By Bob Buddemeier

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of any other individuals or organizations.

Introduction

On June 21st Executive Director Dave Keaton made a presentation on Strategic Planning at, and for, RVM.  A video recording of that presentation is available at https://retirement.app.box.com/s/x3ukx66ntcsx6rv2uprq8wu11joto3kq.  If you have not seen it and did not attend the meeting, and if you are even slightly interested in the future of RVM as a business and as a community, I recommend that you watch it.

I have been an administration-watcher over the course of my eight years (and three administrations) at RVM, and this was the most encouraging presentation I have seen in that time.  It was a timely and informative report on an activity that involved RVM and PRS administrators and RVM residents working together to develop an essential product – the Strategic Plan.  Connie Kent has interviewed Dave Keaton and written an article about the planning process that will appear in the next issue of hillTopics.

I see this as an excellent first step.  A financially-oriented management plan provides a practical, quantitative basis for for exerting control over future developments.  However, the institution is much more than just its bottom line, and I think there need to be jointly developed and implemented “strategic plans” addressing and integrating the many other aspects of RVM that make it a desirable retirement residence – and therefore a viable enterprise.  This article presents some thoughts on implementation of the plan and on implications for RVM residents – and some suggestions about additional needs, opportunities, and procedures.

About the Plan:

The plan consists of 13 initiatives, some subdivided into phases or subcategories.  Presentation slides describing the initiatives, plus figures showing priorities and schedules, can be viewed or downloaded at this URL: https://thecomplement.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Strategic-Planning-slides.pdf.  Dave described it as a “rolling” three-year plan; he didn’t define that, but I assume that means that the planning process will be revisited as the initial objectives are completed.

The figure below is one of the presentation slides that provides titles and timelines of the initiatives.

Observations based on available information

RVM Resident demographics:  Initiative 7 targets the Rogue Valley as the intended primary market, Initiative 8 identifies CA and HI as secondary markets, and Initiative 9 addresses recruitment of residents whose financial resources don’t match current RVM contracts (a topic related to Initiative 3, concerning how to fill Manor apartment vacancies).

Changes in the origins and financial status of incoming residents may have an impact on the RVM community.  If a larger fraction of new residents comes from the local area:

• It could strengthen efforts under initiative 11 to build more extensive relationships between RVM and local entities;
• It could complicate building a patient base for the clinic if more people arrive with local medical arrangements already in place; and
• It might reduce on-site volunteerism and/or Foundation donations if incoming residents maintain their local charitable or organizational commitments (or if their net worth is lower than has been the case in the past).

Health Care Planning: Initiative 4, which is divided into 4 subcomponents, addresses business and expansion plans for the existing licensed facilities and for Home Care and Residential Living as well.  These are very welcome developments, but there are some closely related issues that I hope are being considered concurrently:

• How will these developments tie in with the clinic in terms of staffing, facilities, services, and funding?
• Is there potential for addition of a pharmacy connection (perhaps through Initiative 11 rather than as an on-campus stand-alone)?
• Can we assume that the Manor Mart will continue to serve as a source of OTC and personal health supplies?
• Is management of access to, and transitions between, programs or facilities being reviewed or planned? There have been some problems associated with transitions from hospital to the Health Center and/or Home Care.

Financial Planning – and implications: Initiative 5 and 6 (Capital Budget and Labor Retention) are much-needed developments to provide stability and predictability of operations.  However, it seems to me that we need to also be planning for maintaining quality of life in the face of rising expenses.

• Requirements for a capital reserve fund will need to be reviewed almost continuously, in view of the recent history of shortages and inflation. I suspect that the fund will require substantial input before it comes close to steady-state maintenance.
• Employee retention efforts will be costly in terms of benefits and salaries – a necessary cost, but more than we are currently spending.
• Sustainability (Initiative 13) improvement may result in cost savings if we can reduce use of expensive resources, but that depends on acceptance of changes by existing and expected new community members. Maintaining the status quo will become increasingly expensive.

Tentative Conclusions:

In my opinion, the Strategic Plan presented provides a satisfactory initial approach to building long term stability for RVM if:

1. It is the beginning of an ongoing process;
2. There are mechanisms for identifying and making changes as needed; and
3. There is ongoing success in recruiting a resident body that will not only pay the bills, but also participate in maintaining a community that adds value beyond that provided by facilities and staffing.

Suggestions:

With respect to the three conditions stated under Tentative Conclusions (above):

1. Establish an annual process in which the overall plan and its individual components are reviewed for continued validity of the original assumptions and inputs, and for the achievement of desired progress or goals (see item 2).
2. At the point of implementation, plans should include measurable criteria for success or desired outcomes, which should be evaluated in each review. Failure to achieve expected goals should result in prompt reconsideration.
3. Community strength is critically important, but challenging to achieve or measure.
   • With a greater emphasis on a local primary market and a growing number of locally recruited residents, opinions of prospective residents are likely to be influenced by much more than marketing initiatives. Effective, objective surveys of opinions within the RVM community and the larger market community will be desirable, with effective responses to, or uses of, the findings.
   • In my opinion, the resident body is somewhat similar to the physical infrastructure – a diverse collection of entities with a wide range of uses, conditions, importance, and replacement values. However, I feel that the usual approach is to “manage” it without the depth of understanding that is being developed for the physical infrastructure under Initiative 5.  A clearer view of who is here, why, and what they are getting out of or putting into the community would permit much more effectively targeted marketing and retention.
   • Residents provide a substantial number of the “quality of life” features that make RVM an attractive place to live. As staffing has been reduced, reliance on residents has increased, and particularly in leadership or organizational roles.  Some of those roles reside in the Residents Council, with greater or lesser autonomy, but others operate directly under the Foundation, Wellness, or Community Engagement.

