Rockville Long-Term Care Facility Receives SAGE Accreditation For Focus On DEI Efforts

ROCKVILLE, MD — Ingleside at King Farm, a long-term care facility located in Rockville, was recognized during Pride Month in June as an LGBTQ+ Long-Term Care Equality High Performer in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and SAGE’s Long-Term Care Equality Index.

Ingleside was one of 200 senior housing communities across 34 states that took part in the 2023 Long-Term Care Equity Index survey, which assesses the policies and practices in place to ensure equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ residents, visitors, and employees.

“Ingleside has always been, and will continue to be, committed to fostering a culture of inclusion,” said Ingleside President and CEO Lynn O’Connor, in a release. “We recognize and celebrate each person’s individual uniqueness and strive to help them live a happy and fulfilling life. It’s who we are as an organization, something that is ingrained in the fabric of the Ingleside family.”

Seventy-six percent of older LGBTQ+ people expressed concern about receiving adequate social support as they aged, according to a study by AARP. That same study reported that 73 percent of older LGBTQ+ people lacked access to LGBTQ+-specific services.

“With anti-LGBTQ+ extremism on the rise, it is more important than ever to create safer spaces for LGBTQ+ people and that includes the places we age. It’s powerful to see more than 200 communities come together with HRC and SAGE to deliver on values of inclusion and equity,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, in a release. “Our older LGBTQ+ community – the ones whose shoulders we stand on – are so often forgotten, and they deserve more from all of us. The participation in our first-ever LEI is a huge step forward in uplifting and protecting the needs and rights of our elders. And we aren’t done – we look forward to seeing expanded participation in the LEI in years to come.”

Ingleside In Color is the program that oversees diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at the Rockville location.

"We have a framework that we developed as an organization that makes sure that all of our life planning communities have a foundation of resources and knowledge," said Cody Christian, an accreditation and quality improvement manager at Ingleside. "You have visual representation, not only through newsletters and signage, but programming with vendors. Whether it's musicians coming in that ... could be LGBTQ related, like the Gay Men's Chorus of DC or having a drag performance or art class where people can design things that show the representation and support for their communities."

Ingleside In Color is not solely an LGBTQ+ focused initiative. It uplifts the voices and tells the stories of all the minority groups to which Ingleside residents belong and ensures that their interests are represented.

"There are a lot of resident-run committees," Christian said. "There's lecture committees, there's arts and crafts committees, there's movie committees. They are proactively thinking through some of these DEI-related subject matters throughout the year. They'll put something on about Pride or Stonewall and then something similar to the other subject matters, whether it's Black History Month or Women's History Month or anything of that nature."

Christian was responsible for filling out the paperwork that resulted in the community receiving SAGE'S LGBTQ+ Long-Term Care Equality High Performer accreditation.

"What made the difference is telling our story," he said. "The programming and the stories of successful situations with residents that were part of that community. This is not just resident-focused. It's also staff focused."

As a gay male, Christian said he had a strong passion to continue this effort and apply for the accreditation.

"I felt comfortable to be proactive as a mid-level manager to now a senior leader within the organization, to share my story, to be a representative and to progress the efforts because it aligned with the strategic plan," he said. "Our board and our C-suite are aligned with those efforts. It all really kind of commingled into a culture of the DEI-B that was really powerful."

O'Connor acknowledged that having the SAGE accreditation helps to reassure prospective residents that they may find the support and acceptance they're looking for at Ingleside.

"What that inclusion has done for us, they understand to some degree what SAGE is, and it allows us to have the conversation that we embrace them, whether they're gay, lesbian, transgender," she said. "We want to ensure that all of our residents and quite honestly all of our staff feel and know that they belong to that the community. The residents support one another. The staff supports one another. They don't feel like outcasts."