Compassion Chats with Author Susan A Marshall

From Healthcare Administrator to Independent Billing Advocate
Former Practice Administrator turned Medical Bill Master, Nicole Broadhurst helps patients & families gain peace of mind and take control of medical bills in 30 minutes without making a single phone call. As CEO and founder of Tennessee Health Advocates, Nicole’s mission is to simplify and clarify the healthcare billing system. As a former healthcare insider, Nicole focuses heavily on the opportunities for improvement within the medical billing process to help her clients achieve peace of mind knowing they are not paying a penny more than they actually owe.

Laura Volz is a strategic leader with a passion to help advance the efforts for better care and support for families and their loved ones with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Her desire is to make change to improve our current senior living environments for a more prospect-centered care.

Jeff Kersten is the Agency Liaison for the Bureau of Consumer Protection within the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. As the Agency Liaison, Jeff travels around the state to educate the public, businesses and law enforcement on privacy protection, data security, identity theft, and other areas of consumer protection. Jeff has over 12 years of experience as a police officer and is a prior Consumer Protection Investigator for the Bureau of Consumer Protection. The Wisconsin Bureau of Consumer Protection will discuss the details of common scams, the warning signs of a scam, and what to do if you or someone you know falls victim to a scam or fraud. Helpful factsheets from The Bureau of Consumer Protection will be available.

As Wisconsin’s lead agency for consumer protection, the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, provides information and education, mediates complaints, investigates cases, and takes enforcement actions to fight fraudulent and deceptive practices that harm consumers and honest businesses.

This episode was converted from the original Compassion Chats video library where Jeff shared a slide presentation. You can view the video form of his presentation here: https://susanamarshall.com/jeff-kersten/

Ingrid A. Kundinger is the Senior Medicare Patrol Program Director at the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources (GWAAR). Ingrid joined the Wisconsin Senior Medicare Patrol program in September 2018. A life-long Wisconsinite, Ingrid grew up in northern Wisconsin, and has lived in Madison for the past 20+ year. Ingrid completed her undergraduate studies at UW – Green Bay and holds a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Health Care Administration. Ingrid has dedicated most of her professional career to working with older adults and being involved in the aging network. Ingrid is excited to be a part of the SMP team to empower Wisconsin’s Medicare beneficiaries and their advocates to prevent, detect and report health care fraud, abuse, and errors.

Adele Lund is the Founder & CEO, Adele Lund Consulting. Adele has committed her professional life to the service of older adults and their families. Along the way she discovered a need to listen to their stories, realizing the depth of wisdom inherent in what she was hearing. She often describes that portion of her career as “having the privilege of seeing seniors in their later chapters of life, observing the results of a life well lived and lessons learned along the way.”

Motivated by this insight, Adele developed presentations for seniors and their adult children that became the perfect vehicle for passing on life lessons from one generation to another and building connectivity where common understanding was often lacking. She could be found in living rooms facilitating family conversations, helping individuals to overcome their fears and frustrations, sitting around a table in discussion groups, or at a podium sharing stories and nuggets of wisdom gained.

After 30+ years of listening and learning, as well as training and coaching professionals in her field, Adele has built her private practice on a mission of creating more connected communities. This involves “more listening than talking, and more asking than telling.” She also lives by these words…”Experience isn’t what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.”

Karen Murdoch is the founder of Voiced Memories. She is passionate about helping families capture, preserve, and share their stories through an innovative platform that combines digital photos with voice recordings. Karen dedicates her work to enhancing cognitive engagement for aging adults, especially those living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia, by leveraging the power of storytelling.

With a background in caregiving and photo management, she's seen firsthand how personal history and shared memories can strengthen connections between loved ones and support aging in place. Through Voiced Memories, she strives to offer a digital solution that not only preserves legacies but also brings comfort, joy, and mental stimulation to those experiencing memory loss.

Karen is committed to building supportive communities for caregivers, seniors, and professionals in dementia care, creating spaces where we can learn, connect, and grow together.

Debby Deutsch BCPA holds a Graduate Certificate in Consumer Health Advocacy – UW Madison, and Board Certification from the Patient Advocate Certification Board. She is the Founder/CEO of Patient Care Partners, LLC, a private patient advocacy firm serving Madison WI and beyond since 2016.

“My team and I work exclusively on behalf of our patients and families,” notes Debby. “We are not part of any healthcare system, health insurer or care facility. As an independent third party, we help patients and families navigate complicated healthcare and insurance networks. We help with medical billing issues, care coordination and patient navigation from a nursing, case management and medical billing advocacy perspective. We bring a collective wealth of experience to our clients in solving complex problems.

“Two very usual clients for my team include proactive seniors who want to get their ducks in a row for aging in place.  They realize that they will be bringing services to their home as needed and they want help coordinating that, and possibly understanding evolving changes in their own health needs.  We also work very often with adult kids who are struggling with the emotions and the hard work needs in understanding and managing their parents or other’s healthcare needs.  We are poised to help, and we are honored to work with our patients, families and community partners.”

Barbara Hyatte Boustead, LCSW, DMM, is a licensed Clinical Social Worker, retired Daily Money Manager and Author.

She launched her business, Mary's Daughter LLC in 2011 and retired from her social work position in 2016 to work full time in her business, where she provides Daily Money Management services to seniors and veterans. Barbara is a member of the Association of Daily Money Managers (AADMM) and is also on the Board of Directors for AADMM.

In 2017, Barbara was selected as the recipient of the Social Work Lifetime Achievement award for South Central Wisconsin chapter of NASW-WI and later that year was awarded the 2017 Distinguished Social Work Award from NASW-WI.

Barbara has partnered with national initiatives such as America Saves and Money Smart Week to increase financial literacy for youth and adults. She has given presentations in her community on a variety of topics including identity theft and scams, financial strategies for caregivers and money management. 

A bright beacon of love and compassion has gone out. Gary Barg, who passed away August 4, 2024, leaves a treasure trove of advice and resources to support caregivers for generations to come.

Gary Barg appeared nationally on radio and television programs, including NBC’s Today Show and has spoken to a wide variety of organizations including the Scleroderma Association conference, Alzheimer’s Association conference, AARP conference, 204 Fearless Caregiver conferences and the National Huntington Disease Association conference. He was the founder of Today’s Caregiver magzine.

Barg’s books are The Fearless Caregiver, How to Get the Best Care for Your Loved One and Still Have a Life of Your Own, Caregiving Ties that Bind and You Are Not Alone.

Susan welcomes Stephanie Houston, Senior Outreach Program Coordinator with the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute Regional Milwaukee Office. Stephanie is a Senior Outreach Program Coordinator with the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Institute Regional Milwaukee Office. She joined the WAI staff in 2009, in her role Stephanie provides ongoing assistance to cognitively impaired, and medically underserved African American older adults and families.

Stephanie is a resource and a service link for older adults and their families who are seeking a proper evaluation and diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia. Routinely, she consults with families in their homes to develop a plan of care and strives to expand and ensure access to Alzheimer’s and dementia related clinical care and treatment, education, and resources for support. She is a member of the WAI Dementia Diagnostic Clinic Network and has served as a member of an interdisciplinary clinical team for more than 13 years. As a part of her unique integrated role at WAI, Stephanie provides oversight and management of the WAI Signature program The Amazing Grace Chorus. The WAI Milwaukee Office Organization’s motto is to “Meet the People where they Are.”