This thought leadership article is written by Laurence Geller, Loveday & Co Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder and Championing Social Care Ambassador.
I have always worked in the hotel industry starting as a chef and eventually becoming the owner of luxury hotels with iconic brands such as The Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton. I saw natural parallels between care and hospitality. My vision was to weave together the very best in class care with high end personalized service, which respects those it supports and offers the dignity and comfort that has been so hard earned by those to whom we owe today’s society. This led to the birth of Loveday. Working for many years with the amazing people in the sector, it is my passion to help bring increased awareness and respect to our care industry while encouraging the brightest and best in our society to become involved and improve our standards.
Sadly, both my parents died of dementia six years apart leaving me acutely aware of this awful disease. I decided then that I wanted to join the fight against this global pandemic.
My involvement resulted in me being appointed Chairman of the Alzheimer’s Society’s National Dementia Appeal. I remain a passionate dementia care philanthropist in the UK and will never cease fighting to professionalise our care sector.
Arguably, dignity is one of the most important, and most overlooked aspects in developing the future of the care industry. I believe that dignity and respect in care goes beyond how we direct interactions with presidents and patients – but must be at the core of their experience.
Technology, when used correctly, is a greater enabler of a holistic patient care experience. Direct care alarms, linking individual residents to portable devices held by staff can make alerts discreet. Applications can keep family members abreast of a resident’s routine and day from afar. Medication can be dispensed personally, and in privacy. All these developments allow ‘patients’ to reclaim their sense of ‘person’ and to have their care be a subtle addition, as opposed to an overt fact.
My many decades of hospitality experience, coupled with my passion for improving the lives of those in their later years, make Loveday an extraordinary calling. All of us are dedicated to making lives better for our Members and their families who have borne the responsibility of being carers.
At Loveday we always aim to offer care beyond compare in everything we do. We’re not satisfied unless, every day and in every way, we deliver care beyond compare which is personalised to the tastes and lifestyles of our Members. Caring like this, we believe, makes a difference.
Thanks to the success of Loveday Chelsea Court Place and Loveday Kensington, both receiving CQC Outstanding Overall, we are expanding our services and are opening more residences in and around London. This means we can offer more people outstanding senior and dementia care and find ways to improve their lives in as many ways as possible.
Through supporting the Care Sector Fundraising Ball, being an Ambassador for Championing Social Care, alongside my other efforts with the Alzheimer’s Society’s I will continue to bang the drum for the care sector and those that work in it. From supporting innovation and research to improve outcomes and care for those living with dementia. As well as creating recognized educational programmes for those in the care sector so they have the skills and recognition they deserve. Together we can, and we must make out industry even better. We have no choice.
