By Steve Moran

While at SMASH 2024 I “hotelled” in a guest suite of Las Ventanas, the only CCRC in the state of Nevada. It’s operated by HumanGood. While there, I got the chance to spend some time with their resident council president, Peter Young, who told me two stories that were really one amazing story.

Why Las Ventanas

Peter and his wife were in their mid 80s living in Las Vegas, and all their kids were on the East Coast. They wanted to make sure they would be taken care of as they grew older and less able to do it all themselves. They started looking around and discovered that Las Ventanas was the only place in Nevada that had all three levels of care plus independent living, making it an easy choice. 

Here is how he and his wife see it today:

“The people are so friendly, and the place was so nice, and the food was good, and we still did all the things we always did.”

“I still play golf; we still do things. And we were here three, four months, and I said, ‘I can’t believe how happy I am.’ This is really a great place to be, to live our best life for the rest of our life.”

The Tale of Two Executive Directors

The one truth in senior living that too often does not get enough attention is that a great senior living experience (or a not so great one) is completely dependent on how the executive director leads a community.  

When Peter and his wife first arrived, they had a not so good executive director. Peter described him as someone that every resident strongly disliked (he used stronger language that that) or didn’t think about. In other words, he had no fans. 

Then came Yvette Duarte, and in less than two years things completely changed. Here is some of what she does differently:

  • She cares about the residents more than anything else.
  • She talks to everyone — residents and team members. 
  • She listens to people.
  • She follows up and tells them what she can and can’t do and the reasoning behind the decisions. 
  • She established a budget and finance committee. They review the budget each month and have direct impact on how money is allocated. 

You can hear Peter talking about his experience here: