Don’t you hate it when you are at the doctor’s office and they start explaining your diagnostic results and use nothing below a six syllable word?  I’m a physical therapist, so I understand most of the medical jargon, but I compare it to when I’m talking to my partner who is an IT expert, and he starts going into his techo-lingo.  I feel like a bobble head doll, shaking my head in agreement to concepts that I don’t understand, but am too intimidated to begin asking what I know will be stupid questions.

Welcome to my world; I’m just your average Joe; Joe Benanti:  husband, father, physical therapist, entrepeneur, boomer.  I have spent my entire professional life (33 years at this point) teaching, consulting and  creating health care programs of excellence with one simple premise:  care about the people you work with and work for first.  Everything else will take care of itself.  Theoretically it’s called an “In Search of Excellence “ model , but it is plain, old fashioned treating people the way you want to be treated; with dignity, respect and compassion, and then wrapping a solid business plan around it.  A saying that everyone in my life is tired of, but I just love  is a quote from John Maxwell, “People don’t care about how much you know until they know about how much you care.”  I am humbled by the depth of knowledge and expertise that I see in my co-owners of Boomer Senior Living International, and every associate and consultant that we work with.  Literally the tops in their respective fields, and that is most impressive.  What truly blows me away over and above this, is a shared belief in having passion for what we do, and compassion for the people we are privileged to work with and serve. 

I know what you are thinking; “how naïve; that attitude will never make it in the real business world”.  My response is, you’re wrong and we are going to prove it, or go under trying.  We live in a scary world, and the scarier it gets, the more we are told to put barriors around ourselves, and not let anyone in. 

Are you there?   Pretty safe, but also pretty lonely . . . it kind of reminds me of being placed in your own personal protective custody.

Remember when we were kids, and we left our front door unlocked day and night; where we went out to play on a summer day, and was reminded to get home before it gets dark; where our neighbors knew us and cared about us?  If that thought sounds appealing then,

Welcome to Boomer Senior Living International!

We want to get to know you, and have you get to know us.  Brian Pratt, one of my partners, has spent countless sleepless nights creating a platform that is truly interactive, and where you can communicate on an ongoing basis with our team of experts.  By the way, I consider you one of our team of experts, and I’m not just blowing wind.  Ask any of my patients, and they will tell you I spend more time listening to them than speaking, because I have obtained the majority of my knowledge and expertise from my patients by listening.  We will do the same with you.  We want this to become your platform; to have it evolve into something we can all be proud of.  We want to help you along in this journey that we are all involved with; and in real and concrete ways, including getting back into the job market when you thought you were retired, finding answers for extended care intervention for your mom and/or dad, and just dealing with day to day issues.  Brian has a term that I love:  edutainment . . . We need to be constantly learning, but it doesn’t have to be boring; “talking head” experts orating from their pedestals bore me to death.  Real people who have expertise in their respective areas, but are willing to put themselves out there and interact in a fun and dynamic way; that excites me, and I’m hoping that it will excite you.

“We care about you . . ., the millions of boomers and seniors in the US and across the world”.  We live in a complex world where the bitter irony is that as the population swells, personal isolation grows.  No matter where you stand in the political spectrum, we all know that our economy and health care system is in trouble.  People need vital information to make decisions, but where do they get it as federal, state and local budgets continue to be slashed.  It’s too easy to say that we are stuck in a “catch 22” with no real answers.  We can continue to complain about the politicians, big business, and the media, but we at BSLI decided that instead of damning the darkness, we would simply light one candle.  We have the opportunity of shedding some light on boomers and seniors across the nation and world, and would like you to join us in doing so.  You see, it is our firm belief that millions of candles  burn much brighter than just one.  Our desire is to challenge each other, our executive staff, our contributors, our collaborators and you to look deeper than “what’s in it for me”.  
Over the next number of months we will outline specific ways that we can impact our little piece of the world.  I have two areas of personal focus:

1. To reduce the number of falls in the senior population.  This problem is pandemic, and the historical medical and therapeutic model is reactive and unsuccessful.  We will be unveiling our plan to reduce falls in your community, state, and nation over the next number of months.
2. I also have a burden for boomers and seniors who are housebound, and no longer able to get out into the community including to their place of worship.  They have become the forgotten mission field.  I have been preaching in Christian churches, soup kitchens and homeless shelters on a voluntary basis for over 20 years, but have focused on preaching in an assistive living community in the Upstate of South Carolina for the past 10 years.  These dear men and women have become my extended family.  I want BSLI to be a catalyst to have all faith based institutions realize that there is a mission field right in their community that has been ignored for too long.  We also have a strategic plan on impacting this area across the US over the next 18 months, and will be unveiling it over the next few months.

Plain and simply, we cannot do this without you.  Let’s all take ownership of how we can create solutions to our challenging future.  The two examples above are my burdens. . . What are yours, and how can we help you?  Let’s make our world a little smaller and a little less scary.  Get out your candle today!