Elevate Eldercare

"Elevate Eldercare" hits a major milestone this week with 100 episodes, so Susan Ryan sat down with the newest member of the Green House Project team to discuss the biggest ideas from the podcast's first year – and how they can be applied to the ongoing discussion around eldercare reform in America. Alex Spanko recently joined GHP as director of communications and marketing, having previously cove...

For Mindy Cheek, senior vice president at Greystone, diversity isn't a corporate policy or a buzzword; it's an integral part of daily life, and for those who have been victims of discrimination and hate, treating the need for diversity and inclusion as anything less misses the wider point about representation and dignity. Susan Ryan sat down with Mindy in episode 97.   In this episode of "Let Me S...

For Mindy Cheek, senior vice president at Greystone, diversity isn't a corporate policy or a buzzword; it's an integral part of daily life, and for those who have been victims of discrimination and hate, treating the need for diversity and inclusion as anything less misses the wider point about representation and dignity. In this interview with Susan Ryan, Cheek explores the ways her personal expe...

Have you ever thought of segregation as a form of restraint for an elder living with dementia? In this episode of "Let Me Say This About That" we explore that view of memory care and many other interesting perspectives on aging shared by Pat Sprigg.   Sprigg is the president and CEO of Carol Woods, a retirement community in North Carolina without locked wards or other barriers between people livin...

Pat Sprigg set off on her journey to change eldercare after observing firsthand the horrors of the "best practices" – powerful antipsychotic drugs and physical restraints – that were commonplace in the dementia treatment programs of the 1970s and 1980s. But even as many facilities moved away from such dangerous and dehumanizing strategies, Sprigg came to believe that the next wave of best practice...

Jennie Chin Hansen's career in aging services has taken her from a community operation in San Francisco's Chinatown to the presidency of AARP, all underpinned by a desire to view aging through a more holistic lens than the often one-size-fits-all institutional model.   Hansen's work as CEO of On Lok, an organization formed to care for Chinese American elders in San Francisco, helped inform the cre...

In the mid-1980s, Jennie Chin Hansen decided to move her ailing parents from Boston to her home in San Francisco so that they could live out their remaining years surrounded by family – and not in an institutional nursing home. Hansen's care journey for her father, who had suffered several strokes, was a continuation of the work she'd already done with On Lok, an innovative community program in Sa...

Susan Ryan sat down with Gail Kohn, coordinator of Age-Friendly DC – an ambitious and comprehensive program that seeks to make our nation's capital a more accessible and joyful place for seniors to live, from aging in place supports to community services to opportunities for forging intergenerational connections. We've all heard the phrase "it takes a village." Mary explores what it takes to devel...

Susan Ryan sits down with Gail Kohn, coordinator of Age-Friendly D.C.,   an initiative undertaken at the direction of the Mayor of Washington, D.C., as part of the broader World Health Organization-structured journey to help cities like D.C. become an easier city in which to grow older.   Previously, Kohn was the founding executive director for Capitol Hill Village, the second organization in the...

Susan Ryan sat down with Roger Myers, p resident and CEO of Presbyterian Villages of Michigan (PVM). In this recap, Marla and Mary discuss how Roger became an early adopter of the Green House model, opening two homes in Redford, Mich.   Mary discusses why Myers was so amazed during the ceremony that was conducted when they turned the house over to the Shahbazim and elders. In addition, we look at...

Susan Ryan sits down with Roger Myers, president and CEO of Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, (PVM), headquartered in Southfield, Mich. He talks about bringing the first Green House homes to Michigan as the second organization in the nation to embrace the innovative model.  Myers talks about how the decision was made, balancing risk with pursuit of innovation, and the impact of the model on his t...

Today we explore Serenbe, located in the hill country of South Fulton County, Georgia. It has been called a wellness sanctuary, an environmental prototype, an agrihood, even a utopia.   In Episode 87, Susan Ryan talked with Steve Nygren, founder, and CEO of Serenbe, a community created as a model to demonstrate that preserving 70 percent of green space interlaced with agriculture, housing, and ret...

Susan Ryan sits down with Steve Nygren, founder and CEO of Serenbe, an award-winning biophilic community that connects people to nature and each other. L ocated in Chattahoochee Hills, Ga., each of Serenbe's hamlets has a complementary commercial center focused on the elements of a well-lived life: arts for inspiration, agriculture for nourishment, health for wellbeing, and education for awareness...

