Elevate Eldercare

Even as a self-described "mediocre gardener," Orla Concannon has brought the joys of nature to thousands of elders across the country – all by bringing the garden to them. Eldergrow, Concannon's company, started out as a graduate school project but has since grown into a successful firm with national reach, empowering elders in a variety of settings to tend to indoor gardens while also enjoying th...

As the president of the Point Roberts Circle of Care board, Galen Wood has a unique task in a unique place – providing services and supports for elders in one of the most secluded spots in the United States. The town of Point Roberts, Wash. is what geographers call a pene-exclave. Located at the end of a peninsula, Point Roberts is surrounded by water on three sides and Canada to the north, meanin...

High school junior Eli Grundy has been immersed in eldercare for as long as he can remember, thanks to his parents: One of his moms is the administrator of the Spearly Center, a unique skilled nursing community in Denver, and the other works for the Alzheimer's Association. At age 12, Eli followed in his moms' footsteps and started as an activities volunteer at the Spearly Center – so when he turn...

"Elevate Eldercare" often welcomes academic researchers from across the aging field, but Anne Basting is the first English professor to sit down behind our mics. Basting is a firm believer in the power of art and creativity as a medium of communication and connection for people living with dementia. From putting on a production of the ancient story of Ulysses at a long-term care community to condu...

The new year year kicked off with another report analyzing the failures of the nursing home system during COVID-19, this time from the HHS Office of the Inspector General. But while understanding the mistakes of the past is important, the time for retrospective reports has long since passed – and policymakers have the tools to effect real change today. Join CFI communications director Alex Spanko...

Every Green House community is different, from the people who call it home to the surrounding neighborhood and landscape. At Londonderry Village in Palmyra, Pa., outside of Hershey, the Green House homes come with the wafting smell of chocolate, an intergenerational play park, and people-powered vehicles known as trishaws. We sit down with Londonderry Village president Jeff Shireman to discuss how...

The Moving Forward Coalition launched with a clear but ambitious goal: Operationalize the host of recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's (NASEM) 2022 report on the state of nursing home care. This week, we welcome Moving Forward leaders Alice Bonner and Isaac Longobardi to talk about the group's mission and work, and how everyone in long-term care – fr...

The past year brought significant momentum for real eldercare reform, and the year ahead promises even more progress toward our goal of overhauling the long-term care system in the U.S. and abroad. We've gathered a group of CFI leaders – CEO Susan Ryan, chief culture officer Penny Cook, strategic advisor Ann Montgomery, and communications director Alex Spanko – to discuss the trends that will shap...

Dr. Michael Wasserman's unique combination of professional experience makes him one of the most incisive voices in the long-term care reform space: As both a trained geriatrician and the former leader of California's largest nursing home chain, Wasserman can speak to both the medical and financial problems baked into the eldercare system. He joins Penny Cook to share his vision for a person-center...

It's been a momentous year for The Green House Project and Pioneer Network, as the two organizations formally united under the new Center for Innovation banner. Three CFI leaders – CEO Susan Ryan, chief culture officer Penny Cook, and chief learning officer Marla DeVries – look back on a year that saw the culture change movement gain even more power and influence among operators and policymakers....

Part of the enduring stigma surrounding dementia is the collective misconception that a diagnosis means the end of someone's life – or at least the end of a person's ability to contribute to society. Bobby Redman turns that notion on its head, living on her own and serving as an advocate for the entire community years after her diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia. In this episode, Redman shares...

In Lynne Sewell's telling, her husband Rick seems almost larger than life, trotting the globe with his family as his job in technology took him from their home in Australia to Europe, Asia, and North America – winning friends and professional admiration at every stop along the way. But when Rick was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, their lives entered a challenging new phase. Ly...

Architect Nick Seemann joins the podcast to discuss social architecture and design – the idea that people and physical spaces interact to create each environment – in eldercare and beyond. The founder and managing director of the Australia-based Constructive Dialogue Architects, Seemann has a range of experience across a variety of settings, from overseeing housing improvements in remote Nepalese...

