Transcript Generated by AI 00:00 Hey, Mark Parkinson, back with Park Place and here with a 00:04 really fun segment for a couple of reasons. 00:06 First time with one of my favorite people on the planet, 00:09 Teddy Ray Price from Louisiana. 00:11 And second, we're here to talk about a fun subject, 00:14 which is a new nursing home. 00:15 Now, I think we're all aware there's 15, 000 nursing homes in the United States, 00:20 but there's very few new ones. 00:21 There's only about 1 to 200 new nursing homes that are built every year. 00:26 And since the pandemic, it's been even less than that. 00:29 As a result, we've got a lot of really, really old facilities out there, 00:33 and we've got to figure out a way to replace them. 00:36 Well, one of the persons that's figured this 00:38 out is Teddy Ray Price. 00:39 And it's not just that Teddy Ray has built a new nursing home. 00:42 He's built a nursing home that I think possibly is the nicest nursing home 00:46 that's ever been built in the country. 00:48 And I know that saying a lot. 00:50 But after you have a chance to hear about it, 00:52 see a video and see some pictures of it, I think you're going to see why I'm 00:56 making that very big statement. 00:58 A few months ago, Teddy Ray let me know that he was opening 01:01 up a new building and asked me to come down for the ribbon cutting. 01:03 And one of the nice things about being retired is I have time to do those kind 01:07 of things. 01:08 And I went down for the ribbon cutting and I was completely blown away. 01:11 I just just, I've never seen a nursing home this nice. 01:14 And I told Teddy Ray appreciated being invited down there, 01:17 but I wanted to tell the folks on Park Place about it in part so that, you know, 01:21 it's that it's possible and in part, so maybe it'll motivate you to whether 01:25 it's a remodel or a new build, whatever, but it's just, 01:28 it's a fun thing to talk about. 01:30 So Teddy Ray, first of all, thank you very much for joining us on 01:33 Park Place. 01:34 Very, very honored to be here, Mark, and and very appreciative of you coming 01:39 down to our open house. 01:41 Well, it was, it was a great day. 01:43 And so before we talk about the building, Belle Grande, 01:45 tell us a little bit about about your company, Central Management. 01:50 Central Management. 01:52 Central Management's origins go back to April of 1962 when my dad and his older 01:57 brother and my mom and their uncle opened Autumn Leaves Nursing Home in Winnfield, 02:03 which you'd be interested is the home of 3 governors, Huey Long, Earl Long and O.K. 02:09 Allen. 02:11 So they, they opened Autumn Leaves in Winnfield 02:14 and I came along about a year and a half later and grew up in the nursing home 02:19 along with my older sister and brother. 02:23 And you've now built it to quite a size. 02:26 You're over 20 buildings, I think all in Louisiana. 02:28 Yes, Sir. 02:29 Yes, Sir. 02:29 We, we have currently, we have 22 buildings, all in Louisiana. 02:34 And you're, you're known as a great operator. 02:36 You know, when we wrote the book long term care 02:38 success and really featured great companies, we featured Central Management. 02:43 But one of the things that makes you quite different than other folks out 02:46 there is that you, you're out there building new buildings. 02:49 This, this building I saw was not your first 02:52 new one. 02:52 So tell us what, why is it that you've been motivated to, 02:55 to build new buildings? 02:58 You know, a couple of things, Mark. 02:59 One is we didn't just start building new buildings. 03:03 The first new building that we built was in 1994. 03:07 And in the last 10 years alone, we've spent over $100 million 03:12 refurbishing, adding on or rebuilding our existing 03:17 buildings. 03:19 So, and, and with each one, we learn a little something and do a 03:23 little something different. 03:26 And so it's, it's, it's something that we've been doing, 03:29 like I say, since we got into business, trying to make them nicer, 03:32 make them nicer, make them nicer. 03:35 And, and I believe this and, and growing up in a small rural town 03:38 makes it makes it easy. 03:40 But it's, it's, it's two things. 03:42 It's partly our responsibility as providers. 03:45 I mean, God has given us the responsibility and 03:48 entrusted us to take care of these people. 03:51 And two, it is good business. 03:54 So growing up in a in a small community, when I go to our nursing home here and, 04:01 and by the way, in 2002, I rebuilt my mom and dad's original 04:06 facility here. 04:07 And John Breaux, US Senator at the time, cut the ribbon and he made the statement. 04:12 It was the nicest home he had ever seen. 04:15 Bill Cassidy came in 2020 and made the statement, Nicest home he'd ever seen. 04:20 It kind of set the stage initially being the first home in Louisiana with all 04:24 private rooms. 04:25 It's got a big Chapel. 04:27 It is. 04:27 It was a precursor for Belle Grande and Cypress Point. 04:32 But you know, when you look at the residents that are 04:36 in the nursing home in Winnfield, I say growing up in a, 04:40 in a rural community and I look, well, they're friends of ours. 04:44 They're my, my friends parents. 04:48 They're my school teachers, my Sunday school teachers, coaches, 04:52 etcetera, etcetera. 04:54 So they're people that we know about and care about and I sure don't want to 04:57 disappoint them, not with the building, not with the care. 05:01 We also, you know very much attempt to to shoot 05:05 above the state average on on nursing staff. 