Addressing, supporting the ‘silver tsunami’ in Wisconsin

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

December 30, 2024

FOX CROSSING – According to the U.S. Census Bureau, adults over the age of 65 are expected to “outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history by 2034.”

Wisconsin is not immune to that phenomenon – coined as the “gray” or “silver tsunami” – and business owners in the Northeast region are working to combat the rising need of care for aging and elderly adults.

This includes Aaron and Nicole Barrett, who recently celebrated the groundbreaking of their new elder care facility in Fox Crossing – CopperStone Assisted Living.

The Barretts opened their first CopperStone location – a 60-bed facility which is also located in Fox Crossing, but with a Neenah postal address – in 2021, so Aaron said this will be the second location owned and operated by the couple/co-owners.

“This new facility is a few miles from our current site,” he said. “It’s still in Fox Crossing, but it’s closer to the Appleton airport (and is) going to be 75 units. Fifty-five of those units are assisted living units, and 20 are secured memory care.”

CopperStone’s first location (751 Deerwood Ave.), Aaron said, is on four acres whereas the new facility will be built on 60 acres.

“We have a lot of breathing room for future expansion,” he said. “Whether we go into independent apartments or (R)CACs, which (are) residential care apartment complexes.”

Healthcare background

Aaron said both he and Nicole have professional backgrounds in the healthcare industry.

Starting as a volunteer for Iola Living Assistance, Aaron said Nicole spent a decade working her way up to eventually become the company’s CEO – a position she held from 2014-20.

During that time, Aaron said he left his career in criminal justice to pursue long-term care facility maintenance, eventually ending up as the facilities director for St. Michael Hospital in Stevens Point – now Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital.

“So with myself being on the healthcare, construction, emergency preparedness (and) safety side of things,” he said, “and Nicole being on the administrator side, running the business, we thought it was a good fit for us, naturally, to start our own business in this field.”

Aaron said that’s when he and Nicole began working toward establishing their first assisted living facility, which opened in 2021.

“We tried to phase out our construction so that it ended with what we were trying to predict to be the tail end of COVID-19,” he said. “Obviously, there are always challenges with construction and being able to get supplies for the project and operating a facility during COVID, but it gave us a good opportunity to provide better air quality, better features for our facility.”

All of the resident rooms at CopperStone’s current facility, Aaron said, have a negative air system – which prevents the spread of airborne pathogens and contaminants from one area to another.

“To our knowledge, we’re the only facility in the state (where) every resident room can be converted over to negative air,” he said. “(That) has really made a big impact when we have people who get sicknesses of all kinds.”

And all kinds of sickness, Aaron said, means all kinds of care – something CopperStone is uniquely prepared for.

Many larger operators, like CopperStone, Aaron said, will build facilities up to 100 units but only provide a “small amount of the higher-acuity care.”

“What’s unique about CopperStone is we build large-scale CRBFs (Community Based Residential Facilities),” he said. “That’s what we’re good at. That’s our sweet spot.”

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS), CBRFs are “places where five or more unrelated people live together in a community setting.”

Per the Wisconsin DHS website (dhs.wisconsin.gov), services often offered at CBRFs exceed those of fully independent living facilities – providing supervision and support services and up to three hours of weekly nursing care.

Aaron said though CopperStone can, and has, operated both fully independent living and CRBF-type facilities conjointly, currently he and Nicole are facing an ever-growing demand for more involved elder care.

“There’s such a demand, and most of the time we’re full,” he said. “It’s hard to take those phone calls where people are looking for care and can’t find it in their own neighborhoods that they live in.”

Regulatory challenges

Unlike most residential construction projects, Aaron said there are many additional rules and regulations elder care facilities must adhere to.

“Obviously, there’s large-scale oversight from Wisconsin DHS, whether it’s electrical codes, fire codes – everything in assisted living is different than what would be in an apartment complex, for example,” he said. 

Often drawing on his experience managing healthcare facilities, Aaron said without that, it’d be hard to break into the eldercare industry.

