted Living Executive magazine and were recognized at the ALFA 2011 Conference & Expo, April 5-7 in Orlando, Florida. Details about the ALFA 2012 Best of the Best Awards will be announced here in October 2011, but nominations are not open at the is time.

The bar for what constitutes excellence in senior living has just been raised.

ALFA’s fifth annual Best of the Best Awards program drew a record 140 submissions this year, both doubling and deepening the competition for resident-centered senior living services, programs, and products that truly deserve to be called “Best of the Best.”

If past winners are any indication, many of this year’s winning strategies will become the new baseline for what older adults will expect from senior living providers in years to come. “We have had the honor to spread the good word about remarkable home-grown ideas in every aspect of senior living operations over the past five years, from clinical services to the kitchen,” says Richard Grimes, president and CEO of ALFA. “All of this year’s entries, winners and non-winners, speak to the high standard of professionalism among our members and demonstrate that resourcefulness and ingenuity continue to be the norm.”

This year’s submissions were categorized into eight areas of excellence and
reviewed according to five basic criteria:

• The uniqueness of the program, product, or service.
• Transformation of an ordinary business approach into an extraordinary one.
• The difference made for seniors, families, staff, operations, processes, revenue
• generation, and/or business efficiencies.
• The strength of quantitative results and qualitative feedback.
• The strategic vision for the program, product, or service.

Unlike the last two years, few if any of the operational practices submitted for an award seemed to be driven by recession-related necessity. In fact, nearly half of all entries were directly related to enhancing resident care or resident/family engagement rather than administrative efficiencies. Employee development initiatives were another strong category, with 17 entries. Environmental sustainability was a common theme across multiple categories.

2011 ALFA Best of the Best Award Winners

Resident Health and Wellness: Senior Living Communities
Supporting Residents and Families: Country Meadows Retirement Communities
Technology Adoption: ESCO Technologies LLC
Risk Management and Injury Reduction: Silverado Senior Living
Sales and Marketing: Emeritus Senior Living
Human Resources and Staff Development: Brookdale Senior Living
Physical Plant and Environmental: Horizon Bay Retirement Living
Resident  Dining Experience: Brookdale Senior Living

Special Recognition

Programs to Spotlight
A Place for Mom
AgeSong
Brandywine Senior Living
Brookdale Senior Living
Carlton Senior Living LLC
Chelsea Senior Living
Connected Living
Horizon Bay Retirement Living
MBK Senior Living
Pathway Senior Living
Senior Living Communities
Silverado Senior Living
Willis of Illinois Inc.

Programs to Watch

Chelsea Senior Living LLC
Coro Health LLC
McKnight Place Assisted Living
The Orchards at Bartley Assisted Living
Senior Care Inc.
Sonata Senior Living
Vintage Senior Living

Best of the Best Awards