The organization also started preparations for the transition from chief financial officer Mark Zoellner, who is retiring in May after 12 years with the organization, to replacement and former TriHealth executive Brian Krause.
Kirkpatrick started in his role September 2018 after a decade with TriHealth, and last year allowed him to learn more about the organization that employs 650.
“Obviously, I knew about Butler County from my time at Bethesda Butler and McCullough-Hyde, but this is a little bit different aspect and a little bit different reach from community-based services than what we did in a hospital setting,” he said.
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Last year also saw Community First continue to expand. It installed most of Heritage Drive, a new street of independent living homes at its Berkeley Square campus.
“People are focusing on how do you live independently but with the support and the friendship of something like Berkeley Square,” Kirkpatrick said. “I think that people are really buying into that. It’s a lifestyle change, it’s not … what you use to think of as a nursing home.
There’s no set time for completion of Heritage Drive, which only has one lot left to sell, he said.
Construction should take approximately nine months, and the project likely will wrap up in the next 12 months, Kirkpatrick said.
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Heritage Drive marks the first phase of development on a 30-plus-acre property, according Danielle Webb, vice president of marketing and community relations. Planning for a second phase of development is expected to start this year, she said.
“We could start breaking ground as soon as the spring,” Kirkpatrick said.
Community First’s continuing care retirement communities of Berkeley Square and Westover provide independent living, assisted living, post-acute care, dementia care, and long term health care to more than 450 residents. Jamestowne, a post-acute care facility, provides inpatient and outpatient physical, speech and occupational therapy and features 42 private rooms and a 5,000-square-foot therapy gym.
The organization announced Monday that those three campuses have maintained their five-star quality ratings from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Only the top 10 percent of facilities nationally are able to earn a five-star “well above average rating” from CMS, Kirkpatrick said.
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Last month, Community First Solutions opened its third Community First Pharmacy, this one at 300 Forest Ave. in Dayton.
Other than maintaining quality across all its efforts, Kirkpatrick said the organization’s top priority is focusing on its team and engaging its team members “who are the people who are really taking care of customers, our clients, our residents.”
The organization is getting ready to kick off its first company-wide leadership training, re-setting its focus to go beyond just the director level to look at “every employee who has direct reports across the organization, no matter what their title is,” Webb said.
“We can have great leadership at an executive level, but … what do you do with a great nurse?” Kirkpatrick said. “You promote them, because if they’re a great nurse, they have to be a great nurse manager. Well, that doesn’t always correlate. The nurses are trained to be nurses. They’re not always trained to be supervisors.”
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Timeline: Community First Solutions
1918: The single gift of a Dayton Street home establishes Colonial, a leading provider of older adult and multi-generational services.
1964: The Community Home Association purchased a five acre tract of land on the west side of Hamilton, the site of a new residence that would be named Westover.
1974: Community Behavioral Health, known first as Buckeye Center then as Horizon Services, became a freestanding alcohol inpatient detoxification and rehabilitation program.
1989: Berkeley Square Retirement Community opens with 27 independent living homes.
2008: Community First Pharmacy opened, establishing the second full service retail not-for-profit pharmacy in the nation.
2011: Community First Solutions launched, uniting the not-for-profit subsidiaries of Colonial, Community Behavioral Health, and Community First Pharmacy.
2012: Community First Solutions acquires not-for-profit subsidiary of Partners in Prime.
2017: Jamestowne patient and Outpatient Therapy opened, featuring 42,000 square feet of space, 42 private suites, and innovative specialized therapy programs.
2018: Community First Pharmacy celebrates the opening of their second location in Middletown, OH.
2019: Community First acquires LifeSpan.
January: third Community First Pharmacy opens in Dayton
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