The Best of Southbury

Read the interview here:

Southbury.com – Hi everyone Michael Ferreira here from southbury.com. We’re getting ready to do another Best of Southbury – Business Spotlight” and in this episode, we’re visiting with Debbie and Jillian from Motif by MONARCH right here in downtown Southbury. Come on, let’s go!

Southbury.com – Hi everyone, Michael here and I’m sitting here with Debi and Jillian from Motif by MONARCH,  ladies – welcome.

Motif by Monarch (Debi & Jillian) – Thank you very much.

Southbury.com – So the first question for you guys, tell us a little bit about Motif and what each of you do here?

Motif by Monarch (Debi) – So Motif, MONARCH communities, which is the mothership was started in 2019 by two gentlemen who’ve been in the healthcare industry for 20 years plus individually and had an idea of how they wanted an assisted living memory care community run. So it’s really based on the wellness of the employee who therefore provides good service to the residents that are here. I happen to be the executive director. So the buck stops with me and Jillian is my right hand lady and she makes sure that…

Motif by Monarch (Jillian) – I help all of the prospects and potential residents navigate their assisted living in order to find an apartment and ensure that the care will be appropriate for them.

Southbury.com – This used to be the Hearth and you guys have since rebranded Motif by Monarch. Tell us a little bit about that change and how did that go go down?

Motif by Monarch (Debi) – So we’ve done our best to keep the staff that were here. Whoever wanted to stay. We’ve just continued their, employment with the new Monarch communities. We’ve increased a couple of roles. We have a role for assisting the residents in their day to day activities. So they’re called our memory care and our assisted living directors. We’re also doing a lot of construction, just kind of facelifts the building needed a little support there. So we’re remodeling rooms, we’re remodeling common areas just to help support, the residents and enjoying themselves and their time here as they’re aging in place.

Southbury.com – What kind of assistance do you offer here?

Motif by Monarch (Jillian) – So we offer a variety of different things for our residents. So we have care level starting at independent living to assisted living to memory care this way we’re able to assist in the transition of care and the increase of care needs. We have a very high acuity level that we are able to handle here, which is unlike most communities that I’ve seen and we’re licensed for aging in place. So this really could be the resident’s last move, which is important for a lot of families to know.

Southbury.com – So I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of your team members here and I know that it takes a great team to run a community like this. Tell us a little bit about some of the positions and or key positions here at the community.

Motif by Monarch (Debi) – So as a community, it takes the whole team, you know, from our housekeepers and our maintenance people and our aides, our CNAs, our cooks, our cleaners, everyone. We need to have the whole team together working in unison to work well. Now, of course their managers involved on each of those, helping to support that and as it grows, you know, the buck stops with me as I said, but it’s really about supporting and listening to the needs of the team members, as well as the needs of the residents in the community. You know, our care directors have been excellent in communicating with families and the world goes around with communication. That’s what we’re all about.

Southbury.com – And you guys do a lot of activities here. Tell us a little bit about that position and who’s running it for you.

Motif by Monarch (Jillian) – So we have a certified activities director. Her name is Melanie Gagnon, and she is one of the best activity directors that I truly have ever seen in my career. I agree. She puts everything that we do on social media so that families can see it and the families can feel involved and prospective residents can see. She just came up with the red, white and you senior Olympics and it was a week long event with multiple different games and challenges with prizes and a huge ceremony at the end of it that our residents really enjoyed. And she ensures that there’s something for all of our residents, daily, weekly, whatever it may be. So everyone has something they can participate in.

Southbury.com – That’s fantastic.

Motif by Monarch (Debi) – The big important part of it is we do monthly a meeting of all residents, a resident council meeting, which all the department heads are part of and the residents voice their concerns, opinions, what do they wanna see next? And we help support that cuz this community is about them. It’s not about us.

Southbury.com – So let me ask you guys this, what drove MONARCH communities to pick Southbury as the next location for one of their communities here.

Motif by Monarch (Jillian) – So our partner saw a great opportunity to help support a very vivacious population of seniors in the Southbury community. So I think that was really why they chose Southbury itself.

Southbury.com – So Debi and Jillian, thank you so much for taking some time with us today. Help us to learn a little bit more about Motif by MONARCH. If anyone wants more information about the community, feel free to reach out to Jillian at the phone number located at the bottom of your screen. Thank you for being with us!