We recently surveyed TRISUN families and asked for your opinions of your loved one's facility. The questions were virtually identical to those asked in our last survey in the fall of 2003. One difference, though, was that we included the newest TRISUN facilities in San Antonio and Corpus Christi in this year's survey. The survey was conducted by an outside research firm, which mailed out the questionnaires on October 19 th to 1,608 TRISUN families. A total of 601 surveys were returned (37.4%), which is an excellent return rate for a mail survey. Clearly, our families are very interested in the quality of care that their loved ones receive! The margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus four percentage points.

As in 2003, nearly 95% of TRISUN families would recommend their facility to a friend. Nearly 40% had noticed a change in their center since it became a TRISUN property and felt it was a positive change. This number was up from the previous survey, when 32.1% saw a change and thought it was for the better.

In both year's surveys, the admission process, friendliness of staff and how visitors are greeted received the most excellent ratings. The admission process was rated favorably (excellent or good) by 87.4% of respondents, 87.1% rated friendliness of staff favorably and 82.9% rated how visitors are greeted favorably. Overall décor received high ratings as well, with 87.4% rating décor as excellent or good. Nursing care was rated favorably by 78.7% of respondents; overall care was rated positively by 80.5%.

As in 2003, food received the highest percentage of negative ratings (65.1% rated food favorably; 30.0% rated it unfavorably). Another area for improvement is the way the telephones are answered, which was rated favorably by 74.4% of respondents; this attribute was rated fair or poor by 21.3% of respondents. As with all the areas that needed improvement, we will work on these issues in 2005. (Each facility will receive data on their specific center.)

We appreciate the thoughtful feedback we received on the survey and will use the input to make improvements throughout the facilities in the coming year. We will conduct a similar survey again in the fall of 2005 to continue to monitor our progress. Thank you for your support!