Over the course of his career, Christopher Dale has worked his way from a nursing assistant at a mental health facility to executive director of Arbor Terrace Naperville.
But throughout it all, he has been guided by the memory of one man, his grandfather, Joe Schardt.
“Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think of him,” Dale said of his mother’s father, who died 30 years ago. “I’m constantly reminded of him by the time I spend with residents here at Arbor.”
The job of executive director is nonstop – Dale remembers receiving 95 emails in one eight-hour period – and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased everyone’s workload.
One of his most important responsibilities as executive director is, “I check in. I check in with department heads to understand and support and validate what they’re doing,” he said. “I think I’m really blessed here that I'm around a very talented group of people. So, the director part of it is not so much director as it is, I think, supporter and enhancer.”
Checking in with residents is also important to Dale, even more so in the days of quarantine, when residents’ main source of human contact is the team members who work in their community.
Keeping those residents safe from COVID-19 is his priority, and it informs every aspect of life at Arbor Terrace.
“There’s this huge specter of COVID that just hangs like gray clouds over everything,” Dale said. “Because every decision that we make now has to be with some degree of consideration to what is happening with COVID.”
Dale’s journey into senior living began when his grandfather was living with his parents in South Carolina. Here’s a little about his experience in his own words.
My Journey to Senior Living
Christopher Dale
“He called me up one day, and in his dry, sarcastic wit, told me if he spent one more day ‘down here away from my friends, I may as well just die.’ So, we got him moved into a senior building in Milwaukee, where I was living at the time.
“I had the privilege of knowing and learning from someone who was born in 1898; drove one of the first Model Ts; experienced two world wars [and] the Great Depression; and lived long enough to see a man walk on the moon. That man was my grandfather, the same man [who] bought me a telescope when I was a kid and opened my eyes to science, and taught me how to use tools. My grandfather ran a pool room for years, and every New Year’s Eve he would put out a buffet and feed homeless people. He had friends from all walks of life and friends from the ‘wrong side of the tracks,’ and he treated everyone the same. At his funeral, my family was shocked at the turnout; they had never met most of the people who were there.
“I had spent several years working in mental health services, and some time after my grandfather passed, I changed careers. Maybe it was missing the character of who he was, or maybe it was just time for a change. I joined another company and opened its first assisted living facility in Illinois as executive director.
“In the time since, I have opened buildings, run operations and spent time with hundreds of residents and their families. And to this day, I continue to believe in the rich resource that is the generation of our parents and grandparents, and I remain committed to giving back for all the years they worked tirelessly for us.
“For me and probably for many of us who make this our life’s work, we think of it as a calling, too – as if we were meant to do what we do. I have said many times over the years that we can teach systems and tasks and day-to-day responsibilities, but we cannot, and we should not have to teach how to have a caring heart. It is that spirit to serve that has sustained me on this journey when the tasks and systems and responsibilities feel overwhelming.
“A few years ago, my father passed at the age of 91, and the last few years were a series of specialist appointments, hospitalizations and rehab centers. I remember the number of trips to Cleveland to visit with him in the nursing home and the worries about his care: Will they remember to help him eat? Will they make sure he has his rosary when they help him to bed? Will someone be there when he is feeling scared and alone? These questions burned all the way home, and it really struck me how much trust families put in us to take care of their loved ones, and how committed we must be toward providing compassionate care.
“As an executive director, this journey is a never-ending map of detours; secondary paths; places to step back and gain perspective; emergency repairs; and from time to time, smooth roads. In some ways, that is a pretty good analogy for life. But along the way I have had the privilege of having some wonderful travel companions, from my father and grandfather to all the seniors I have had the privilege of knowing, and the families who have trusted me to provide care to their loved ones.”
