Let’s Elevate Eldercare Together! Every great eldercare community has a unique story, and there are many paths toward providing high-quality, person-directed services and supports for older adults. That’s why we launched “Elevate Eldercare”: to bring together thought leaders, activists, and advocates in the field of aging services and give them a space where thoughtful discourse and diverse perspectives flow freely. Join Susan Ryan, Alex Spanko, and other GHP team members every Wednesday for ...
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Breaking Through the Providers vs. Regulators Framework
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Far too often, eldercare reform is presented as a binary choice between mortal adversaries: providers who believe that regulators are out to get them, and regulators who assume every provider is up to no good. The truth is obviously more complicated, and leaders like Jennifer Belden prove that there are ways to protect residents’ rights while also …
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Speaking Up for Nursing Home Residents Everywhere
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As someone in her 40s living with multiple rare autoimmune diseases, Nancy Stevens doesn’t necessarily seem like a typical nursing home resident. But her journey through the long-term care system came with the same frustrations, challenges, and disappointments experienced far too often by people twice her age. Stevens uses her experiences as fuel t…
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The Beauty and Benefits of Music Therapy
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In today’s episode, Beth Furlong, RN, Community Relations Manager, and Hilary Camino, a certified neurologic music therapist at Sage Living in Jackson, Wyo., sit down with Susan Ryan. Furlong offers a history of the Living Center and its evolution into Sage Living, emphasizing the need for a larger, more home-like space. She describes the collabora…
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Working Toward Equity in the Aging Experience
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Equity in aging is a topic that must be discussed more often in the field of eldercare. Today, Susan Ryan sits down with guest Marvell Adams Jr. to address this topic head on. Together, they unpack the many ways in which he is working to dismantle inequities in aging and create communities of inclusion. Leveraging his two decades of work in the agi…
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A Pacesetter for Positive Change in Dementia Care
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To be the developer of The Green House Project’s BEST LIFE Approach for supporting persons living with dementia, it takes a very special commitment to person-directed living, the dignity of risk taking, and maintaining mobility. This is certainly the case for today’s guest, Anne Ellett. As a certified nurse practitioner and gerontological nurse, a …
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Upholding civil liberties, addressing fear, and creating flexible systems to support individuals who are living with dementia are passionate goals for the three guests on this episode of Elevate Eldercare. Susan Ryan sits down with Jennifer Carson, PhD, director of the Dementia Engagement, Education, and Research (DEER) program at the Univ. of Neva…
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From Corporate Exec to Homeboy Industries
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If you’ve never heard Homeboy Industries, you’re just a brief Google search away from discovering an incredible nonprofit that is considered to be the most the most successful gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program in the country. In this episode, Susan Ryan talks with Homeboy CEO Tom Vozzo, who will also give the opening keynote ta…
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Biophilia, the desire or tendency to commune with nature, is top of mind for author Julia Hotz, who joins the podcast to talk about her new book “The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging.” Hotz explains how the phenomenon of social prescribing, a non-medical approach to improving health by connect…
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Protecting Elders’ Right to Vote — Wherever They Call Home
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It’s a presidential election year in the United States, with politics dominating the headlines from now until November. For many older people living in communal care settings, the ability to vote isn’t always guaranteed, even though it’s a baseline right that citizens do not lose as they age. Kate Poppenhagen, formerly the long-term care ombudsman …
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The ability to navigate crises is a vital trait for any leader — and so is the ability to emerge from a crisis stronger, bolder, and better than before. Dr. George Everly, a renowned psychologist who helped to pioneer the field of disaster mental health, joins the podcast to discuss the keys to strong, steady leadership both during and after crises…
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Building a Longevity-Ready Eldercare System
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So many of the systems in place to support older Americans were created at a time when people didn’t expect to live much longer than 65, and the concept of retirement was a handful of years at most. Part of true system reform is acknowledging that elders today and tomorrow aren’t the same as they were decades ago, and that we must create new struct…
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Aligning Regulations with What Residents, Workers Want
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Deke Cateau is the kind of leader that the eldercare community desperately needs more of: committed to creating better environments for elders regardless of the challenges, willing to have nuanced conversations about the need for smarter regulations, and always inspiring others to do more than the status quo. The A.G. Rhodes CEO joins the podcast t…
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The Universal, International Language of Small Homes
