In its effort to find a new managing partner for the Vashon Community Care, the VCC board’s transition committee met with one potential organization last week and may receive a proposal from another.
Bellevue-based Trans-forming Age, formerly Presbyterian Retirement Communities Northwest, gave the presentation, and board chair Susan Hanson said the meeting went well.
“I am feeling more positive than I have in quite a while,” she said on Thursday.
Transforming Age is a national nonprofit, with senior housing in Seattle and Minnesota. It bills itself as “a network of services, products and partnerships dedicated to transforming the perception of age and enhancing the lives of older adults.”
In addition to discussing their organization and mission and fielding questions from board members, Transforming Age officials had learned a lot about VCC, Hanson said.
“They knew our background, mission and commitment,” she noted. “It was not just money here and there. It went beyond just a business model.”
The next step is for the full board to review the presentation materials and meet and discuss the information at its board meeting this week.
It is also possible that the board will receive a proposal from the for-profit organization Senior Services of America, which has expressed interest. The VCC board had not reached out to that organization to respond to its request because it is for-profit, Hanson said, but the board will evaluate a proposal if the organization submits one.
She noted that VCC’s contract with Providence Health & Services ends on Aug. 27, so progress is important, although Providence has said it will continue to work with VCC if a transition has not taken place by then.
VCC has struggled financially since it opened, and Hanson noted that financially the picture looks good with Transforming Age, although there would still be negotiating to do.
“Their goal is to help you with your mission and to become sustainable,” she said.
Before any final decisions are made, the Vashon community would be included in the decision-making process, Hanson said, but she said she does not yet have a sense of when that will be as it is still early in the decision-making process.
