Brad Dilday, Executive Director, Springmoor Life Care Retirement Community

Invest: sat down with Brad Dilday, executive director of Springmoor Life Care Retirement Community, to discuss how senior living is evolving in the Triangle, from shifting care demand to wellness, dining expectations, and community connection. “We want them to come here and take the burden off their shoulders and put it on ours,” Dilday said.

Based on your experience from the past 12 months, what do you consider to be the broader trends that are shaping the future of senior living in the Triangle?

Over the past year, one of the biggest shifts we’re seeing is increased demand for assisted living and that mid-level of care. Across CCRCs in this area, that’s where a lot of the focus is right now. We’re also seeing skilled nursing demand decline, with more emphasis on aging in place.

Aging in place is really about providing services in the environment where someone already lives, whether that’s their home, their apartment, or their unit on a campus. Instead of automatically moving someone into a higher level of care when needs change, the trend is to bring care to the person and support them where they are.

Beyond the healthcare side, expectations are also changing in more lifestyle-driven ways. Dining is a big one. As a younger generation enters senior living, their experiences have been broader, including more cultural variety throughout their lives. That shapes what they expect day to day. The standards keep rising, and it’s not limited to care and safety. It includes food, programming, and the overall experience. People want options and variety. We don’t want just fried chicken and mashed potatoes anymore.

How is Springmoor evolving to meet these changing expectations today, particularly those seeking a purpose-driven lifestyle and multi-dimensional wellness?

We’re responding in a few ways, both in skilled nursing and across independent living.

In skilled nursing, we’re continuing a renovation that moves us away from an institutional model. Historically, a lot of facilities were designed around long hallways and centralized nurse stations, which can feel clinical. We’ve begun shifting toward a neighborhood model, and we’re targeting completion by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

That model supports more person-centered care, where we can better focus on residents’ personal desires and preferences and build the daily rhythm around what matters to them. That can include dining, activities, and how someone wants their day to look. It gives us a stronger framework to cater to individuals instead of forcing everyone into one routine.

In independent living, we’re continuing to expand wellness offerings. We have wellness centers and fitness rooms on both sides of campus, plus an Olympic-sized pool. The goal is to widen the range of offerings so residents can keep up physical health, mobility, and overall wellbeing.

We’ve added things like Tai Chi and yoga, alongside more traditional fitness options, including stretching and chair aerobics. We’re also pushing for more time outside by revamping walking trails around campus, making it easier for residents to stay active and engaged outdoors.

For us, wellness also means the whole person. Our Pathways department includes a spiritual aspect for those who choose it, and we work to support wellbeing in ways that reflect individual preferences. We also want residents to keep learning and creating. We offer art classes, have an art studio and a woodworking shop, and we try to make room for residents to keep pursuing the outlets they’ve always valued.

We also display resident artwork and rotate it quarterly in a dedicated hallway. If residents want to sell their work, they can, but even when they don’t, it’s an opportunity for the community to appreciate the talent that exists on campus. Additionally, we have an on-site pharmacy through a partnership with Neil Medical Group. It provides all retail pharmacy services to our residents on campus. This includes a pharmacist on site, medication pickup or delivery, and OTC medications. This service is also available to all staff to take advantage of should they choose.

What role does Springmoor play in the broader economic and social fabric of Raleigh? And how do you see that role shifting as the city continues to grow?

As a campus, we’re essentially at capacity. Apartments fill quickly, and we have a pretty expansive waitlist. Part of our role is continuing to deliver the quality and consistency that residents expect, while maintaining the standard that keeps demand strong.

We also recognize needs outside our campus. The data and the demographics tell the story. The baby boomer population is coming, and the question becomes whether the region is prepared for that influx. We know our campus alone can’t be the full answer.

That’s why we’ve started expanding into external home care. Springmoor created a home care department over ten years ago to provide services to residents on campus, and in 2024, we expanded the department to provide home care services out in the community. Over the next couple of years, we want to grow that. It’s one way we can help people who want to stay at home, or who aren’t in a position to move to a CCRC but still need support.

