Getting it Right

I've spent a good part of the last year connecting the dots between the delivery of care in nursing homes and the real estate behind it.  As I read social media posts today, what are the biggest concerns everyone has?  Having enough food and paying the rent! If you're a business and you provide non-essential services or goods, and you have to shut your doors, what do you do about the rent?  If you work in an industry that provides non-essential services or goods, you worry about not getting paid. Why? Because you need to buy food and pay the rent.

I've literally been ranting (everyone who knows me is aware of this) for the past year about how real estate drives poor quality in nursing homes.  Now, all of a sudden, one of the greatest fears everyone has right now is how to pay the mortgage or the rent.  It seems to me that there is a solution to this problem.  It's a solution that was missed in the housing crisis of 2008.  The government bailed out the banks at the time, but didn't bail out the people who lived in the homes that were ultimately foreclosed upon.  This time our government has an opportunity to get it right.

I've worked with wonderful people in the nursing home industry who taught me that the most important thing is doing the right thing.  Our country needs to do the right thing. Now.

I've spent the last 2 1/2 weeks focused on the health and well being of older adults in our society.  I'm a geriatrician. That's what I do.  But I'm also a businessman and entrepreneur. We all need to take a deep breath and relax.  We need to focus on what is essential.  We need food, clothing and shelter.  We live in a country that has an abundance of all of these things.  There is no reason to panic.  There is every reason to focus on keeping the most vulnerable members of our society safe from this virus.

What would happen if we didn't have to pay our mortgage or our rent?  What would happen if we could go to the grocery stores and get the food and supplies we needed?  The people who own the real estate are in the same boat.  We all need food and shelter.  Most of us have food and shelter, except for the homeless, whom we must help during this crisis.  We can survive for a few months without being transactional. It may be hard for capitalists like myself to comprehend, but we can survive for a few months without money.  We already have what we need.  And, we have each other.  Let's get it right!