Washington State University faculty member Nancy Swanger admits to being skeptical when an executive identified a connection between hospitality and senior living.
“When I thought of senior living, what flashed into my mind was (a) nursing home, right?” said Swanger, an associate professor in the School of Hospitality Business Management at the Carson College of Business.
The reality, she learned, is much different. A number of senior communities have amenities like wood shops and art studios that are complemented with activities such as excursions to tourist destinations.
Like hotels, they have departments responsible for housekeeping, as well as food and beverage.
“The difference is the people move in and they live there,” Swanger said. “They’re not there for two to three days, they’re there for several years. That’s their home.”
Swanger’s status as an expert on aging was confirmed this fall by her inclusion on the United Nations’ Healthy Ageing 50, a list of 50 worldwide leaders making the planet a better place to grow older.
The honor recognizes work that started more than 10 years ago with the initial collaboration with executives that eventually led to the creation of the Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living in 2020 at WSU in Pullman, where she is the founding director.
Her involvement in the institute is the most recent course in a career that started at Happy Day Corp. in Lewiston in 1979 and has encompassed close to 30 years of teaching at the college level and decades of ownership stakes in multiple restaurants.
Living with dignity as long as possible
At the institute, Swanger is helping tackle one of the most complicated issues facing the planet — how to expand and improve limited options for seniors as they age.
The problem is already immense and is projected to balloon in 10 years as the number of middle-aged individuals, the group that usually cares for seniors, shrinks in proportion to the number of seniors, Swanger said.
“We’ve got to figure out how do we care for this aging population and allow them to live purposeful, meaningful, lives with dignity for as long as possible,” she said.
The approach of the institute is multifaceted.
It introduced a major that trains students to work in communities where seniors live independently, in assisted living and in settings for individuals with memory loss, but not nursing homes.
Students complete the core requirements of the business program, including 1,000 hours of industry experience and classes specific to the major, as well as electives in other parts of WSU that focus on aging.
Part of what they learn is the importance of varied recreation that nurtures friendships for residents that range from people in their late 50s who were tired of shoveling snow to those in their early 90s in wheelchairs.
“Isolation will kill you quicker than cigarettes and drinking too much,” Swanger said. “Having strong relationships and a socially engaged life are the two big pieces for quality of life as we age.”
Integrating that with profits is essential, Swanger said.
“The standard phrase is no margin, no mission,” she said. “You have to know how the pieces fit together, and how to run the budgets for (food and beverage and housekeeping) and how to price your product accordingly.”
Researching ways to curb expenses
The institute also is pursuing a variety of research projects with faculty partners, often seeking answers to questions raised by the private sector.
One study is looking at if senior communities could be a growing market for bidets, especially if the added expense of installing the equipment used as an alternative to toilet paper could be justified.
It is examining questions such as if residents of memory care units are willing to use them as well as if there are hidden long-term savings.
Bidets could reduce cases of urinary tract infections, a frequent cause of falls because of how they change people’s gait, Swanger said.
They also could minimize the need for staff to help residents in the bathroom, which could reduce expenses by improving retention, since it would eliminate an extremely unpleasant task, she said.
Gen Z ‘wants their work to matter’
Many hurdles lie ahead.
Not surprisingly, getting 18- to 22-year-olds to consider devoting their careers to seniors can be challenging. So far, only 15 to 20 students have enrolled in the major since it was introduced in 2020.
But more than 550 students have taken the introductory course to the major and may pursue it later in fields as diverse as accounting, marketing and architecture, Swanger said.
Swanger believes the numbers will grow in the future.
The institute’s online, on-demand certificate was just chosen as the related technical instruction for apprentices in a senior living trade association program that recently won a Department of Labor grant. The selection of the institute’s certificate for the program could generate between $75,000 and $100,000 for the institute.
And she expects to see higher numbers of students in the major because of its perks.
The hours are usually better than traditional hospitality gigs where staff sometimes work well past midnight. Typically residents of retirement communities eat dinner early and are in bed not long after that.
A number of the residents of retirement communities don’t have spouses or children living near them, presenting opportunities for those who interact with them to become surrogate family.
That dynamic could appeal to Gen Z college students, Swanger said.
“They want more than just a paycheck,” she said. “They want their work to matter.”
Real life stories for every topic
Swanger brought decades of experience to the institute. She began her career with Happy Day Restaurants as a district manager in 1979 before shifting to academia in 1994.
Introduction to hospitality and food service systems and control are two of the courses she has taught, as well as introduction to senior living management.
Over the years, she’s had ownership interests in ventures such as a location of TCBY Treats, a yogurt chain, multiple Subways and a Pullman convenience center.
She and her husband, Larry Swanger, own Gambino’s and Varsity Diner in Moscow, where he handles the day-to-day operations.
Their experiences have provided material for her classes, especially the ones in more traditional hospitality.
“What is our content today?” Swanger said. “It’s about why you should have cash controls because people steal. Let me tell you my stealing story. I’ve got a real life story for every topic that can come up.”
Swanger’s enthusiasm for her work remains strong and she sees an abundance of potential in the future for what the institute can accomplish.
“We’ve done great things and it’s just exciting to stick with it,” Swanger said. “There’s no playbook for this. … We were the first in the country.”
Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.
