Transcript Generated by AI 00:00 Mark Parkinson back with Park Place. 00:03 And today I'm just very happy because I'm with one of my favorite people in the 00:08 world. 00:09 And I'm very pleased to tell you that a regular contributor to Park Place into 00:14 the digest section will be none other than Glenn Van Ekren. 00:19 Glenn is one of the legends really in our space. 00:22 He's been a leader at Better Health Services for over a couple of decades. 00:27 Those of you that have read the book that we put out last year know that Vedder is 00:32 generally or usually at the top of all of the clinical metrics of all of the 00:36 nursing home companies in the country. 00:40 Not only do they achieve incredible results, Glenn is just fun to be around. 00:44 He is, he's funny, he's a great speaker, He's enthusiastic. 00:49 He has lots and lots of energy and he's really one of the best leaders that I've 00:53 ever known, not just in the long term care space, 00:56 but in any space. 00:57 So to have Glenn contributing to the site and giving us, you know, 01:01 his life lessons is fantastic. 01:04 So Glenn, welcome to Park Place. 01:07 Wow, thank you for that, that introduction. 01:11 It's much appreciated, Mark. 01:13 Well, as you know, it's, you know, I, I, I believe it deeply. 01:16 I thought about telling the story about how my wife has fallen in love with you 01:21 and I now actually refer to her not as my wife anymore, but as Glenn's girlfriend. 01:25 But we'll, we'll, we'll, we're going to save that for, 01:28 for a later episode. 01:30 I love the insider jokes. 01:31 They're good. 01:34 I think most folks are familiar with Vetter, but but some aren't. 01:37 You're a company of 30 plus facilities, primarily in Nebraska. 01:41 Tell us a little bit about Vetter. 01:43 Yes, and it's a whole spectrum of continuum of 01:47 services now. 01:48 So from ILAL Snip, we started our own home health agency a 01:53 few years ago and then decided to also start a pharmacy and a year ago, 02:00 little over a year ago started our own rehab company and also have an Isnip. 02:06 So we really decided to make sure that we can control the quality in everything 02:12 that we do, and that was the motivating factor in 02:16 expanding into other service lines. 02:20 So, Glenn, tell us about your background and how you 02:22 got involved in long term care. 02:25 Well, my, my career began at 10 years old as a pin 02:28 setter in a bowling alley that didn't have automatic pin setters. 02:32 But that probably isn't relevant to what you want me to talk about. 02:35 So it just demonstrates, it just demonstrates that we're both very 02:40 old. 02:40 I am so Dang old. 02:41 I know I get it, but but we'll Fast forward to college 02:45 graduation. 02:46 I worked five years with juvenile delinquents and adult offenders. 02:50 And then in 1979 I accepted a a position that was life transforming. 02:57 Actually, I entered the long term Care World 03:00 working with adults with disabilities and it was here. 03:04 Well, I was young, I was wet behind the ears, 03:07 and I learned volumes about leadership and the importance of culture and through 03:12 a series of events, because I was doing professional speaking, 03:16 which is a whole other story. 03:18 But I met Jack and Eldora at a conference for their administrators. 03:23 And after 10 years of speaking and sometimes doing a little consulting with 03:27 Better Health Services, Jack approached me one day and asked if I 03:30 would ever have an interest in joining the family. 03:34 And after a couple of years, actually, Marty, my wife and I decided, 03:39 you know what, this would be a great time. 03:42 I still love working at Billy's Northwest Unlimited in a small town in Iowa, 03:46 but this would be an opportunity. 03:48 So I joined the company in 1999 as executive vice president and then became 03:53 the president a few years a few years later and have been a part of this 03:58 wonderful family for 26 years. 04:02 And then at the end of this year, I'll be making a, 04:04 I'm calling it a meaningful adjustment. 04:06 Well, I, I highlighted earlier about the 04:09 remarkable clinical achievements that you've obtained. 04:13 I mean you guys are, you know, always at the top of all of those numbers. 04:17 And over the upcoming months and years, we hope to pass on information for how 04:22 you've done it at a very high level. 04:25 What, what would you say is the secret to the 04:27 success that you've had it better? 04:29 Well, I think what I've told our team many 04:32 times, the reason for our success is simple. 04:35 The process is not. 04:38 We just have team members who are passionately focused on achieving 04:42 outcomes that will represent as you know Mark, our mission, 04:46 vision and values are incredibly important to us. 04:49 And two of those have been in place for 50 years and that's quality life and 04:54 quality of care. 04:55 And so our clinicians are obsessed about re achieving results that would represent 05:01 world class outcomes, but also the fulfillment of our mission 05:05 and our vision and our values. 05:07 And I would just tell you we set extremely high expectations for those 05:12 outcomes and allow very minimal excuses for not achieving them. 05:18 We'll do anything to help a facility achieve high clinical outcomes, 05:22 except one thing will not lower the standards. 