Oriol Health Care: A Home Away From Home
PHOTO/EDD COTE
Pictured, from left to right, are: Bob and Dave Oriol.
The owners and operators of Holden-based Oriol Health Care are brothers who share a business and a birthday.
Dave and Bob Oriol seem to have that natural bond many twins have. They sometimes finish each other's sentences and rely on one another to jog their memory on some little detail about the history of the three facilities they own: Holden Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center, Oakdale Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Center in West Boylston and Wachusett Extended Care Facility in Holden.
Both have degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute: Dave with a bachelor's in computer science and Bob with an MBA. They spent school snow days side by side, shoveling out what was then Holden Nursing Home, owned by their parents. They saw their mother and grandmother helping out at the business, doing office work and sewing curtains, and then, later in life, coming to stay at the facility themselves.
"In a funny way it's made us realize who we are," Dave, vice president and COO, said. "Everything we do with this company is who we are personally."
POWER OF THE PAST
It doesn't take long to figure out that the brothers are both compassionate care providers and up-front, charitable businessmen propelled by a strong family legacy. The Holden Democratic Town Committee agrees, awarding Oriol Health Care its Good Neighbor Award in April - the first time a business has won the honor. With 225 residents at any given time, Oriol offers the brothers a chance to see generations of families pass through its doors; with 450 workers, Oriol is one of Holden's biggest employers.
And the employees at Oriol stick around.
Debby Westerback, community relations director, began at Oriol 12 years ago, working in the central office just seven hours a week. She said the company believes in continuing education and developing the skills of its workers. Many employees have worked at Oriol for a decade or more: no small feat in an industry with an average work term of six months.
"We want to be a destination employer," said Dave Oriol.
Eugene and Jane Oriol, the parents of Bob, Dave and Christine Oriol, started the nursing home in 1965, with 60 beds and a manual typewriter in the office.
Medicaid legislation had just passed, Bob said, and clergy in town talked to the Oriols about the need for a nursing home in Holden. Their parents received the second license in the state to run the facility. Eugene and Jane's fathers, Louis Oriol and Gerry Letourneau, were also very involved in the venture. In 1985, Bob became the home's administrator. In 1987, Dave joined as Oakdale's administrator. Christine, a nurse, is on the board of directors.
Then, in 1990, Eugene died suddenly, at age 62. With no transition plan in place, the brothers were left with the home to run and bankers who may have had their doubts about the brothers' ability to do so.
Among their challenges were the regulations. The brothers bought a facility in Gardner in 1997, which they had to close in 2000.
"They were going bankrupt and we thought we could turn it around," Bob said. Dave explained that they invested a lot of money in the building, thinking they would get a higher reimbursement rate from the state. When they didn't, they decided to cut their losses.
Dave Oriol says the fact that the health care company is privately owned with no investors or quarterly reports allows them a lot of leeway in making decisions.
"We may do things that look bad financially short term, but that benefit us long term," he said, such as buying equipment, and doing the right thing for residents.
The brothers value their place in the community and the ability to build upon a solid reputation.
Sitting under their father's portrait, they speak with pride about high patient-staffing ratios and the privilege of guiding families through the myriad of issues that can accompany a parent's stay.
The brothers continue to look for opportunities to grow. This summer a $12-million dollar renovation/addition project begins at the Holden site.
Bob said the skilled nursing industry can teach a person a lot about living, and his brother agrees.
"We're winning at this game, the way we look at it. We're following our hearts, and we enjoy the fruits of that," Dave said.
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