Ep. 39 | Ansley Panizzi, Executive Director of Langdale Place

Transcript

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- Welcome to another episode of What Brings You In Today? I'm Taylor Fisher.

- And I'm Kara Hope Hanson.

- And we just wanna thank everyone who has listened to the podcast. Thank you for liking, subscribing, and leaving us reviews, and please continue to do that.

- And if there's any topics that you're interested in or any special guests you'd like us to have on, you can let us know at sgmc.org/podcast.

- And today we're here with Ansley Panizzi, Executive Director of Langdale Place. So what brings you in today, Ansley?

- Well, we just wanted to come and share what all we have to offer. We are an affiliate of SGMC Health, so wanted to just so

- We're good. Share the morning. Okay. We're gonna talk about Langdale Place, senior Living and all of that Good stuff. So could you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and about your role at Langdale Place?

- Yes. I am originally from Blakely, Georgia. I moved to Valdosta in 1993 to attend VSU. I was a business major, so shortly after college I had a referral from their college placement services for a job opening at Langdale Place and accepting the job. I think I started as managing the front desk. And so went shortly after that. Went back to school to get my Master's in Public Administration. And here we are 28 years later. I think the majority of the time I was the assistant director with Jan Bryce. She retired about three years ago. So,

- Yeah. And for anybody who might not be familiar, what is Langdale Place? Can you just tell us a little bit about that?

- Yes. We are an Valdosta's Premier senior living facility. We have 103 units throughout our campus, 61 independent living apartments, 28 personal care suites. And we are have a 14 bed memory care unit. All private rooms.

- Yeah. Okay. I, I know from, you know, social media and everything and what we do partnering with Langdale Place that it looks like they're always having a lot of fun.

- We do. We do. Our residents come to us, you know, they still have a lot of life to live. So we do have a lot of fun. Lot of fun

- And field trips and all the different theme days. All, I mean, all the pictures. Sometimes we talk and we're like, I wanna go live at Langdale Place. That looks like a fun place to, you get meals, cleaning, all that. You don't have to do any, you don't, you don't to cook. So what would you say compared to other senior living facilities, what makes Langdale Place unique?

- I love this question because you can ask our families, our staff, even our employees use, we generally get the same handful of answers. Like we're located in the heart of Valdosta, our activities program that we mentioned our food. But what we hear time and time again, and this is also my answer, is it's really our people. I've always had the feeling that for our residents and our families to feel like this is home, that our employees should feel that way as well. So I've got a large group of employees who've been there 15, 20, even over the full 30 years. So that's a true testament of what truly makes us unique.

- Definitely. What was your first impression of Langdale Place all those years

- Ago? Oh goodness. And like what? Goodness. You know, I was straight outta college, you know, and I, you're walking in and back then it was 1998, so

- You - Know, it was the burgundy and the gold fabrics and the heavy upholstery and you walk in and it kinda looks like grandparents' house and, but it felt, it felt like home too, you know? So while our look has evolved over the years, what makes us truly a sweet little facility is the feel when you walk in. Yeah.

- How would you say it has evolved since then? Other than just the look

- Like me, the social media aspect of it, A lot of rules and regulations have changed over the years, but not, not too much the same, the same care and comfort that we've always been.

- Okay. What is a typical day like for a resident? Do they have a typical day?

- Oh my gosh, it's something different in every day, whether it's planned or not, but occasionally I'll give help, give tours. And I always like to use the analogy, we're like a cruise ship. We've got everything that you can need on the boat without having to leave. We've got a movie theater, a lot of recreational areas and full service, beauty salon, manicures, pedicures. Okay. This is why I wanna go with it. Yeah. What else do we have? So, three dining rooms. So a typical day, I think everybody's favorite day is Thursday. There's exercise in the morning corn hole at 11 and bingo at two o'clock in the afternoon. So, and then in between there you've got the routine things that we do, like our daily housekeeping laundry. So it's a, it's a busy place and like I said, we are a very active community, so Sounds like

- It. I love that. Can I come get my hair done? I know. I was like, my whole day's planned for me. I got exercise cornhole, bingo. I don't have to think about anything.

