“Now is the time…”

It has now been a year since the Affiliation between Morningstar Living and Moravian Manor Communities was officially finalized, and I have never been more excited about the future of these two organizations. We have made a lot of changes at Morningstar Living since January 2024. Changes that helped position us better for strategic initiatives that will enable us to grow and serve more of the population of seniors under the Unitas Communities brand.

And organizations like Morningstar Living are going to need to do the same. Because right now, we are in the midst of the “silver tsunami.” (This term refers to the wave of baby boomers from 1946 that began turning 65 in 2011.) By 2030, when the last baby boomer turns sixty-five, there will be seventy-three million people aged sixty-five and over. This will be the first time in the history of our world that people aged sixty-five and over will outnumber children under the age of thirteen. And because of medical technological advances that make it possible for people to live longer with chronic conditions and complex medical needs, there will be an increased demand for nursing home care.

In our industry, there has been no change more significant than what is occurring today in the nursing home landscape. And that is because of three key pressures every nursing home operator faces. The first pressure is the rising costs associated with purchasing supplies and equipment and complying with government regulations. The second pressure is the lack of reimbursement from the government, which falls short of the actual cost of providing care due to underfunding, inflation, and staffing mandates. The third pressure is the global workforce shortage, which makes nursing homes struggle to find enough qualified caregivers.

While Morningstar Living and Moravian Manor Communities are not exempt from the current realities described above, we are well-positioned to address these pressures due to prudent decision-making by our respective boards over the past decade. While over 750 nursing facilities have closed since 2020 (many of these are stand-alone for-profit facilities), our facilities have increased other revenue streams so we can continue offering these critical services to our residents.

The good news is that our challenges present us with a phenomenal opportunity to uncover new and innovative ways to provide the care and services the wave of baby boomers will need and can afford. Now is the time to be agile and quick to respond to the challenges we face and use them to move our organization forward in 2025.