HSM/230 Version 3 / 1
Associate Level Material
Appendix D
Acre Woods Retirement Community Case Study
Acre Woods is a private retirement community with 275 senior residents. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of its residents through physical and emotional care. Sarah Armstrong, Acre Woods’ resident physical therapist, manages the retirement community’s activity program. Recently, Acre Woods added a pool to its rehabilitation center to facilitate resident exercise and aquatic therapy. The residents’ monthly rent was raised to help finance the pool.
After the pool was constructed, Sarah immediately contacted the director of Acre Woods, Mark Adams, with concerns that the pool did not meet some important specifications included in the original design, such as nonslip treads on the stairs and improved wheelchair access to the pool area. Mark advised Sarah that the residents would be happy to have a pool, even if it did not incorporate all the requested special features. When Sarah asked why the new ramp and stair treads were not provided even though they were included in the budget, the director remarked that Sarah’s job was to provide physical therapy, not to worry about the budget.
Over the next month, four Acre Woods residents had minor falls using the pool stairs. While the accidents were not serious, other residents began to express fears about using the pool. Sarah contacted Mark again to relate resident complaints and to stress the need for pool accessibility and safety improvements. Mark informed Sarah that she was the only member of the Acre Woods staff who was complaining or concerned about the pool; therefore, there was no issue. Mark said that he had a report from another Acre Woods physical therapist, Gene Levy, reporting that residents enjoy the pool and that it has expanded opportunities for physical therapy. Sarah asked Mark to tour the facility in person to assess the situation, but Mark expressed that he was too busy to visit Acre Woods until the next quarter.
Two weeks later, Mark promoted Gene to Care Administrator of Acre Woods. Gene took over Sarah’s activity program duties and reassigned her to the assisted living unit. Concerned about Acre Woods’ ability to live up to its mission and suspicious about the missing funds from the pool project, Sarah contacted the local newspaper and related the entire scandal.
Questions
1. What are some potential legal and ethical issues present in this case study?
2. How would you characterize the director’s behavior?
3. Is the director an ethical role model? Why or why not?
4. Were the director’s messages congruent with the organization’s stated mission? Explain your answer.
5. What impact did the director’s actions and attitudes have on the Acre Woods culture?