John O'Connor

Ever feel like you’re really cranking it until some show-off makes you look like a rank amateur? Please don’t feel too bad; we’ve all been there.

In fact, I’ve had to endure more than a few of those humbling moments lately, while cobbling together “McKnight’s 40 for 40” installments.

Take one of our first recipients, Robert G. Kramer. The guy saw an inefficiency in the market, namely that capital was hard to come by and harder to quantify. Most of us would shrug our shoulders and move on. He spent the better part of three decades making things better.

Other early McKnight’s 40 for 40 installments feature Bruce Yarwood, Paul Klaassen, Elma Holder, Brenda Bacon, Debra Cafaro and Bill Thomas, M.D. Each recipient has done some amazing things in his or her own way. And there is a lot more from where that came from. We have, after all, 40 of these coming to you overall.

Am I writing this to pitch our McKnight’s 40 for 40 presentations? Well, maybe just a tad. But there happens to be a deeper message as well.

Each person in this series has devoted tremendous amounts of time, energy and commitment toward making this a better long-term care field. Directly or indirectly, the rest of us have benefitted from what these people have done.

I realize this sector is far from perfect. But try to imagine how much more messed up things would be if they hadn’t come along.

So if you should happen to run into any of these folks any time soon, here’s my advice: Please take a moment to say thanks.

We are fortunate to have them among us.

As part of this year’s 40th anniversary of McKnight’s, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Senior Living are recognizing 40 notable newsmakers. Each week, the brands are highlighting a high-profile long-term care leader from the past four decades. Published installments of the series can be viewed at mcknights.com/tag/mcknights-40-for-40/.