- So the question is not how I got here. It's really how could I ever, how could I ever leave?

- Yeah, absolutely. Are you gonna retire then? It's the

- Perfect,

- Yeah. You just never leave and go straight into retirement where you're a resident. Yeah, it's funny. What kind of feedback do you hear most often from residents and families? I'm sure

- I've, you know, we're not a medical facility, so we don't have the things that you hear over here like hcaps. But I think our biggest feedback are, are the thank yous. You know, every day before I leave I've got a text or somebody stops by my office, a family member just saying thank you for everything y'all do. One thing that we're seeing recently is our second generation of family members coming. So we've got four men living with us right now whose mothers started years ago. So that's, that's to me is a true testimony of we're doing something right, is when you're, when you know, we took care of mom and now people are coming in

- Yeah.

- To have us take care of them too. So

- Definitely

- I think that's the best, that's truly the best feedback that we can get.

- Are there any, I'm sure there's been so many over at the time you've been there, but stories of residents and their families that stick out. Is there any one particular,

- You know, it's hard. We, every day is something beautiful or something comedic, you know, it's hard to pinpoint one thing, but I think most recently with our weather events and the hurricanes and the so snowstorm that truly sticks out not as, not just as a, our small little senior living community, but our affiliation with the hospital and in the community. I think the way our employees, you know, walk through the snow or walk through down tree trees and power lines. I think that that's a beautiful story. And stories within itself. Yeah. Of what Langdale Place encompasses.

- Definitely with our, so our office is in charge of our health system annual report that we do every year. And we always have a Langdale place story. And I can't remember all the details of this one, but I do always look forward to reading the Langdale Place stories. I

- Think one year we had a lady that was making the caps Yes. The little baby hats for the nursery and yes,

- They,

- They love being involved. Yeah, definitely.

- How would you say that you foster that connection between the residents and the staff that works there? Like what, I'm sure that they have a very special relationship.

- Yes, we do. And people, families ask me all the time, how do, how do y'all do this? How do you make it happen? And I wish I had, you know, something, a formula, a scientific, something to share. But it's really just that we care and we become a part of their lives. And it's the, it's the simple things like sitting with them on the porch, walking through at lunchtimes and visiting each table. We have a group of ladies who love gardening, you know, they've left their homes and they've left their gardens, their flowers. So, and that's one of the things I enjoy also. So we'll, we'll load up and we'll go to seasons at Miller Hardware or Lowe's and restock our planters. So just finding ways to, to find common ground, things like that.

- Yeah, I would have to imagine, I'm trying to put myself there 'cause I also do like, you know, gardening and the stuff you do around your house. I think that'd be hard to let go of whenever you do transition. And it's a good transition. But letting go of doing those things and you know, but it's good that you guys still find a way to allow them to do that. Yeah. Activity for sure. Are there any misconceptions about senior living that maybe you hear often when you're doing tours or things you

- Yes. I, I think locally, like senior, senior living is expensive. You know, we do have, have a lot of misconceptions about that. I think Langdale place, having the Langdale name, they think that we're more expensive than everybody else, but we, we have a price point and a level of care for everybody. I think another misconception is, you know, that mom's gonna lose her independence when she moves in, whereas they actually gain more freedom being in a safer environment. So those are probably the top two that stick out.

- Are there any events or activities that you are especially excited about or that the residents really get

- Excited about? Yes. A few weeks ago EMS came over to check out a resident who had fallen and they saw the new emergency, the ambulances. So later in the month we've got seniors and sirens or sirens and seniors event that EMS is coming over, we're gonna do a little show and tell thing with the ambulance. So I love that they were asking one of the first responders and they, we didn't realize like the inside of the ambulances were, you know, upgraded to, you know, we don't want 'em to see it on the ride over.