Dr. Samir Sinha has emerged as a leading voice for eldercare improvement in Canada, and he joins CFI's Penny Cook to discuss the lessons that leaders can learn from each other across the globe. Sinha argues that there's a core misconception in international analyses of countries, such as Denmark, that have emerged as eldercare leaders; while those nations generally do have a more compassionate fra...

A Thanksgiving tradition continues as we gather around a virtual gratitude table with the folks who make Green House homes work. This year, GHP's Susan Ryan and Rebecca Priest welcome a trio of employees from St. John's Senior Services in Rochester, N.Y. – dining practice partner Linda McCoy, dementia and quality of life specialist Mimi DeVinney, Shahbaz Annette Robles, and nurse Jen Dean. You'll...

It's official: The Green House Project and Pioneer Network are now formally aligned under the Center for Innovation umbrella.   GHP senior director Susan Ryan and Pioneer Network CEO Penny Cook go inside the new alliance and share updates on some of the exciting work coming in the year ahead – including a new e-learning platform, their participation in the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coali...

Canadian Association for Long-Term Care CEO Jodi Hall joins Penny Cook to discuss the challenges and opportunities around systemic change post-COVID. Hall's answers will probably sound familiar to providers and reform leaders on both sides of the border – funding questions, staffing shortages, and regional regulatory variations loom large as lawmakers and advocates look to reshape nursing home car...

As a chronic cancer patient and senior lecturer in nursing at the University of Salford in Manchester, England, Natalie Yates-Bolton knows about the importance of compassionate health care from both sides of the equation. She joins "Elevate Eldercare" to discuss her extensive work in the field of compassionate leadership in nursing homes and other care settings, from coaching caregivers through CO...

Even the most well-meaning people sometimes talk about "keeping our seniors safe" from a variety of possible outcomes, from disease to falls to the dangers of poor diet – as though elders have no autonomy or ability to make decisions on their own. Zero-tolerance COVID lockdowns have helped to reframe the discussion in recent years, but too often we rob elders of the right to take the same acceptab...

Persistent staffing issues in long-term care don't have a single solution. In fact, leadership expert and educator Christopher Ridenhour argues that creating a stable, resilient, and satisfied workforce requires the intersection of multiple goals – from diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to employee recognition to fostering a culture of true respect and appreciation. In conversation with Pen...

Harvard researcher David Grabowski returns to the podcast to discuss the financial incentives that have created our current long-term care landscape – and how small changes to the way the federal government funds and regulates nursing homes can lead to significant improvements in quality, safety, and satisfaction. Too often, nursing home reform is presented as a false binary between increasing gov...

The pandemic threw a harsh light on the lack of autonomy that far too many people experience when receiving care in an institutional setting, and supporting resident choice and decision-making ability has become an important area of reform action.   Jill Vitale-Aussem, president and CEO of Christian Living Communities, argues that it's not enough to focus on resident choice of activities and meals...

Frequently lost in the debates over nursing home reform is an uncomfortable fact: the federal and state governments spend billions on care in outdated, understaffed institutions that don't always put residents' needs first, and we're all collectively getting what we're paying for. By better aligning reimbursements with the factors that matter most to residents, families, and staff – private rooms,...

Susan Ryan and Alex Spanko discuss a pair of interviews with care professionals conducted at the recent Pioneer Network conference. First up, Lauren Flores – director of life enrichment at Green House adopter Mt. San Antonio Gardens in Pomona, Calif. – discusses her path from Disney to eldercare, and why she thinks more people should consider a pathway into working with elders. Then, CNA Jonas Wei...

Organizations in all industries have embraced the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their operations – but how can eldercare organizations go beyond trainings and workshops to create truly inclusive cultures? We asked that question to a variety of leaders at the Pioneer Network conference this past July. Join an all-star team of voices from across the eldercare spectrum for a chal...