Meet Cory Strauch | Co-Owner/ Senior Placement Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cory Strauch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cory, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
As the son of a Nurse, I grew up in the Home Health and Senior Living environment. My first job was at 15 washing dishes in a Skilled Nursing Facility in Thornton. Once I turned 18, I got my QMAP certification and began working overnights at an Assisted Living in Lakewood. I worked at a few communities in Lakewood, including a group home and Memory Care. Around the time I was 22, I started working at an Assisted Living in Northglenn as an Overnight QMAP supervisor. I did this for about 2 years until there was an administrative position opening as a Resident Care Coordinator. I was interviewed and offered the position. I did this for around 2 more years when my boss at the time moved out of state with her family. I was given a trial run as the Resident Services Director without an assistant for around a year before being offered the position permanently and given permission to hire an assistant. During this time we implemented a number of new initiatives for our residents, including in-house therapy, changing providers and pharmacies, and even started an annual car show! After a few years, the company purchased a Memory Care in Lakewood, and I was given the opportunity to serve as their Executive Director. The entire building was in need of new staff, from management to front line workers, there was hardly any staff when I started. They all walked off the job due to poor management prior to starting. Luckily, we were able to turn that building around in a relatively short amount of time, although it took plenty of sleepless nights and loads of stress! Oh yea, this was right in the peak of COVID. At this point, I felt a disconnect between our corporate office and the communities I managed. I began to brainstorm ideas about starting my own company. During COVID, the state of Colorado passed some insane rules and regulations that Assisted Livings needed to follow, regardless of personal beliefs. It was a time of uncertainty, dropping census, heavy-handed government involvement and loss. I could hardly take anymore! The day-to-day of running an Assisted Living was tough enough but adding on the COVID restrictions and testing requirements pushed a lot of people over the edge. I’ve known dozens of people who got out of the industry because of it, which ultimately effected our Seniors. Like I said, I needed something else too! At this time my 2 other partners and I, who worked together in the offices of the Assisted Living, began talking about opening a small Senior group home. The issue being, we would still have to deal with the insane COVID measures implemented by the state of Colorado. As if it was meant to be, around this time we received a referral from another placement agency, and it just infuriated us. There was no information at all! You could tell this Senior client was not even visited by this referral agent, and yet they expected a paycheck for doing the most basic amount of work possible. Again, this only hurts the senior! How can you provide your Senior clients with the best information, the best community to meet their needs, when you don’t even meet the client?! Thus, Above and Beyond Senior Living was born. With the express goal of helping Seniors find the right Senior Living Communities at No Cost to them. As business owners who have heard countless horror stories over the years about bad placements, or families attempting to find communities on their own, only to have to move a few months later due to care or other reasons. We wanted to just do better for our Senior clients and their families. Today, we have helped 100’s of Seniors and their families find homes in Senior Living Communities, or referred them to specialists in the industry to meet any other need such as legal documents, home sales, moving, and more. Since starting my business, I feel like a different person! Although it’s certainly not without its challenges, I wish I would have started sooner! Although, as I write this, I see how certain events culminated into us starting this company, and I’m grateful to be in this position today and full of hope for the future of Above and Beyond Senior Living! I hope that you will check us out online and maybe give us a like/follow to help us continue to grow our small business. Thank you!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I covered my background in detail in section 1 but as a TLDR version. I started working ion communities at 15 as a dishwasher, 18 as a QMAP, and continued through my early 20s until an administrative position opened up which I interviewed for and was ultimately hired for. I was the Assistant to the Resident Services Director until that position became available, which I did for a year without the title until being offered the title. A few years later, my company at the time purchased a Memory Care in Lakewood, which I managed as the Executive Director. COVID came along and just effected every aspect of the industry. From staffing to census, and dealing with heavy regulations, myself and my 2 other partners began discussing other options. It was after receiving one of the poorest leads from a Senior Placement Company we had ever seen, we decided that we could do that job and be a heck of a lot better at it too. In-fact, Michele still has a picture of the lead, and we look back at it every few months to remind us what started this and what fueled our desire to do better than others and really help our senior clients, not just simply blast their information to every community in a 5-mile radius of their location. Working with Seniors my whole life has provided so many challenges and accomplishments, It’s hard to name only a few. I’ve learned how to deal with difficult people and situations, and learned how to let it go in order to serve the Senior. I’ve seen Seniors thrive after setting them up with resources to improve their lives, or even light up from taking the extra minute to care for someone when no one else would. I’ve witnessed bad family members, bad company owners, and bad staff members, but where they had all come and gone, I remained helping out my residents. My challenges lately have been growing a business. It’s something I had never done before, but something that bit me and won’t let go. I love chasing the dragon of growing my business. From learning SEO and social media to taking classes on Networking and branding, there’s nothing like it, I’ve experienced before. Of course the core of the goal is helping our Seniors and that’s always mission number 1. I’ve also been putting on educational workshops going over Dementia 101 and Senior Living 101 with various partners in the industry, as well as growing a networking and mastermind group that I’ve started. I’ve had to learn a ton and though it’s been a challenge, It’s something I’ve fallen in love with, and I view it more as a thrill than an obstacle. I want people to know that when they choose Above and Beyond Senior Living, they’re choosing a team of professionals who are going to work tirelessly to find them or their loved ones the right Senior Living options at No Cost to them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love Missouri lakes in Minturn a 9-mile in/out trail with gorgeous lakes throughout the whole trip. Also, Goose creek trailhead in Deckers holds a special place in my heart. Colore Italian restaurant on Broadway and one of the many Tequilas Mexican restaurants in Lakewood/ Golden. Or Morrison in, in Golden. Of course, RedRocks is always great, and tubing down clear creek is a blast, Maybe catching a movie at the 88 drive in while It’s still around. But you can’t beat time in the mountains or time on the lake, so that’s where I’d spend my time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My partners Michele and Diana and my Wife Mandy!

Website: https://www.aboveandbeyondseniorliving.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aboveandbeyondsl/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-strauch-38070883/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551563597707

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AboveandBeyondSeniorLiving

Other: Next Door: https://nextdoor.com/business-profile/preview/