Best Senior Living: Bavarian Comfort Care, a Caring Star

Our Interview With Managing Director Hamza Sikander

Caring Stars BadgeBridgeport, Michigan, and surrounding areas had a lack of assisted living communities, and Hamza Sikander had a desire to make a difference in the community. So he established Bavarian Comfort Care, whose mission is to provide a positive emotional, intellectual, physical, and social environment for residents.

"[My mother] is very happy with the kind and respectful way she is spoken to and with the assistance offered to her. Our family is very pleased with knowing that she is well cared for here," says one family member. From the moment they move in, residents can expect to see a personalized care plan, from the daily activities to menu options for each meal. We talked to Hamza Sikander about what it's like to be the managing director at Bavarian Comfort Care and what makes his community stand out as one of the best assisted living communities in America, a Caring Star 2014 community. Hamza Sikander

Though work in senior living is definitely a rewarding career, many would agree that it's not the most glamorous profession. It takes a special kind of person. What led you to choose this path and inspired your passion for assisted living?

Hamza Sikander, managing director: As director of operations at the largest private primary care practice in the area, I was looking at businesses that could complement the field I was already working in yet was also rewarding and results oriented. During my search, I studied several different options in the healthcare field. After carefully analyzing and studying various businesses, I leaned toward establishing an assisted living facility, because not only did it help satisfy my inner desire to make a difference in the local community but it also made good business sense due to the lack of such facilities in this area.

As managing director of an assisted living community, you oversee a wide range of responsibilities and serve as a leader for residents and their families, as well as for staff. What keeps you motivated, and what do you most enjoy about your role?

Bavarian Living Room HS: The single most important factor that makes one assisted living facility better than another is the team you establish to work with your residents. Therefore, as a managing director, you have to find team members who are not only performance oriented but also compassionate and have the desire to serve your residents. After you go through this difficult process, when you receive comments from the residents about how appreciative they are for the care they receive, it gives you a sense of accomplishment along with a great feeling of being able to make a difference in someone's life. Such a feeling of being able to make a difference cannot be achieved in many other industries.

Bavarian Comfort Care received the Caring Stars award of service excellence in 2014. This award is based on consumer reviews in Caring.com's Senior Care Directory. Why do you think families are so enthusiastic about your community? What's the secret of your success?

HS: Here at Bavarian we serve our residents by addressing their emotional, intellectual, physical, and social needs. Our goal is to provide the residents a comfortable environment and quality care with respect and compassion, to enhance their lives. This is what I feel makes people enthusiastic about our facility and is also the secret to our success.

Bedroom Tell us something special about your community that the reviewers didn't mention -- what are you known for? What traits make your community particularly unique? We'd love to hear about some specific activities, services, or stories from daily life at Bavarian Comfort Care.

HS: At Bavarian Comfort Care, we like to provide personalized service. Starting from when the residents move in, the care plan we develop goes right down to the type of food each resident likes to eat. We try to make it as personalized as possible, which I feel is what differentiates our facility from others. Bavarian Comfort Care consists of 30 rooms and 45 licensed beds. We feel that a community of our size can provide the most appropriate care yet not lose our one-on-one touch, as many bigger facilities do.

ResidentsHow is your community using the feedback it receives in online reviews? (Have you incorporated consumer comments into staff communications and training? Modified programs or services as a result of reviews? Other?)

HS: We have primarily received compliments online, and we definitely share them with our staff. It always gives us a sense of achievement and accomplishment when we hear good comments.

Is there anything I haven't asked you about your community, online reviews, or senior care that you'd like to mention about Bavarian Comfort Care?

HS: I would like to mention here that at Bavarian Comfort Care, we like to work as a team, to provide the best possible care for our residents. It is my belief that if everyone is on board with decisions, things run a lot smoother. It is definitely a hard process to try to have everyone on board and involved in all decision making all the time, but we continuously try to make the relevant stakeholders participate as much as possible.

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