Dominic F. Tutera, MD
March 31, 1926 to April 6, 1998
Founder’s Day was established March 31, 1999
Founder’s Day
Est. March 31, 1999
“To Our Essential Healthcare Worker”
It is with great pleasure that on Monday, April 13, the day after Easter, we will celebrate the 21st Anniversary of Founder’s Day. While Founder’s Day is a day to share our common values of family, friendship, and generosity, inspired by the life of our Founder, Dr. Dominic F. Tutera, it is also a day of reflection and appreciation for the career we have chosen as essential workers in a time of healthcare crisis.
As of today, the Covid-19 pandemic has infected 1.7 million people in 190 countries resulting in over 100,000 deaths. The United States, a country with the most advanced health care system in the world, has become the country most infected by the virus. Stay at home orders are in place throughout the country. Our residents are socially distancing and isolated from family and friends with great hardship. Our retail, office, and bank customers are suffering, and the economic strength of our nation has been weakened. We now live in a world where a pandemic threat is our next 9/11. But as we have survived and thrived in the aftermath of 9/11, we will survive and thrive past this crisis.
In times of great hardship, our true character and purpose are tested. Each day, as an essential worker, you choose the needs of our frail elderly residents over your own sacrifices. Each of you chose to be an essential worker long before Covid-19 and the phrase “essential worker” became a household word.
Our gratitude towards you and your teammates in our communities is heartfelt, inspirational, and will never be forgotten. It is this personal sacrifice that defines who we are and gives us true purpose. Doc, Dr. Dominic F. Tutera, our founder, lived each day of his life as a caregiver, a servant to others, as an essential worker. There was no sacrifice large enough where he would have placed himself above the needs of his patients, his family, and his friends. His wife Lucille lives this sacrifice; nothing is more important than the loving, caring, comfort, and happiness of her residents. Doc and Lu are exemplary examples of compassion and sacrifice but they are not unique to our organization. They are two of thousands. Below is one recent example of the impact on others.
A note from a family member at Crystal Pines whose husband is socially isolated
We have responded to meet the needs of our residents and communities by putting our individual skills and training to work when it is needed most. This response does not happen by accident. It requires a culture that speaks to trust, respect, and loyalty. This is what allows each of us to lead and support each other in times of crisis. Thank you for your trust, respect, and loyalty to our residents, their families, and each other.
Thank you! And have a wonderful Founder’s Day!
Sincerely,
Joe Tutera
CEO, President
Our very own Easter Bunny, Scott McBride, spreading joy and candy to the home of one of our teammates who’s child is home socially distancing.
Tutera Senior Living & Health Care, through Doc’s Inspiration, has chosen and is committed to caring for our seniors through developing and instilling Integrity, Commitment, and Accountability in our company’s culture and relationships.
A Few Words about the History of Founder’s Day
Founder’s Day is a memorial to our founder Dr. Dominic “Doc” Tutera, my father. It is a day to enjoy time with our family and friends and take a break over the long Easter weekend. It is an opportunity to do something unexpected for others in the spirit of generosity, compassion, and care as a tribute to the way Doc lived his life.
Doc started Tutera Group in 1985 while retiring from a 30-year career as an OB-GYN. Being a physician was a way of life, not a career for Doc. It was a life he loved in every way. It was about daily sacrifice, gladly given in exchange for the reward of serving others in a way only he could. He served above and beyond any standard of integrity, compassion, and care expected by others. He lived his life by his rules of conduct, which required taking responsibility for the wellbeing of others – his patients and their children, and later his residents and employees.
Doc left this legacy to help guide us and honor the company that bears his name. Twenty-two years after his passing, this legacy stands strong and proud of its culture, values, and heritage – they are the very values he lived. They are the values that are essential for this company to survive, grow, and provide care to thousands of residents and livelihood to thousands of employees and their families.
Doc was a builder – a builder of families, relationships, values, passions, friendships as well as buildings and businesses. Tutera Group continues to grow today and for that I am certain he would be very pleased. We grow to adapt and survive. We grow not just because we can, or others do, rather because it allows us to realize his vision / our vision. His vision requires that we not only meet the standards others set for us by others but also strive to meet the standards we set for ourselves. If you live by those standards as Doc did, you will also make a profound, positive impact in the lives of many.
Doc instilled the same values in his company that he lived by as a physician, father, friend, and coworker. Through his work, he was able to bring satisfaction and happiness to many employees, patients, and residents, sometimes in small ways and sometimes in profound ways. Through Founder’s Day, we are offering something that might inspire us to make a positive impact in each other’s lives and the lives of others.
Doc was a generous man and that generosity lives on in each of us and as an organization. We are very grateful for the sacrifice each of you makes to improve the lives of others and to sustain our mission and viability.