“Even when we talk to different general contractors or subcontractors, a lot of guys that haven’t done health care,” he said. “It’s a big leap to get there, it’s a very long-term process and there’s a lot of opportunities to drop the ball or make mistakes. So it’s a very intensive and detail-oriented process.”

Aaron said the additional regulations are compounded by the regular inspections assisted living facilities must undergo to ensure compliance.

“We have DHS surveyors that come out to inspect our facilities,” he said. “We have to continue to maintain that accreditation long term, whereas in a lot of other real estate types… (there’s no) large-scale oversight.”

Additionally, Aaron said elder care regulations are constantly changing, so CopperStone’s nursing staff have to attend bi-yearly training sessions with the Wisconsin Assisted Living Association.

“It’s a full team effort… just keeping up with everything and ensuring you’re in compliance,” he said. “It’s a process that will never go away.”

Aaron said that team effort expands beyond simply keeping the facility in compliance, often telling his employees that working in elder care “isn’t a job, it’s a lifestyle.”

“When you shake someone’s hand and tell them you’re going to take care of their family member, and then they leave them with you, it’s a very serious thing,” he said. “If you’re going to be in senior living, you have to be all in, all the time.”

The ‘silver tsunami’

According to a report conducted by Forward Analytics – a Wisconsin-based research organization – the Badger State “would need to increase aging care infrastructure by about 33,000 total beds by 2030 to accommodate the increased number of seniors.”

The strain of having more seniors than facilities to care for them is something Aaron said he and Nicole have experienced in Northeast Wisconsin.

“We’ve been full with a waiting list for about 18 months straight,” he said. “Without the development happening in this surge… it’s going to become a real issue long term.”

Expansion was always part of the Barretts’ business plan, but Aaron said growth will always be carefully considered to ensure CopperStone’s quality of care is maintained.

“If that day ever comes where we can’t maintain the quality, we’re going to stop growing,” he said.

Though the Barretts want to always ensure CopperStone’s residents are receiving high-level care, Aaron said it becomes difficult to control growth when the demand for elder care is staggering.

“People – not only in Fox Crossing but the entire Fox Valley – they’re looking for high-quality care (and) they can’t find it,” he said. “So it does get difficult to receive those phone calls all the time knowing that we could go forward and provide additional care and additional facilities to help out with that demand.”

Aaron said pre-COVID-19, he saw the development of senior living facilities begin to surpass the need, as supply chain issues led many operators to leave the industry.

“I think a lot of them who were in it opted out, or sold and no longer wanted to be a part of the industry, just because it got so difficult for that condensed time,” he said. “If you build a facility like the one we’re building now and you have problems filling (it) up, it can cause vast financial damage in very short order… and I think COVID made a lot of operators nervous to keep rolling the dice.”

Thankfully, even though the cost of construction is still high, Aaron said the right time to expand CopperStone and the increasing demand for care coincided nicely with one another.

“We’re very happy with our quality and our level of care, and we’re in the right environment, demand-wise, where it just makes sense to go forward,” he said. “With the coming demand – even if the prices are higher now – we think we’ll fare better long term, getting going now (rather) than waiting for the ideal situation.”

On top of providing that elevated level of care, Aaron said the new CopperStone facility will also bring additional high-paying, skilled jobs to the Fox Valley as well.

“From what we’ve seen, we have the highest pay for assisted living providers in our market and in the Valley – and that really means a lot,” he said. “When you get the best caregivers who provide the best care, it’s better for everybody. Everybody wins.”

Aaron said CopperStone’s first location employs roughly 50 people, and the second location when complete will add another 60 positions to the CopperStone payroll – bolstering the local economy.

“We love the community we’re in,” he said. “We know everybody, personally. The police officers stopped by just to say hi for no reason. It’s just a great community, and we love to support Fox Crossing – and they support us as well.”

CopperStone’s new facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025.

To learn more, visit copperstoneassistedliving.com, or find it on social media.