Today we explore episode 85, where Susan Ryan sat down with Joel Anderson, president & CEO of LifeStar Living, a senior living development services, management, and advisory company located in Sarasota, Fla. Anderson has spent his 26-year executive career in directing both non-profit and for-profit senior living organizations. In this recap, Marla and Mary discuss the LifeStar Living organization...

Susan Ryan sits down with her good friend, Joel Anderson, president & CEO of LifeStar Living, a senior living development services, management, and advisory company located in Sarasota, Fla. Anderson has spent his 26-year executive career in directing both non-profit and for-profit senior living organizations.   In this episode, he discusses the backstory to starting his new venture, LifeStar Livi...

This week on "Let Me Say This About That," Marla DeVries and Mary Hopfner-Thomas recap episode 83, which features a conversation between Susan Ryan and Tammy Marshall, founder and CEO of Biophilia Pharma, a company that explores the healing power between nature and humans, as well as the benefits of non-pharmacological approaches to wellbeing. DeVries and Hopfner-Thomas take a deeper dive into the...

Susan Ryan welcomes back Tammy Marshall, founder and CEO of Biophilia Pharma. Marshall's journey to wellness, as well as to establishing Biophilia Pharma, exemplifies her passion around exploring the healing connection between nature and humans. In her first episode with Ryan, Marshall described a unique approach to addressing COVID cases and contrasted a 'salutogenic' vs pathogenic approach that...

On his LinkedIn profile, Michael Wasserman, MD, describes himself as a "Grampa, Father, Husband, Ironman, and Geriatrician." He is also someone with strong opinions about COVID and nursing homes.   In our recap of the Episode 81, in which Susan Ryan sits down with Dr. Wasserman, we take a deeper dive into the "Quadruple Aim" and the four areas it covers in light of the pandemic. Dr. Wasserman call...

Susan Ryan sits down with Michael Wasserman, MD, a geriatrician who has devoted his career to serving the needs of older adults. He is the editor in chief of an upcoming textbook, Geriatric Medicine: A Person-Centered Evidence-Based Approach, and he was previously CEO of Rockport Healthcare Services. In this role, he oversaw the largest nursing home chain in California. Dr. Wasserman is a sought-a...

Steve Nash, president and CEO of Stoddard Baptist Home Foundation, is the focus of this episode of "Let Me Say This About That" with Mary and Marla. They examine Susan Ryan's conversation with Steve to discuss his work with the foundation, his perspective on the challenges of COVID, and what he envisions for the future of long-term care. Nash is a firm believer in forming partnerships with the com...

Susan Ryan sits down with Steve Nash, president and CEO of the Stoddard Baptist Home, which has a legacy of caring for elders in the Washington, D.C., metro area since 1902. Nash has held leadership roles in a number of long-term care organizations, including as president of the District of Columbia Health Care Association, chair of D.C.'s Board of Long-Term Care Administration, a member of the Le...

In this recap of episode 77, Susan Ryan sat down with Larry Minnix, a consultant and author, and perhaps most known for his previous role as CEO of LeadingAge, a national association of nonprofit long-term and post-acute care providers. When he retired in 2015, LeadingAge named its Leadership Academy after him. In this episode of "Let Me Say This About That," Marla and Mary take a closer look at s...

In this week's episode, Susan Ryan sits down with Larry Minnix, a consultant and author, and perhaps most known for his previous role as CEO of LeadingAge, a national association of nonprofit long-term and post-acute care providers. When he retired in 2015, LeadingAge named its Leadership Academy after him. Minnix has been recognized as a "Top 50 Leader" by the Non-Profit Times and a "Top 50 Influ...

Today they explore episode 75, where Susan Ryan sits down with Lisa McCracken and Dan Hermann of Ziegler Investment Banking, a privately held investment bank, capital markets and proprietary investments firm that specializes in the healthcare, senior living, and education sectors.  McCracken is director of senior living research and development, and her primary focus is on conducting industry rese...

In today's episode, Susan Ryan sits down with Lisa McCracken and Dan Hermann of Ziegler Investment Banking, a privately held investment bank, capital markets and proprietary investments firm that specializes in the healthcare, senior living, and education sectors. McCracken is director of senior living research and development, and her primary focus is on conducting industry research and trend ana...