Gabe Grossberg, second-generation owner, president and CEO of St. Louis-based Delmar Gardens
“Whether nurse, caregiver, housekeeper or cook — the staff is the heart and soul of Delmar Gardens,” says Gabe Grossberg, second-generation owner, president and CEO of St. Louis-based Delmar Gardens. “The most unique thing about us is the depth of our family culture,” he says. “When you have staff who feel well cared for, the dividends are a hundredfold.”
First and foremost, staff members are treated with the same love and care that Delmar Gardens extends to its residents. Second, the company recently increased starting pay rates for RNs, LPNs, CNAs and CMTs, with added shift differentials and flexible schedules.
The increases come at a time when families are feeling the pressure of inflation while seeking work-life balance.
For decades, Delmar Gardens has also offered tuition assistance and loan forgiveness for nurses and other clinical staff.
Maintaining and nurturing a family culture within a company the size of Delmar Gardens — which cares for more than 4,000 seniors in six states — goes back to the company’s roots more than 56 years ago. The Delmar Gardens story begins when Holocaust survivor Barbara Grossberg, Gabe Grossberg’s mother, started caring for seniors out of her University City home.
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As a young girl in Hungary, she learned from her physician father to love and respect her elders. It was a lesson that stayed with her even as she found herself at Auschwitz at age 13.
Barbara survived the Holocaust and went on to marry Henry Grossberg. The couple — with their two children, Gabe and George — made St. Louis home, where Delmar Gardens Enterprises was born in 1965. Today, it offers retirement and assisted living, skilled nursing, rehabilitation and respite care, home care, private duty, respiratory therapy, hospice and memory care, in addition to medical supplies and pharmacy services.
“Until we had 15 residents, our late mom did all the cooking, cleaning, caregiving and everything,” Gabe Grossberg says. Her loving care extended to each new staff member and led to a corporate philosophy that survives today: Treat each staff member as one of the family.
Today, Delmar Gardens employs more than 2,200 in the St. Louis area, including nearly 450 nurses and CNAs. Many, like Sherer Newton, are considered Delmar Gardens “lifers,” Grossberg says.
Sherer Newton, RN, MSN and director of clinical services
Making a difference
Newton has been with the company since 1990 when she took a job as a part-time nurse aide while attending college.
“I fell in love with the place,” says Newton, an RN, MSN, who now serves as director of clinical services. “I fell in love with the residents and I realized I wanted to stay with geriatrics. I loved making a difference.”
Newton says future nurses would do well to consider the growing career opportunities in the senior care industry. Not only will they practice complex nursing skills and work as part of an interdisciplinary team, but they will benefit from relationships built with incredible people who have a lifetime of knowledge and experiences to share.
“Obviously, our population is aging and there is a great need for nurses to help care for our elders,” Newton says. “You get to build relationships, get to know them and be with them when their families cannot. It is very rewarding.”
Stepping up in times of need
Even in the midst of a pandemic that threatened the physical and emotional well-being of residents and caregivers alike, Delmar Gardens’ long-held philosophy of love, care and understanding carried them through.
“Everybody rose to the occasion to do the best they humanly could to help our dear residents feel safe and well cared for,” he says. “Even in bad years, come hell or high water, our traditions have to be maintained.”
Some of the incentives Delmar Gardens offers to staff include a free CNA training program, as well as tuition assistance and loan programs for nursing students.
Grossberg says he places a high priority on staff recognition, bonuses, special events and holiday gifts to show appreciation for staff. But he is especially proud of helping future nurses grow and succeed.
“We promote 99% from within,” he says. “We’re always looking to boost our own. It’s more than just a job, it’s a great career path, and at Delmar Gardens you also inherit a surrogate family.”
To learn more about Delmar Gardens, visit delmargardens.com.