05:08 We want shoot target of 4.0. 05:11 I think yesterday we were 3. 9 something company wide and we're very 05:16 aggressive on the quality awards as you know. 05:20 But, but that being said, I think that, that, 05:23 that knowing the residents growing up in a small town and knowing that it's our 05:29 responsibility to care for them and also it's just good business. 05:34 It makes go ahead. 05:37 Let's, let's talk a little bit that I, I completely get it. 05:39 And you, you believe me, Teddy Ray, you haven't disappointed anybody with the 05:43 buildings and the care that you're providing. 05:45 So let's talk about Belle Grande now. 05:46 And, and we're showing a video that's going to 05:48 show some of the features of it, but we're not, you know, 05:51 the first thing that struck me when I walked into the building is just how darn 05:55 large it is. 05:56 Tell, tell us a little bit about the number of 05:58 units, the types of rooms, the types of residents you have and, and, 06:02 and why it was so important to you to make it so spacious. 06:06 So, so Belle Grande was the second time we 06:08 actually built that building. 06:10 The first one's been open two years up in Bossier, which is called Cypress Point. 06:14 But Belle Grande is a is 139 beds, it's 139 private rooms. 06:22 There's three types of rooms in Belle Grande. 06:25 You have our standard private room, which, which will have a small kitchenette, 06:34 a shower, private bath, TV, refrigerator. 06:38 And then if you go to the rehab wing, the short term wing, 06:43 which we call the Renaissance, then those rooms actually have a sitting 06:48 area in the front, the the bath and the kitchenette in the 06:52 center and then the bedroom on the back. 06:56 And then it's also has four apartments in it, 06:58 which are much like an assisted living. 07:01 And we did that just because we kind of got tired of being beat up by assisted 07:04 living, saying that they were nicer than nursing 07:07 home. 07:07 So we wanted to offer something a little special. 07:09 And we started that in Winnfield. 07:11 And I mean, one of the things that really struck me 07:13 is every single room is private. 07:15 It's not just the rehab area that's private. 07:18 The Medicaid rooms are why, why was it important you to do that? 07:22 I think that that two things. 07:24 I mean, that's that's the coming thing. 07:26 And there's there's several nursing homes in Louisiana now that are building all 07:31 private rooms. 07:32 And it's certainly is much preferred by your residents. 07:37 I mean, they like privacy. 07:38 Your families like privacy when they come to visit, 07:42 but also not wanting them to get to have, have not have enough social interaction. 07:48 We made sure we built a lot of common space, 07:51 including the atriums on every hall so they can walk out and have TV's. 07:56 And not that they don't have TV's in the room because they do, 07:59 but they have a lot of common spaces to lure them out of the rooms. 08:02 Well, I think, I think the viewers can see from the 08:05 video just how spacious this building is. 08:07 It's, it's phenomenal. 08:08 Let's talk about some of the specific features. 08:12 First of all, we've got a photo now showing that the 08:14 rooms themselves and we've already talked about how they're private, 08:17 but why don't you tell us a little bit about the rooms that actually have a 08:20 sitting area? 08:21 What, what, what were you thinking there? 08:23 So, so with those, we felt like that that the short term 08:26 residents might be a little more mobile, a little more apt to be getting around 08:30 fewer of them bedridden. 08:32 And we just wanted to give them a little something extra. 08:34 So they have a sitting area in the front case. 08:36 Their family comes in and wants to visit with them that they have that space and 08:40 then get up, get out of bed and go go sit in another 08:42 part of the room if they don't want to leave their room. 08:46 Yeah, that's a it's a tremendous feature. 08:48 Now, let's talk a little about that. 08:49 Some of the amenities. 08:50 We've got a photo here of the movie theater. 08:52 And, you know, I've been in a lot of buildings that have 08:55 movie theaters, including ones that Stacy and I built, 08:57 but none, none quite this nice. 08:58 So tell us what you were shooting for with what the goal was with the theater. 09:04 A friend of mine and, and a man that used to be a partner of my 09:08 dad's here in Louisiana used to taught me to, to make a big, 09:12 make a big thing out of a routine thing. 09:15 Instead of having steak, have steak night, instead of just showing a movie, 09:19 have movie night and to try to make it, make it something and make it exciting. 09:24 So that was kind of what we thought with the movie cinemas. 09:28 Let's make it nice. 09:29 Make it look like a movie cinema they might have went to years ago and 09:33 something that they would want to get out of the room, go to sit in there and watch, 09:37 watch a movie. 09:38 And also those movies will we can show whatever movie is on in that movie cinema 09:43 in their rooms as well if they go to that channel. 09:47 But and we had fun. 09:50 We themed the building. 09:51 So the move that particular movie cinema is the greatest and that name themed 09:56 named after the greatest generation of the World War Two guys and ladies. 10:01 And we had a lot of that, a lot of lot of camps in central 10:05 Louisiana during World War 2. 10:07 That's great. 10:08 Yeah. 10:08 We're now showing the Chapel, which is super impressive. 