Bridge The Gap Senior Living Podcast Announces Supporting Partners

February 13, 2019

KNOXVILLE, TN–Bridge the Gap Senior Living Podcast (“BTG”) hosts Josh Crisp and Lucas McCurdy announce six supporting partners from the senior housing industry who are investing in the mission, vision and opportunities of BTG.

The weekly show, produced in audio and video formats on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, Alexa, YouTube, and other platforms, is hosted by Crisp and McCurdy who welcome guests to join the conversation about a specific topic or informative issue that touches the senior housing industry. Guests are experts in their field and provide education and/or information on that week’s episode.

BTG is thrilled to recognize six supporting partners who believe in the mission of the podcast and want to further inform, educate and influence the senior living industry through topics being discussed on free platforms. NRC Health, TSOLife, RCare, NHI, Sherpa, and ERDMAN are strategically partnered to help shape the senior living industry by assisting in underwriting the production of the show and providing topic and guest recommendations as well as event opportunities for BTG to impact peers and influencers.

“As the podcast very quickly became a go-to platform for information on topics surrounding our great industry, leaders that Lucas and I respect approached us and wanted to be involved,” Crisp said. “It’s not a traditional form of sponsorship, and our partners were selected because each of their missions aligned with BTG.”

McCurdy added, “It made sense to take this next step in making the podcast better, and having strategic partners will allow us to reach more people, invite additional thought leaders to share their expertise, and together, we’ll be able to inform, educate and influence in a much greater way.”

“I’ve been a Bridge the Gap fan from the beginning,” said NHI President and CEO Eric Mendelsohn. “To me, the words ‘bridge the gap’ mean that you’re bridging the gap between print media and other information about our industry.

“I feel like Bridge the Gap is going to grow and be very successful in terms of being its own brand. I believe that you will be at every conference, I believe people will want to be on your show, and I believe people will want to be affiliated with your show,” Mendelsohn told Bridge the Gap. “Your team has a great energy, a great idea, and I think you have the talent to grow that bigger than we can all imagine right now.”

ERDMAN Vice President of Senior Living Todd Hudgins said, “ERDMAN decided that the raw content that comes out in a discussion is hugely valuable and we wanted to be part of that. What makes this partnership unique is that both organizations have a very diverse group of people that are all headed in the same direction in concert. Our vision is to improve every life we touch. It’s a great feeling when that many people are aligned to make a difference.”

“We were very excited to partner with Bridge the Gap Senior Living Podcast because it’s the first of its kind in the senior living industry,” TSOLife CEO David Sawyer said. “It’s becoming a place where people are turning to get the relevant information they need. It’s great to see how TSOLife and BTG have similar visions with improving the quality of life for seniors, and we love that this podcast spreads information on cutting-edge innovation to providers and people who need to know about what resources are available to them.”

NRC Health Vice President of Sales Stephanie Kolbo said, “Our goal at NRC is to bring human understanding to healthcare—illuminating the experiences of the people we serve and then sharing those stories back out within local markets to drive loyalty for our partners. With our shared passions to educate, innovate and influence—it just makes sense. I think of the ways people connect today; in order to attract and retain talent, plus raise the quality bar we need to engage with people the way they want to be engaged with. Podcasts are a great way to do just this and BTG couldn’t be more in sync with our goal at NRC, we couldn’t wait to formally partner.”

“We had been looking to align ourselves with a forward thinking, unbiased cause whose mission is to spread the word about senior living. BTG happened to be in a media outlet that currently was not prominent in the space which we saw as a huge opportunity to capture an audience that had never been touched before with a message that was relatable to many,” RCare Vice President of Sales & Marketing Gary Jones said. “A group that was not part of a member organization. A cause that was unique and different. A cause that aligned with RCare. Not to mention the people at BTG are top notch and have become great friends.”

“Deciding to become partners was easy for us. Our culture, mission and values align beautifully with BTG,” said Sherpa Co-Founder and President Alex Fisher. “At Sherpa, we are about bridging gaps. Gaps between young and old, gaps in our understanding of our customer, gaps between ‘I’m not ready for change’ and ‘I love this change.’ Our industry sorely needs innovation and new perspectives. I believe our partnership will contribute to our mission of bringing much needed change to the way we know and serve our customers. We are delighted to partner with BTG, because—to paraphrase Margaret Mead—‘we never doubt what a small group of like-minded people can do to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.’”

The podcast began as a passion project for Crisp and McCurdy who realized there was a desire from industry leaders to take information from conference speakers, educational summits and other experiences back to their teams. “We want to have a larger conversation involving everyone in the industry. Not only to inform but to inspire through accessible thought leadership,” McCurdy said. “What better place to bring awareness to an industry seemingly on the sidelines than social media. We receive direct messages every day from our listeners being educated by the content. It validates the market’s desire for content on a digital platform.”

In its first season in 2018, BTG exceeded 10,000 downloads plus tens of thousands of video downloads across BTG podcast channels. “It has been incredible to see how our crazy idea has grown to be such an influential platform that is impacting the industry that we love,” Crisp said. “What began as a simple mission to inform, educate and influence the industry has grown to become the senior living podcast. We wanted to share the information we were hearing, and deliver the same level of thought leadership to the masses. It was a grassroots effort to spread the podcast shows through social media, and now they are available where ever podcasts can be heard.”

BTG is in its second season which kicked off the year with a special edition featuring country music singer-songwriter Jay Allen. In the episode, Allen discusses the journey and learning curve of caring for his 54-year-old mother who is battling early onset Alzheimer’s. Allen performs his hit song “Blank Stares” which eloquently describes his emotion of seeing his mother face the disease.

“As much as I never wanted to accept it (and) pretend it was just not happening or it was just going to go away, the moment I just accepted this is real that’s the moment that God started using me to make a change,” Allen said.

The podcast team has a star-studded lineup of guests for the 2019 season which will cover a variety of topics that aim to inform, educate, and influence the senior housing industry. Bridge the Gap can be followed on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @BTGvoice.

McCurdy is Founder of The Bridge Group Construction, a senior living construction company based in Dallas, TX. Widely known as the “Senior Living Fan,” he has directed his passion for aging adults and the communities they live in to develop the industry’s first renovation and construction company exclusively focused on the unique needs of the senior living industry.

Crisp is Founder and President of Solinity, a Knoxville, TN-based progressive senior living developer, owner and operator of communities across the southeastern US. The company has a vision to bring generations together to share experiences as well as live and work in a collaborative environment, focusing on boutique-style, affordable communities in the independent living, assisted living, and memory care continuum with multigenerational components.