“Reinventing Healthcare Landscape”

Bensonhurst Center has been around for quite some time, and to best serve the ever-growing Asian and Russian populations in Southern Brooklyn and meet the challenges, they have tailored their products to meet those cultural needs. “We speak many languages, and we are hiring and training the right people; the facilities have been growing and implementing its multicultural programs and services. It’s not just providing a translator, at Bensonhurst we are a diverse community that create moments that matter, and this community approach is what’s making us thrive,” says Edward Lai, SVP of Business Development, Bensonhurst Center for Rehabilitation & Healthcare. “Our unique qualities are the top to bottom efforts investing in our residents and their families to make their stay with us more comfortable and enjoyable, so we could contribute to their recovery safely sooner rather than later.” This facility has created such a culturally diverse community that has transformed the ways Bensonhurst Center serves its residents and their families through their attributes to understand cultures and needs to respond to them promptly. “This is the brand recognition that I would like to continue to build upon, we are without a doubt a multicultural and service-oriented brand that service the sub-acute rehab and skilled nursing space so well, and we have a high average census to show for it,” adds Edward.

Bensonhurst Center has been working with non-profit workforce development programs through workshops, internships, and job fairs through community initiatives. And through their many collaborations, they were able to provide budding entrepreneurs and whoever is trying to establish themselves a lens into healthcare, marketing, and business development. “As Vice President of New York Chinese Association, I am also very involved with leadership building and training within the Asian community, connecting people to proper resources and services; I call that community resource utilization-it's basic talent helping talent, resources helping resources to achieve multiple goals that benefit everyone. Connections are important,” explains Edward.

The steadfast leader first went from peer to supervisor at New York Asian Women’s Center (now WomanKind) many years ago and has learned that to be a good leader, and one has first to know how to separate personal feelings from work and people and look at the objectives and short-term/long-term goals and lead. “When we first get into leadership roles, we often just become “bosses,” but being a supervisor or a boss doesn’t make us actual leaders; and I think there’s a major difference between those characteristics,” he elucidates. “In hindsight, I should have not just barked command like I did prior which often aligned myself from my teams early in my career, since then I have learned to watch and listen; and then incorporate everyone's strength and weakness (which sometimes can be qualities) into work and projects.” At Bensonhurst Center, you won’t see leadership or even ownership bossing people around. They have a very friendly workspace where all staff’s opinions are valued and respected so staff input can contribute to our thinking process.

Edward has worked in the healthcare space in Brooklyn, NY, and in the sub-acute rehab (nursing home) market, the competition is very high; it’s a constant battle. “So, do we consistently outsmart, outwit our competition or do we rely on good services to draw customers in? The answer to this is always the latest, what differentiates us from our competitions is how we stand out in term of service deliveries.” He adds, “we are not perfect, but I think we are “being seen” because we try (and try again) to provide what residents and families needed during the stay.”

Hospitality is important, and hospitality is especially important during people’s most difficult time dealing with illness. Many organizations stop providing service as soon as they get the order/the business, /the customer. At Bensonhurst Center, the real work only begins when the resident receives in that front door, and service will continue through their duration of stay with proper communications. Their products and services are presented beautifully by how they conduct their business.