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| David Ammons |
By David Ammons, chief executive officer of Springmoor Life Care Retirement Community
When I was a boy, “Mr. Smith”
was already using a cane. He was funny and odd—a popular guy at church—and we
admired him for his devotion to his faith, and to his wife and family. When I was
a teenager, he remained a fixture of our community, staying involved in Boy
Scouts, and attending every North Carolina State University football game. When
I was a young man—and the executive director of Springmoor Life Care RetirementCommunity—“Mr. Smith” walked determinedly through my office door. The usually
chipper man looked determined, took a seat and demanded my attention.
He said, “Well—I just left my
doctor’s appointment and it looks like the cancer that I haven’t treated for the
past couple of years—and haven’t told my wife about—is going to kill me. I
wanted to come here and make sure you take care of her.”
I said, “Sir—I’ve got that. I
don’t mean this lightly. I promise you that I don’t take this lightly. We will
do everything you would expect of us.”
The cancer got my friend, and
we took care of his bride of about 60 years—as I promised. We took that charge
very seriously—as promised. And we take care of every person who walks into our
community with that same promise. A Springmoor resident is a member of our
family—it’s the way my family wanted Springmoor Life Care Retirement Community
to operate, and it’s the way our community continues to operate today.
It was a different story that
sparked the founding of Springmoor: My grandfather, who was a Baptist minister
and toured many western N.C. counties, preaching--even into his golden years--had
become too frail, and was seeking a place to live that had people who would
take care of him. Naturally, he sought out a Baptist retirement community,
but—instead of welcoming him into their home, and acknowledging the years of
service he gave to the faith—they had reasons they could not meet his needs and
they denied him a place to stay.
My father—when deciding to
get involved with Springmoor—said, “We can do better than that.” And we do. We
have a responsibility to honor our elders, and we honor them by providing them
with a community that goes beyond bricks and mortar.
The greatest compliment to
this lies in the stories shared with me lately while my mother struggles with illness.
She has always been a key player at Springmoor, and her illness has led a lot
of residents and staff to talk with me. She attended almost every event, and
rarely missed a resident’s funeral. Someone recently told me, “I shared with
your mother that she goes to more resident funerals than anyone else I know. I
asked her, ‘Why does she do that?” They
went on to share with me that her answer was if they trust us and Springmoor
enough to move here, then the least we can do is honor their memory at their funeral.
It is an honor, and it is an
obligation, to serve the seniors of Raleigh and the surrounding area. We are
privileged to have the trust of our residents, and we are committed to honor
the promises we make to their families—from our family and the Springmoor
family to theirs.
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