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We go down under this week to speak with Angela Raguz, the chief operating and risk officer for HammondCare — a pioneering operator of small-home eldercare cottages in Australia, and one of CFI’s partners in the Household Model International Consortium. Angela dives into her 30-year career at the forefront of dignified and radically non-institution…
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Building Bridges Between Eldercare and Disability Advocacy
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Tireless advocate Carrie Leljedal returns to the podcast to discuss her work to bridge the worlds of advocacy for elders and people living with disabilities, which began after her adult son experienced a prolonged lockdown away from family and friends during the pandemic. She turned her anger and frustration into a new career as a champion for esse…
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Grow Bolder with Green House and Pioneer This Fall
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It’ll soon be that time again: We’re gathering the Green House Project and Pioneer Network communities together at the Center for Innovation conference, coming to Grand Rapids, Mich. from November 11-13. This week, join CFI team members Susan Ryan, Marla DeVries, and Stacey Bergmann for a preview of the conference, a discussion of why in-person con…
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Rethinking Technology’s Role in Eldercare and Senior Living
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Across all industries, it can be difficult to separate promising, useful tech solutions from the hype — especially in senior living and eldercare, which have historically been slow to adopt even basic systems like electronic health records and high-speed wifi. Parasol Alliance CEO Amber Bardon has spent nearly a decade trying to change that reality…
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Learning from Household Models Around the World
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While the Green House model is the most widely implemented small-home nursing care concept in the U.S., it’s not alone — innovators around the world have developed person-directed, human-scale communities where elders of all abilities can thrive. Belong, a non-profit provider organization, has brought its own household model — the Belong Village — …
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Leading with Love: Celebrating and Supporting LGBTQ+ Elders
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With each year that passes, Pride celebrations become more and more mainstream — but in our current political and social climate, LGBTQ+ people of all ages continue to face demonization and stigmatization, a reality that is sometimes magnified for elders. Today in the United States, about half of older LGBTQ+ adults live in states where they can le…
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Fighting Ageism Everywhere — Even Within the Eldercare Sector
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Just about everyone who works in the eldercare space has heard about the negative effects of ageism in our society, but we can’t truly fight age-based discrimination until we look inward — even within our own sector. Jordan Evans, co-founder of Art Against Ageism, joins the podcast to discuss his experiences as a younger person in the eldercare lan…
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Building Intentional, Active Communities for Elders — and Everyone Else
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Steve Nygren, visionary founder of the Serenbe community outside of Atlanta, returns to the podcast to discuss his vision for intentional communities where elders can age well — but not because they’re designed exclusively for older adults, but for people of all ages to stay active, stay connected, and stay engaged with day-to-day life. If you miss…
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Determined to Spread Design Equity in Eldercare and Beyond
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nequities in eldercare affect not just the quality of services but the physical spaces themselves: Far too many operators, policymakers, and investors believe that people receiving Medicaid-funded services simply deserve lower-quality, older, more institutional buildings to call home. Kia Weatherspoon, the founder and president of Determined by Des…
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Creating Person-Directed Alternatives to Guardianship
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As the proportion of older Americans grows, so too will the ranks of “solo agers” – people navigating the aging process without children or other relatives. And for elders who need extra assistance in making major decisions around housing and finances, solo aging may lead to legal guardianship and outcomes that don’t align with their values, prefer…
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Meet the Nursing Leaders Building the Next Generation of Eldercare
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In honor of National Nurses’ Week, we’re sitting down with Dr. Donna Fick – director of the Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State University – and three of her Ph.D. student-researchers, Thakshila Dasanayake, Olivia Rubio, and Nahida Akter. While their backgrounds and upbringing couldn’t be more different, these nursing leaders are b…
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Inside the Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center
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Workforce development remains the number-one issue for eldercare providers of all types, and this week, we’re taking you inside a comprehensive, nationwide effort to build the care force of tomorrow. Laura Thorn, director of the Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center, joins the podcast to discuss this vital project from the Administration for Comm…
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From a very young age, Paddy Moore learned the value of speaking her mind and advocating for those facing discrimination and exclusion, and she turned those lessons into a lifetime of fighting for others – whether it was creating anti-poverty programs under the federal Office of Economic Opportunity, working to de-institutionalize care for people l…