As well as individual committees, larger bodies such as the Library, the Residents Preparedness Group, and the Art Committee provide highly desirable services that would not be available if staff needed to be the source.

As we move toward a model of a (probably smaller) body of more experienced staff, I think that we need to find ways to shore up the critical volunteer infrastructure.  Modeling on the successful approach used by the Foundation, this might be done by having each major activity affiliated with a senior staff member or Department, so that there would be a person with authority and access to resources who could step in and assist if organizational or leadership problems arose.

I see this not as a blending of roles or a takeover of responsibilities, but as a recognition of mutual dependency and the need to sustain each other in the interests of our common well-being.

 

The Complement wishes to support RVM and the resident community in developing and implementing a truly comprehensive Strategic Plan.  We welcome your comments and invite submission of relevant letters or articles.

 

By George Yates

 

The Virginia Range is located in the Nevada high desert.  It runs for some 30 miles north to south between Reno and Carson City, and spans of some 40 miles east to west.  The area supports a substantial herd of wild horses (Figure 1); this article stems from our visit to the area for horse-watching and photography.

Spanish settlers likely first brought horses to the Americas in 1519.  Horses escaped, quickly adapted, and spread, and Native Americans began to capture and ride the horses, spreading them further across the continent.  The Virginia Range Wild Horses are descendants of horses that escaped from or were released by ranchers in the 1800s.

In 1955, Reno resident Velma Johnston, better known as “Wild Horse Annie”, led a movement to protest the ruthless manner in which wild horses were being rounded up by the Nevada Department of Wildlife for commercial purposes. The “Wild Horse Annie Act” was passed by Nevada in 1959. In 1971 the federal government followed suit, with the creation of the Wild Horse and Burro Protection Act of 1971.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) protects and manages wild horses in balance with other public resource values on 177 herd management areas across 26.9 million acres of public lands.  The Virginia Range is almost completely privately owned, so federal public lands management policies are not applicable. The Virginia Range mustangs are managed by the state of Nevada.

It has been over five centuries since the Spanish Mustangs arrived in North America, but they are technically a non-native species.  The history of wild horses in North America has all the drama to be expected from any topic involving conflicting cultural, economic, and political interests. There is ongoing debate about whether the horses are indigenous or invasive; if they are wild or feral; or if they should be completely eradicated.  Personally, I just like observing wildlife and taking their pictures.

Although the majority of the horses roam areas away from human settlements, this trip gave me a very different take on the Urban-Wildlife Interface. Horse bands are often seen wandering the streets of the small towns along Hwy 50 and are mostly welcomed by the residents. These animals are fully habituated to people.

We drove into a development and spotted a band of around a dozen horses meandering toward a house, so we ventured onto private property to observe their behavior. The homeowner was very welcoming; he told me that he and his wife had lived there for about 25 years and really enjoyed the wild horses.

Figure 3: A small band of mustangs meandering in front of a home, completely ignoring the humans observing them. [ghy]

We watched the band stroll through the property(Figure 4), on their way to a water trough maintained by another homeowner. On the Virginia Range it is acceptable to put water out for these horses, but it is illegal to feed them.

The behavior of wild horses at water troughs is fascinating and I have observed it on at least two other occasions. There was already a band lined up to drink from the trough, each horse patiently waiting its turn. The band we were following simply queued up at the end of the line, as shown in Figure 5.

We were also fortunate to witness another well-known aspect of wild herd behavior. When a male reaches an age where the lead stallion sees it as a potential threat to its dominance, it will drive the horse out of the band. Often the bachelor will attempt to reunite with the band, only to be driven out once again. In the image below the horse on the left had been nudged and forced across a road and left to gaze at its lost band. The lead stallion (left) watched for some time to make sure that the exiled bachelor would stay put.

Satisfied, the stallion took a triumphant roll in the sand. Watching horses roll is always a fun experience. Horses will roll for enjoyment, but also to help with shedding their coats, and to maintain their coat and body temperature. Mud and dust can act as a skin conditioner as well as a natural insect repellent.

 

At Washoe Lake State Park we were fortunate to witness more wild horse behavior. A bachelor stallion decided to enhance his life, and attempted to capture mares from the local band. A large dark brown stallion came galloping up to the parking area, and did what he had to do to protect his band.

The dark brown stallion successfully defended the band, and no mares were stolen. After the skirmish, the invading stallion turned and trotted away, while the dark brown stallion watched the invader depart.

Despite legal protection and public support, these horses still face many challenges. One major concern is the rapid horse population growth, which can lead to overgrazing and damage to the range. Another is the risk of collisions between horses and vehicles on the roads within the range.  There are significant high tech and industrial developments along Hwy 439 (a.k.a. The USA Parkway).  Tesla, Google, and Microsoft have facilities under construction or planned. These will affect local herd behavior, but in an area small compared to the overall size of the Virginia Range.

The Wild Horses of the Virginia Range have a long and rich history, and they attract visitors from all over the world. They are a beautiful sight, and are thought of by many as a symbol of American heritage.  For additional information: The Wild Horse Preservation League and the Virginia Range Wildlife Protection Association are volunteer non-profit organizations dedicated to keeping Nevada’s mustangs and burros wild and free.