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NEWS From Fairfax Journal 10/15/2000: The Man Behind FNC • How FNC Began
The
Man Behind FNC Who's behind Fairfax Nursing Center? All kinds of answers surface from time to time. Some say FNC is part of a nationwide chain of nursing homes, perhaps Manor Care. Others suggest it is run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church. However, if you say Robert Bainum and his family, you were right on target. Who is this man, Robert Bainum, who for more than thirty years has guided Fairfax Nursing Center? When not around the building, what else keeps his interest? Robert grew up in the home of a factory foreman. His dad worked for Ford in Michigan before they moved to Ohio. Out of this family can three highly successful businessmen and entrepreneurs. Irving is a developer and owner of banks and motels. Stewart has been president and chairman of the board of Manor Care, the fourth largest health care group in the world. How does Robert, owner of FNC, account for one family having all this success? "I always felt Irving and I were trying to keep up with our brother Stewart. He set the pace," he responded. Robert
was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist (perhaps the source of the
Adventist ownership speculation). At first, he wanted to go into
the ministry. He attended two Adventist colleges, Union in Nebraska
and Columbia Union in Takoma Park, MD. But the call to the ministry
just wasn't there, and he graduated in Business Administration in
1950. Robert's Early Ventures The first career he pursued was in real estate. Robert became the youngest realtor in Montgomery County. Though successful, real estate work really cut into his time with his wife, Charmaine, and their five children. He got an idea. Several people had come to him wanting to purchase large old homes to turn into nursing homes. Robert had looked at homes operated like this. They had no common rooms, people ate in their rooms, and since most of the people were upstairs, they rarely got outside. This made him sad. He talk his brother, Stewart, into joining him in building the first modern nursing home east of California in Wheaton, MD. After being turned down by several banks, Robert went to a small savings and loan company where the president said to him, "Young fellow, we are not interested in lending you money on something called a modern nursing home, but I would like to sell you some life insurance." Robert
responded, "My brother and I would each like to buy $300,000
of insurance but we can't do it unless you give us the loan to build
for modern nursing homes?" Robert assured him it was. The president
said, "Well, if it is true I will make you the loan. And you
will have to buy the insurance." The Wheaton Nursing Home is
still operating today.
How
FNC Began We visited many nursing homes in the 1950's, looking for ideas to help us create a new nursing home," Charmaine Bainum recalled. "We were appalled. The conditions in many homes were terrible. then we walked into a Jewish nursing home in New York City. I said to myself, 'This is it!' The staff had an attitude of respect and honor toward the residents. There was kindness and dignity." Robert and Charmaine Bainum joined with Robert's brother Stewart in starting two homes in Maryland. They called the corporation running those homes Manor Care. By 1964, Robert sought to build a facility apart from Manor Care. He found the current building site of Fairfax Nursing Center complete with architect's plans for a nursing home. "Those first years were hard," Robert said. "2,700 nursing home beds were newly available to the community about the time we opened up in 1964. That's a lot of competition." Growth in Staff and Services Sharyn Henderson, Executive Director, arrived at FNC about the time of our fifth anniversary in 1969. "We have really grown since I first came," she says. "At that time we had just one nurse per floor, along with five aides. Now on each floor we have at least three nurses with a total staffing of seven or eight. We had one person in accounting (now we have five) and one maintenance man (now there are five). You know we now have six people full-time in Activities. At one time the activities were coordinated by residents who did all the planning. "I'll never forget the first outing," Sharyn continued. "Robert (Bainum) thought it would be a good idea to take as many people as we could on a ride. So we rented a Greyhound-type bus, loaded everyone, and just drove around DC. There was no lift on the bus, so we had to carry some of the residents up the steps. It's funny now that I think back on it." The next step in the outings program was a twelve-passenger stretch limousine. Today, our 16-passenger bus takes frequent trips to a local donut shop, to Burke Lake, to the Skyline Drive, or to Rehoboth Beach. In the summer of 1979, nine residents and five staff members rented a house on Hickman Street in Rehoboth for five days. By the summer season of 1982, Fairfax Nursing Center had purchased a beautiful condo at Rehoboth Beach for resident beach trips two or three times a year. The employees enjoy the Rehoboth Condo as well as the Ocean City condo at Harbor Island. Looking Back...and Ahead "Compared to thirty years ago, today we are caring for patients who are much sicker," Sharyn said. "Families are caring for chronically ill relatives at home longer, before admitting them to a nursing home. Because of advances in medicine the elderly are living longer with more disabilities and illnesses than they did a quarter century ago." Looking at photos of residents from the early 70s, one is struck by how many ambulatory residents there were. Now we have so many residents in wheelchairs. No matter what the changes in our aging population, in the nursing profession, or in the nursing home industry, we do have some constants. The Bainums and the staff are committed to providing quality services in a caring, compassionate environment. We want people to function at their highest potential, and to know that they are loved and will be treated with respect and dignity. These are the things that count. Contact Kevin Bainum now for an appointment or just to talk. back to top |