- Yeah.

- So we, we invited them to come over and do that. So

- Should tell tell Todd or Emily to bring their dogs? Get doodle or

- Bark? Yeah, they have their therapy dogs

- Bark out there. Oh, okay.

- I think the residents would love that. Yeah. Well we have to get some pictures of that. I actually, I wanna go ride along with the seniors and sirens.

- It's the last Friday of July. They're coming over I think at three.

- I can put that on our calendar. I think we need to take trips to Langham and play some more often.

- Yeah. I mean, go watch a movie in the afternoon or play in bingo. That

- Sounds

- Great. Cornhole Cornhole is the new, is the new Bingo.

- Yeah, - I think it's probably about two years ago we started a resident versus staff corn hole.

- Okay.

- And y'all competi competitive. Never expect it is competitive. You know, they practice twice a week and we don't, so they've beat us twice now, but we have, we have a good time.

- Okay. But have they gotten into pickleball? Is that

- Allowed? No, no. We have, we haven't, we haven't started pickleball. We did do indoor volleyball, chair volleyball. Oh. Probably about five years ago. And you know, it's if, if you're competitive and you're instinctive to get up, we had people falling outta their chairs.

- Oh no.

- So we have not gone the volleyball, the pickleball route

- Might be a little too,

- Too much. Too much

- Chair pickleball. They might need like a, an office chair.

- Yeah. It's got a roll for the

- Pickleball.

- That's pretty funny. We might just need to stick to like, you know, safer like yoga or something. Yes.

- Yeah. What kind of activities, like, as far as exercise and stuff like that? Do they have anything like,

- Like that? Twice a week. We have a exercise room. I think we've got four treadmills, the bikes. But Robin, our activities coordinator, she does chair aerobics twice a week in the morning. And we've got the walking trails. So you'll always see, they'll get in their little groups and walk in the mornings. We've had, we've got a little trail down the hallways that we do inside too. 'cause the last couple of weeks it's been a little hot. It's been hot.

- I would imagine that would, I mean it, that's a good aspect of the senior living because they're not isolated in their homes. They have community and you know, they're keeping their bodies active and their minds active. So I would think that would extend someone's life.

- One of, one of the things is you never realize how important your lunch table is

- When

- You start kindergarten. It's who you're sitting with all the way up to assisted living. So they really, you know, form new relationships. We've, we've had two friends that, that were friends in elementary school, married friends, had their friends together and now they're living at Langdale Place.

- Oh, that's, that's what I want that, I wanna do that, that my best friend moved away though. She's in Pennsylvania, so I don't think she'll be coming to Langdale place with me.

- I know. You might could convince her to come back.

- We always said, you know, if your husband, you know, passes away, then you've just got your best friend and you just go move in together. That's a little morbid. Sorry. Do you have any future plans for Langdale Place? Any exciting things that you guys are working on?

- We have a wishlist, like our memory care unit. It's hard, you know, when you're in Publix or you're in church and our waiting list for our memory care unit is extensive and we stay fully occupied. So my wishlist would be for growth to double our memory care units one day.

- Definitely. If somebody was considering Langdale Place for their loved one, like what would you want them to know? I feel like it's one of those things where you don't really know that much about it until you're going through it and you're experiencing it with a loved one, a parent, a grandparent. But what would you say to somebody who's not familiar, who's maybe considering that?

- I think everybody's first choice is always gonna be home. You know, and when it gets time, a lot of people wait until there's an emergency to start looking and to start having. But you really need to ask those questions. You know, start having the conversations with your family. And I think at Langdale place, there's something for everybody and you can really, like we were talking about the cruise ship, that's, you can make it as little or as much as you want. So

- After how many, your 28 years is the Army years, you said it's almost 28. What keeps you passionate about this work every day?