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Improving Nursing Home Care with Transparent Data
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You can’t fix what you can’t measure, and for too many years, advocates and officials have attempted to reform the nursing home system without an accurate accounting of multiple metrics – including the flow of money and the track records of owners. CFI strategic advisor Anne Montgomery joins the podcast to discuss her efforts to bring greater trans…
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Opening Creative Doors for People Living in LTC
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When Jennilie Brewster first started inquiring about volunteering at the Coler nursing campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, she never imagined that her work with the residents would have a national impact. Brewster – a writer, painter, and film producer – joins the podcast to discuss her work with OPEN DOORS NYC and the Reality Poets, a grou…
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Balancing Risk, Responsibility, and Reward with Aging Tech: Part II
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The topic of responsibly integrating technology into eldercare communities is so rich and complex that we needed two episodes with Joe Velderman, vice president of innovation at Cypress Living in Fort Myers, Fla. to capture it all. Velderman returns to dive into the specific tech solutions that his organization has adopted across its life plan comm…
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Tackling Diversity and Inclusion on All Fronts
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Marvell Adams, Jr. not only talks the talk when it comes to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in eldercare – he walks the walk, holding multiple roles across the eldercare spectrum where he brings people of all ages, races, socioeconomic backgrounds, and points of view together to move the sector forward. Adams, who serves on the Center fo…
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Reminiscent of the ageist discourse around the “silver tsunami,” the concept of people aging without the support of children or a spouse – once referred to as “elder orphans” – is far too often discussed as a problem, and not a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a new phase of life with friends, neighbors, and other people who bring us joy. Sara Geber …
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Building New Frameworks to Tackle Racial Inequality in Eldercare
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The idea that structural racism has a direct impact on all facets of American life – including the experiences of elders in care settings – shouldn’t be a controversial statement in 2024, but far too often, the question of equity and race-conscious policymaking gets wrapped up into a broader political discourse. Shekinah Fashaw-Walters, an assistan…
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Remembering Naomi Feil, a Pioneer of Dignified Dementia Care
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Naomi Feil, who originally developed the Validation method of supporting and communicating with people living with dementia, died this past December 24 at the age of 91. This week, we’re celebrating Naomi’s life with her daughter – and fellow champion for the dignity of people living with dementia – Vicki de Klerk-Rubin, executive director of the V…
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Finding the Will to Change Systems and Champion Equity
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Tetyana Shippee first became fascinated with the power of structural forces to shape individual lives as a grad student from Ukraine studying the sociology of addiction in the United States. That academic interest soon expanded into gerontology and elder issues – including a two-year stint living in a continuing care retirement community as part of…
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Balancing Risk, Responsibility, and Reward with Aging Tech
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Artificial intelligence is the tech buzzword of the moment, but as eldercare providers know, implementing any technology in the aging space comes with its own unique set of concerns – even solutions that don’t go as far as generating complex written narratives or autonomously analyzing resident data. At Cypress Living, a senior living and home heal…
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Banding Together to Protect Empowering, Non-Profit Care
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As non-profit nursing home operators continue to shutter their doors and cede ground to for-profits, one organization in New England is helping mission-driven organizations honor their unique legacies while providing vital, centralized logistical support. Legacy Lifecare chief philanthropy officer/founding executive Barry Berman and chief operating…
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Incubating Innovations from Ideas to Practice
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Individuals and companies frequently develop new solutions to make life easier for elders and caregivers, but not all of them have what it takes to actually make the jump from theory to widespread practice. In Australia, that’s where ARIIA – Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia – comes in. Since 2021, ARIIA has funded a host of projec…
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Building Safe, Empowering Spaces for Family Caregivers
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In an eldercare field that’s populated with unseen and unsung heroes, family members of people living with dementia can often feel the most isolated and underrepresented. In the Greater Manchester area of the United Kingdom, Empowered Conversations creates safe, brave spaces for small cohorts of people on the caregiving journey to take a step away …
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Fostering Creativity, Growth, and Fulfillment in Nursing Homes