10:11 Any any comments on it? 10:13 Well, the chapels ought to be important to all 10:16 of us. 10:17 But most especially as you get older, I think it becomes more and more and more 10:20 important. 10:20 So we wanted to make sure that that we had very prominent chapels that are only 10:27 used for chapels. 10:29 And you know, in that particular one, we had a couple of we, 10:33 we had several stained pieces of glass, stained glass windows that were dedicated 10:38 to different founders of our company, including my parents. 10:43 Another, another neat feature is there's an 10:45 antique French cemetery cross that's outside and you can kind of look through 10:50 the clear window with that. 10:51 So just wanted to make it, make it something special. 10:55 Now you've got a massive courtyard and we're seeing a photo of that, 11:00 including a sculpture. 11:02 And you want to tell us a little about that, about that? 11:05 Well, the, the bench was an afterthought, but we were, 11:08 we were on vacation and saw Mark Twain sitting there and thought, well, 11:11 we got to have Mark Twain for the nursing home. 11:14 And since then we, we also had to buy Teddy Roosevelt for 11:18 the one in Bossier. 11:20 That administrator came down and saw it and was jealous. 11:23 But just just something to add some novelty and, and, and make it nice. 11:29 But the courtyard is, is, is very nice and that it's enclosed. 11:34 It's got a lot of covered area. 11:36 They can get out there in the heat. 11:37 We got the the big, big fans that are up high and it'll give 11:40 them, give them a nice area to get out of the 11:42 rooms and get out of the building. 11:44 Yeah. 11:44 And finally, let's talk about the gym and the rehab 11:47 area, which obviously is spacious as well. 11:51 You know, one of the things I guess we, we did different in the, 11:54 in the rehab areas, we used to put an office in there for the 11:57 therapist. 11:58 Now we make it more like a nurse's station. 12:00 So they're out in the middle of everything. 12:03 And that's a big part of the business. 12:04 We send more people home on short stay, more of our admits go home than actually 12:08 pass away in the nursing home now. 12:10 So it, it's a, it's a constant revolving door. 12:13 So it's a big part of our business. 12:15 Well, Teddy, Ray, you, you got to be really proud of what, 12:18 what you've done. 12:19 And I know it's a real partnership with your whole family and, and, 12:22 and the whole legacy. 12:24 Let's talk briefly about how it's possible. 12:26 And it, it strikes me that there's two things, 12:28 2 main things that we need to highlight here. 12:31 The first is that you've been a really good fiscal steward and you don't have a 12:34 lot of debt on your buildings. 12:36 The challenge that a lot of people have in building a new building is they owe so 12:41 much on the existing building that to close it and then open up a new building 12:45 just not financially possible. 12:47 Your debt was very low and so you actually closed an old building to do 12:51 this. 12:52 Is that right? 12:53 Yes, Sir. 12:53 Yes, Sir. 12:54 And you just had limited debt. 12:56 You transferred the beds. 12:57 And then the second thing is that Louisiana has didn't pay for the whole 13:01 thing by any means, but Louisiana has a capital component to 13:05 their Medicaid rate I assume was helpful. 13:08 No doubt the capital component is very helpful whether you're rebuilding or 13:12 refurbishing an existing facility. 13:16 And the other thing that made it possible is we were patient and we took a lot of 13:20 time. 13:21 You know, I haven't going out there and, and, 13:23 and tried to buy 30 or 40 or 50 nursing homes. 13:25 Instead, we we went a little slower. 13:28 There have been downturns in our industry and I've lived through them and I've 13:32 spent a many, many hour on my knees praying about it. 13:36 And so we want to make sure that if there's another downturn or when there's 13:39 another downturn, we're not having to cut care and worry 13:42 about whether we're going to make it. 13:44 We don't want him on our residents and Staffs to know it. 13:48 So, so our debt is low and and we we hope to 13:51 rebuild one pretty much continuously. 13:55 That's fantastic. 13:56 Well, Teddy Ray, congratulations on this and thanks so 13:59 much for sharing it with us today. 14:01 The folks that live in this community, you've done an incredible thing for them 14:06 because not only is it an amazing building, you're an incredible operator. 14:11 You don't have to be a wealthy person in your community to live in this building. 14:14 By making this, these private rooms available for 14:16 Medicaid residents, It's, it's truly a fantastic thing and 14:19 hopefully it'll inspire folks that are watching this to try to think through, 14:23 you know, what they can do to improve their own 14:26 operations. 14:27 Thanks. 14:27 Thanks for being here with us today. 14:28 One other thing I'll mention that you'll appreciate and, 14:32 and it certainly makes our jobs easier when we have to go to the state capital 14:36 of the Federal Capital. 14:38 If the community is bought into the home, if that's the community's home, 14:42 then all of a sudden you got the legislators, the sheriffs, 14:45 the mayors and everybody else advocating for you. 14:48 So that makes madding your jobs a lot easier. 14:50 That's great. 14:51 Fantastic message. 14:53 Thanks all of you for watching this video and thank you so much for your continued 14:56 support of Park Place.