We’re also looking at how we use existing space on campus to support aging in place. We have supportive living apartments, and we’re exploring ways to offer different services so residents can bring home care into their apartment and stay in their home throughout changing needs, rather than automatically moving to the next level of care.

As Raleigh grows, I see our role expanding beyond our walls. We’ll keep doing what we do well on campus, but we also want to be a partner to the broader community as needs increase with the rising geriatric population.

How are workforce needs evolving across the senior living sector? And what strategies are you using to recruit and retain staff from the community?

Retention is the key word. Recruiting matters, but keeping good people is what sustains quality.

Springmoor has a strong reputation in the community and among nursing staff in particular. We haven’t had major issues recruiting, and we haven’t relied on agency staffing, outside of maybe a month or two during COVID when everyone was struggling. After that, we moved away from agency use and have been self-sustaining.

We also maintain staffing levels that are higher than typical industry standards because we feel it’s necessary to meet resident expectations. Our residents expect a certain level of responsiveness and care, and we want to be able to consistently provide that.

So a lot of our work is about making sure people feel supported once they arrive. Orientation matters. We want staff to feel welcome, have their questions answered, understand their role, and understand how they fit into the community. We also want them to feel appreciated, and we want coworkers to embrace them.

We have a diverse workforce, and we treat that as a strength we need to support intentionally. We keep a large map on the wall with pins showing where people are from, and it’s a powerful reminder of the diversity we have. That diversity also requires mutual respect, because not everyone comes from the same culture, mindset, or beliefs. But we can work together if we keep the purpose front and center, and that purpose is serving our residents.

I credit our director of nursing, our administrator, and the health center administrative team for doing a phenomenal job creating an environment where people feel included and appreciated. That sense of belonging goes a long way toward retention. When you get good people, you want to keep good people. It benefits staff, residents, and the organization because stability helps build consistency and culture.

In what ways would you say that your status as a nonprofit shapes strategic decisions, including recruitment and reinvesting for long-term sustainability?

It’s not something I always consciously think about, because the structure has been in place for about 40 years, and the mindset is part of the culture. In a lot of ways, you inherit that approach.

But reinvestment is a major theme. We reinvest in employees because we want them to feel they can be successful here. We want them to have the resources they need, and we want them to feel they’re compensated fairly for the services they provide.

We also reinvest in the infrastructure of the community. We’re an older community, and there are upgrades we can make that improve the quality of life. Our goal is to provide an environment where residents can flourish, even later in life. Late in life doesn’t have to mean the end of activity, creativity, or meaningful engagement.

We want them to come here and take the burden off their shoulders and put it on ours, so they can focus more on living well while we carry the operational weight of making that possible.

How do local partnerships with healthcare providers, universities, or cultural institutions strengthen the bond between the resident experience and the wider community?

Partnerships matter because our residents want to stay engaged and continue learning and contributing. We have many retired professors and healthcare providers in our community, and they’re eager to remain involved.

We partner with OLLI through NC State, which is a great resource. They come out to do classes, and we also provide transportation so residents can participate in that program off campus. It supports lifelong learning and keeps residents connected to the wider community.

On the healthcare side, we work with a variety of partners. RMG is our clinic provider, and we use the UNC Health System. We also bring in specialists such as podiatrists, dentists, and optometrists so residents can access services on campus. That helps residents, and it also supports the local provider community by creating a practical way to deliver services.

We also work with local churches and clergy who come to provide different services across a variety of religions, based on what residents choose.

Another area we’re building is resident-led community outreach. We’re starting a new resident committee focused specifically on community engagement. That momentum grew after a school supply drive for local elementary schools showed how much passion residents have for giving back.

Marbles Museum is one of the first organizations we’re exploring for volunteer opportunities, and we’re also aware of strong resident interest in places like the Raleigh Rescue Mission, including the new facility in Knightdale. We’ve traditionally partnered with Meals on Wheels as well.

Our role as management is not to decide what residents care about, but to support their ability to stay involved. If residents want to volunteer, we want to help with things like transportation and logistics so they can continue contributing to the community in meaningful ways.