In the ’90s, Renée Anderson was working as an accountant, and she wanted a change. “I realized that I was not interested any longer in accounting for things. I needed a connection to people,” she says. She took the director of finance position at Saint John’s On The Lake senior living community in 1996. Five years later, she was named a vice president, and in 2011, she became president and CEO.
Over her tenure, the East Side community undertook a reimagining of senior care. Starting in 1999, Saint John’s implemented what Anderson calls a philosophy of “person-centered care.” That means, in essence, allowing the residents much greater control over their own lives than retirement communities traditionally offered. They aren’t required to wake up at a certain time, to eat certain meals, to maintain certain recreation schedules. “What we strive to accept is that it’s their life to live, and risk is a part of life,” Anderson says. “If you’ve arrived at 96 years old and want to have bacon for breakfast, who are we to tell you otherwise?”
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That philosophy reshaped Saint John’s, from its seven dimensions of wellness program that focuses on caring for each resident holistically, to its new South and North towers, which were designed to be more open and communal. And it has spread to other communities across the country. “[Person-centered care] was a movement, if you will, early on, and now it’s a best practice,” Anderson says.
In 2018, when Saint John’s had its 150th anniversary, Anderson helped create the Symposium on Aging, a free, annual three-day event open to all, which includes lectures, performances and more, all centered around aging. And in 2022, she launched Saint John’s Community Impact Fund, an endowment that supports local organizations that serve seniors, such as East Side Senior Services and Kinship Community Food Center. “If a situation can be improved upon, and it always can, then I see little reason to be content,” Anderson says. “I push myself to do more, and do better, and I expect others to do so as well. Complacency is just not acceptable.”
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