Russ,

I've been performing at nursing homes, assisted living centers, and retirement communities for longer than I care to admit. And, like you, when I first began I did them for no fee. Just a few times a month, but it still took time and money for me to do those jobs.

Some were pure hell holes, places that warehoused older, sick people until the finally succumbed to their illness. I'm certain that the vast majority of the patients, even in the upscale, expensive centers, were victims of neglect. Most were mediocre at best, and only a scant few could be placed in the good category. NONE could be considered excellent.

All of this began to change a few years ago when thousands of law suits were filed by family members against the nursing homes. In most instances, the suits were won by the plaintiffs, especially after photo after photo was presented as evidence. Since then, a new state agency was formed, one that made surprise, unannounced inspections of each facility, noted the descrepencies, and put the facility on notice that it would lose its license to operate unless problems were quickly corrected. While most of the centers scoffed at the notices, their undivided attention was garnered when one of the largest nursing homes was told they had 30 days to clean up their act or they would be shut down at the end of the month.

Keep in mind that most of these places receive $3,500 to $7,500 per month for each patient, and this does not include the cost of medications or additional medical care--it's just the fee for room and board. That's one hell of a lot of money to loose, especially when you multiply this times 300 patients.

Nearly all of the nursing homes, assisted living centers, independant living centers and other similar facilities have entertainment budgets here. The avarege pay rate is $75 to $100 for a one-hour performance, and double that on holidays. That is how a lot of us now make our living, performing at these types of centers. While I applaud you for performing at no charge, and I'm sure your audiences love each and every moment, you should consider charging the facility at least $100 per performance. Some will claim they do no have an entertainment budget, but if you do a little investigation, you will find most states require some form of entertainment as part of the patient's therapy in order to retain their license to operate.

Keep up the good work,

Gary

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Travlin' Easy