- I think it's, I think it's the same answer as before. Like, it's really our people. Like one of our little ladies, miss Betty, she emails me every morning just about every morning. And she had a pacemaker yesterday. So I'm thinking I need, I need to get to work and make sure Miss Betty got back to Langdale place. Okay. You know, it's just, it's just those relationships that are, they're sweet and that keep me and pretty much all of our employees compassionate about it.

- Is that, what would you say is your favorite part of the work? Is that, is it the residents?

- I, you know, I started out HR was my thing and when Jan, before she retired, I handled, you know, like the business side of things in hr. So when we converted, I kept most of my role, but I wasn't that much involved with, with the residents. So having more interaction with them, it's, it's, it's a blessing. Like you get loved on hugs and kisses, you know? Yeah. It's like you have a whole bunch of grandparents. Yes. You never, you never go home in the evenings. Like there's some rough days. Sure. But you know, you never go home not feeling like you made a difference. And that's what keeps us, keeps me going.

- I bet. I think we mentioned at the beginning that Langdale Place is an affiliate of SGMC Health. I don't think we really touched on what that means. Could you explain a little bit about what that means?

- Yes. We are South Georgia Health Alliance us and I call them our sister company, hospice of South Georgia and Langdale Hospice House. So we have a lot of interaction with hospice. They kind of serve as our continuum of care. Like when the residents get to that point. Being an affiliate has so many advantages, especially during the weather events and being, having access to infection control and their support when we need 'em. I can't say enough good things about the environmental services over here, you know, during the so snowstorm who thought that I would ever need a snowplow, you know, and, you know,

- In South Georgia

- Yeah. If we didn't have that affiliation, you know, what would we have done? So it's, it's been a great asset to be a part of the health system.

- Is there, do you have any final thoughts about the, you know, those who might be thinking about senior care for the first time?

- Just like we said earlier, you know, home is, home is always where you wanna be, but when the time comes, we love to talk to you and help you work through. I mean, we had a, some friends call last week who, you know, weren't in our area or in our market and just being able to help them walk through the stages of how things happen. So anyway, we love, love to walk you through it and see if Langdale Place is a good match.

- How would someone get in touch with y'all to set up like a tour? Give more information?

- It's our main phone line, the 247-4300. We've got our own website. Social media is all of our contact information's on there. Chloe Adams is our admissions and marketing manager. So between she and I, we, we keep the tours rolling.

- Yeah, I would definitely recommend if you're thinking about Langdale Place to follow them on social media because that Facebook page and the photos of the residents and their outings and their activities, I mean that's, that's a really good insight to what they get to do there every day and it makes it look like so much fun.

- It is.

- And I think Chloe is a big part of that, so she does a really great job with that. Thank you. Yeah. So thank you so much for being on today. Thank you for having me being with us. We just have been wanting to share about Langdale Place for a while now. I appreciate

- It. We have one final question though.

- Okay.

- What is your favorite meal to eat when you're here at the hospital? Whether that's in the cafeteria or the All Spice?

- Oh goodness. For the longest time, you know, all three of our daughters were born here. Yeah. So the longest time it was just those meals. But a few weeks ago, or about a month ago, I had lunch with Mr. Dean when he had the key performer luncheons and their fried chicken was good. But I feel like my dietary team may be upset. So my favorite meal at Langdale Place, every other Wednesday we have Smoky Mountain Chicken, which is a grilled chicken breast with bacon and barbecue and cheese. And see we don't have that. That sounds

- Great. That does sound good. This is just further making me think we need to go to Langdale place. I

- Know we might have to go take a tour

- Lunch. I'll have y'all for lunch. Y'all do help assist us with our billboards. Yes. So that

- Calls for lunch. That calls for lunch. We'll take you up on that. Yes. Do you guys have cinnamon

- Rolls? We have. We have Anything that makes your heart happy. Yeah. I love that. Yes. Well, we cater too, so. Okay.

- I'm sold.

- We're moving in. Well, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in and subscribing to the podcast. So until next time.