When Lindashell.com was started, we wanted to make a commitment. A commitment to do passionate work in the field long term care and to the values that drive that passion. That commitment is crystalized in our 3 key statements of Vision, Mission and Focus.

There are two main reasons we choose to adhere to these statements. Firstly, they keep us centered on a singular purpose behind everything we do. All the goals we make for ourselves, all the projects we take on, must serve our Vision, Mission, and Focus first and foremost. Though our day to day operations may evolve and expand over time, these statements serve as our compass. Secondly, they keep us accountable to our promises—promises to the people we work with to be reliable partners and to provide quality service in our areas of expertise.

Our Vision at Lindashell.com is to change the world of long term care. That is to say, we work toward a greater vision of aging services than exists today; breaking from the status quo. But why break from this status quo in the first place? Unfortunately, there are many outdated, traditional, or non-evidenced based practices that have been established as the status quo of long term care providers and facilities.

As long term care begin in the U.S. around the early 20^th century, nursing homes and similar long term care facilities originally acted as extensions of the hospital. Instead of working to provide a quality, comfortable end of life experience for aging adults, elders were essentially bedridden for the remainder of their days, treated as if they had “contracted an incurable disease” of old age. Although this idea has been outgrown, the practices associated with it lived on simply because that was the way things had been done in the past.

These practices are called phantom rules; they stick around in the face of modern evidence, lack of knowledge, traditions, resistance to change, denial, or because that’s what the majority of others in the field are doing. These can create a catch 22 if there are policies or excessive red tape in place that prohibit any variance to these practices, ensuring that they won’t change or improve.

We believe that the nature of the status quo in long-term care needs to be challenged and transformed. Our organization is built to be fearless in asking the critical questions that discover those phantom rules and help create new policies that are accurately informed and systematically reviewed. Only then can consistent improvement become the new “status quo”.