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Far too often, people – even well-meaning folks who work in the field – fail to see nursing home residents as humans capable of the same growth, creativity, and fulfillment as people living in private homes. In fact, this ageism and ableism is a major reason why our imagination around reforming communal care settings is so narrowly focused on indiv…
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Diversify the Perspectives, Reimagine the Care
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As eldercare CEOs and women of color, Anita Holt and Frances Salinas are relative rarities in a sector that’s supposed to serve people of all races and backgrounds equally. They join the podcast this week to discuss their work at their respective communities – Holt at The Forest at Duke in Durham, N.C. and Salinas at Wesley Willows in Rockford, Ill…
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Revisiting – and Re-Energizing – Teaching Nursing Homes
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Revisiting the Teaching Nursing Home was designed to pair Pennsylvania nursing homes with area schools of nursing, introducing up-and-coming nurses to careers in eldercare while also infusing age-friendly care practices into the communities’ operations. But according to Nancy Zionts, the primary investigator on the project – as well as the chief op…
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Predicting the Future of Eldercare Innovation
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Robert Kramer – the founder of think tank Nexus Insights, as well as the co-founder and former CEO of the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) – returns to “Elevate Eldercare” for another stimulating discussion on the big-picture future of eldercare. As providers and advocates focus on the individual issues facing the sector,…
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Highlights, Hardships, Hesitations, and Hope: 2023 in Review
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Every December, we use the last “Elevate Eldercare” episode of the year to take stock of the previous 12 months and make some predictions for the year ahead. CFI logged substantial milestones in 2023: celebrating 20 years of Green House homes, taking the modelinternational with the opening of new homes in Australia, further integrating the GHP and …
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Checking In with the Moving Forward Coalition
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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shook the eldercare world in April 2022 with a scathing report on the nation’s broken nursing home system. Less than two years later, the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition – formed in the wake of the NASEM report to operationalize its conclusions – has made substantial progre…
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Finding Hope and Light in the Darkest of Times
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As we navigate a holiday season set against the backdrop of global and domestic conflict, this 2021 interview with Dr. Edith Eger feels even more vital than ever. A psychologist and a Holocaust survivor, Dr. Eger has 96 years of direct experience with navigating troubled times – both for herself and in service of others – and her ability to find li…
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Speaking Up for Nursing Home Residents of All Ages
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It’s easy to forget that not all nursing home residents are elders – and Vincent Pierce is dedicated to making sure leaders, advocates, and the general public remember. Pierce, a resident of the Coler nursing community on Roosevelt Island in New York City, wears many hats. He’s the founder of Nursing Home Lives Matter, an advocacy group formed duri…
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Creating “Unpretentious” Housing and Care for All Ages
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“Unpretentious” isn’t a word you see often in marketing materials for senior living communities, but it shows up several times in the description of Northaven Senior Living in Seattle. Darlene Storti, Northaven’s executive director, joins “Elevate Eldercare” to discuss this down-to-earth assisted and independent living community for lower- and mode…
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Gathering Around the Gratitude Table 2023
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Each Thanksgiving, “Elevate Eldercare” centers gratitude by handing the mic over to the people who make Green House homes such great places to live. This year, we’re headed out west to Wyoming to meet three team members from Green House Living for Sheridan: licensed practical nurse Kiara Charlson, HR manager and education coordinator Jon Lanning, a…
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Cross-Pollination: Sharing Person-Directed Practices Across Silos
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Stacey Bergmann joined the Center for Innovation this month as the new director of network and community relations – tasked with serving as the main liaison between the national organization and our local-level Green House Project and Pioneer Network partners – and today she joins the podcast to discuss her career, passions, and vision for the futu…
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Probing the Incentives that Shape Eldercare
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Brian McGarry’s research at the University of Rochester has focused on the ways that financial and economic factors affect care in nursing homes — a particularly vital topic as the sector continues to debate a contentious proposed staffing mandate, which could have a significant impact on providers in the years to come. McGarry joins CFI’s Alex Spa…
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Surviving vs. Thriving: Training for Long-Term Success
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For the last three years, many eldercare organizations haven’t had the ability to truly thrive, with leaders focused squarely on surviving the many challenges facing providers up and down the care continuum. But as we head toward the end of another year, it’s a good time to take stock and make plans for the year ahead — with an eye toward moving be…
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