05:25 So our standards are there. 05:28 We have incredible people with an incredible passion to ensure that our 05:32 seniors experience the highest quality of life and highest quality of care possible. 05:38 That's, that's been Jack's passion since he 05:40 started the company 5 decades ago. 05:43 I think most of this is go ahead, Mark. 05:46 I've just been so blown away by how committed you are to your mission, 05:49 vision and values. 05:49 And, and not just you, but the whole C-Suite team, 05:52 the people when I visit your buildings, the administrators in the buildings, 05:55 the frontline people. 05:57 And we're going to talk a lot about that over the upcoming months. 05:59 What, what is your mission statement and, and how do you make it a real thing? 06:03 OK, Our mission statement, interestingly enough, 06:06 started probably 48 years ago when Jack had a few facilities, 06:10 brought the administrators in and wanted to tell them what was important to him 06:16 and what was important. 06:17 Think about this now. 06:18 This is 50 years ago is he wanted our seniors to experience what he didn't feel 06:23 they were experiencing at that time in nursing homes. 06:27 And that was dignity. 06:29 And so he made it dignity in life. 06:32 And about 25 years ago said to me, Glenn, it's hard to describe dignity in life. 06:37 And it was at that point we expanded it practically to say we will treat everyone 06:42 as the most important person in our life. 06:45 And that's just the driving force behind everything that we do. 06:49 And then our values and our vision come into play. 06:53 But honestly, if we just live that, we will, I believe we will set ourselves. 07:00 Yeah. 07:00 I think it's an incredible mission statement. 07:02 Dignity in life by treating every person as the most important person in the world. 07:07 And what makes it really cool is that when, when I see you and your team, 07:10 you guys, you're really out there doing it and it's 07:13 it's infectious. 07:13 And I hope that we'll be able to spread some of it through your various segments. 07:18 I know you've written a lot of you've written a lot of books. 07:20 I've always been impressed. 07:21 You were one of the major contributors to Chicken Soup for the Soul, 07:25 and you've also written some leadership books of your own. 07:28 Why don't you tell us a little bit about the books that you've written? 07:30 And, and if you had, if you could summarize your leadership 07:33 philosophy, what would, what would that be? 07:35 Wow. 07:36 Well, 47 years ago, I just had an idea of submitting A 07:41 manuscript that would have a bunch of quotes. 07:46 I know that's your favorite, Mark. 07:47 You love quotes. 07:48 That would have a bunch of quotes and stories because that became the way I did 07:54 speeches. 07:54 And so I submitted it to 50 different publishers and got 49 knows and one day 08:00 received a call from Prentice Hall, who said, hey, 08:03 we'd like to publish the book. 08:06 And I said, who is this? 08:08 And Long story short, they published the book. 08:10 And so several books later, I've had the opportunity to share my 08:15 heart on a variety of different topics. 08:18 And then the speaking came into place in about 1980. 08:22 That's its own story. 08:24 And now I just spend most of my time sharing my heart with our own team 08:28 members through our frequent conferences and visits to our facility. 08:32 When you ask about philosophy, it would be twofold. 08:36 One, people here know that my life's motto is 08:38 to live every minute to the fullest and to help others do the same. 08:43 And my leadership philosophy is very simple. 08:46 It's to believe in people more than they believe in themselves and to create an 08:51 environment that makes it possible for them to excel. 08:56 Just probably about two months ago, I was asked what I wanted to be great at 09:01 as a leader and it was so simple. 09:03 It just rolled off my tongue. 09:04 I want to inspire people to achieve their God-given potential. 09:08 And that's pretty what would what drives my life. 09:11 Mark, that's great. 09:13 Well, it's it's terrific to have you as a 09:15 contributor. 09:15 Do you do you have a summary of the kind of stuff you'll be putting up on the 09:18 website? 09:20 I've thought about that. 09:22 I've just experienced and learned a lot in the past 50 years about leading people, 09:28 creating a dynamic work environment, nurturing teamwork, 09:32 and then getting results as a leader. 09:35 And my intent is simply to draw from those experiences and hopefully provide 09:40 ideas and strategies and people philosophies that can inspire other 09:44 leaders. 09:46 Well, Glenn, we really look forward to it. 09:48 As I said earlier, super excited to have you on the site. 09:52 And to all the viewers out there, you know, 09:54 this is what the site's all about. 09:56 We want you to succeed and we don't have a better partner in the world that we 10:00 could have. 10:00 And Glenn Van Eckwen, who's going to help us figure out this 10:03 very challenging but rewarding business out. 10:05 Thank you all for supporting Park Place. 10:08 Thank you Mark, this has been a lot of fun.
