Welcome to Senior Care Notes, an informal blog that will pay special attention to recruiting issues and trends affecting the senior care market.  Since my mother is from North Carolina and drilled the importance of polite behavior into me from an early age, please allow me to introduce myself in a way that will give you some perspective on my observations about the industry and the evolving role of recruiting in moving the industry forward. 

My name is Richard Detoy and I have been a recruiter and management consultant since 1980.  On the corporate side of the desk I have worked for Fortune 500 employers in both division- and corporate-level executive staffing roles for roughly a dozen years.  I have spent a similar amount of time as an outside recruiter in firms ranging in scale from a large, international retained firm to my own solo practice.  The balance of my career has been spent as a management consultant, primarily involved in organization analysis and design.

I entered the senior care market in 1993, which means I have seen a number of industry cycles ranging from Medicare reimbursement rate change shake-ups in long term care to speculative real estate developers over-building retirement facilities resulting in wild swings in supply and demand in that segment of the senior care continuum.

On a more personal level, witnessing first hand the important difference quality skilled nursing care made in the final days of my father?s life caused me to rededicate myself to senior care markets.  While I have neither the temperament nor the training to be a care giver, my daily goal is to staff my clients with the most talented professionals available.

Our firm, Executive Search Solutions, is tightly niched in the senior care markets which include independent living, assisted living, skilled nursing, home health and hospice.  Our clients own and operate facilities throughout the country and this allows us to pick up on emerging trends.  In upcoming blog entries you can expect to hear about those trends and also read commentary on broader issues related to recruiting.  I sincerely hope that my observations will stimulate thought and inspire you to provide feedback and valuable input.  In that way everyone can benefit!