Elevate Eldercare

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, and Shahbaz Necia Reynolds.

Through their stories, you'll learn why caregiving isn't "unskilled labor" or an entry-level job – it's a dynamic, rewarding, and noble career path that attracts the best people our communities have to offer. As lawmakers, providers, and advocates continue to debate the best ways to strengthen the caregiving workforce amid an historic shortage, we sincerely hope that everyone takes the time to listen to the voices of people like Kiara, Jon, and Necia.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Center for Innovation!

Learn more about Green House Living for Sheridan: https://www.nextavenue.org/new-homes-range-better-care-elders/

Register for a December 7 webinar that will explore how a small Medicaid rate boost can spur development of person-centered alternatives to traditional nursing homes:

https://thegreenhouseproject.org/projects/change-the-incentives-change-the-system-a-green-house-medicaid-case-study/

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 future of eldercare.

Bergmann, an advanced practice certified therapeutic recreation specialist and dementia care consultant, has spent more than 20 years working to improve the lives of elders, most recently serving as the president of VOICE PA – a non-profit seeking to infuse person-directed care practices into eldercare services across the state of Pennsylvania.

For Bergmann, the strength of an organization like CFI is the opportunity for cross-pollination, the sharing of best practices and new ideas among eldercare changemakers across the country. Tune in to learn more about how she plans to keep the information flowing in the service of permanently changing eldercare for the better.

Learn more about VOICE PA: https://voicepa.org/

Register for a December 7 webinar that will explore how a small Medicaid rate boost can spur development of person-centered alternatives to traditional nursing homes:

https://thegreenhouseproject.org/projects/change-the-incentives-change-the-system-a-green-house-medicaid-case-study/

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 Spanko for a discussion on the ways that incentives — sometimes intentionally, and sometimes unintentionally — affect quality and satisfaction in nursing homes, as well as the ways that policymakers can better link financial success with the services, supports, and outcomes that truly matter to elders and caregivers.

Explore McGarry's research, including a recent paper on the impact of workforce turnover: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/people/26750101-brian-e-mcgarry/publications

Register for a December 7 webinar that will explore how a small Medicaid rate boost can spur development of person-centered alternatives to traditional nursing homes:

https://thegreenhouseproject.org/projects/change-the-incentives-change-the-system-a-green-house-medicaid-case-study/

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 beyond merely surviving and reaching a place where both organizations and individual workers can truly thrive.

Join CFI's education experts Marla DeVries and Mary Hopfner-Thomas for an analysis of the ways that organizations can use training programs to go beyond short-term thinking and create strong, lasting visions for success.

Read more about the difference between thriving and surviving: https://hbr.org/2021/08/is-your-organization-surviving-change-or-thriving-in-it

Learn more CFI's EmpowerED eLearning platform: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/elearning/

Explore a demo of the Leading for Transformation Badge, part of the Person-Directed Living course on EmpowerED:

https://rise.articulate.com/share/B-_3OupDKSTUUm4aEpmfcIJpypnhB1Sb#/

In both the public and policymaker imagination, nursing home reform is strictly a health care issue, the domain of state health departments and the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). But the prevalence of subpar nursing homes — and lack of empowering, person-directed alternatives to an aging long-term care infrastructure — is just as much the result of housing policy as health care regulations.

Well-known LTC researcher David Grabowski of Harvard University returns to "Elevate Eldercare" to discuss his increasing focus on the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a key lever for eldercare transformation. By tweaking a few of the incentives that HUD currently offers nursing home operators, and implementing strict oversight to ensure the proper use of any additional funding, Green House homes and other alternatives could rapidly enter the marketplace.

Grabowski also walks through some of the progress made by the Moving Forward Coalition, a broad-based group seeking to implement the recommendations made in a sweeping 2022 report on the state of U.S. nursing home care from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).

Learn more about the Moving Forward Coalition, including the new action plans: https://movingforwardcoalition.org/taking-action/#ActionPlans

Register for Change the Incentives, Change the System, a December 7 webinar on how small Medicaid policy changes can ignite innovation, here: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/projects/change-the-incentives-change-the-system-a-green-house-medicaid-case-study

David Simpson is an accomplished musician who's been singing since the age of 12, performing alongside music legends like the Staples Singers, Dionne Warwick, and the Drifters. He's a visual artist who uses his drawings and paintings to lift others' spirits and push himself to improve his craft. He's a father, a sibling, and heart transplant recipient. And he's a resident of the Thome Rivertown neighborhood, a unique full-continuum care community in the heart of Detroit that combines affordable assisted living, Green House homes, and PACE day services.

David joins the podcast to recount his fascinating life story, his personal journey through a heart transplant, and why he enjoys living in a supportive place like Thome Rivertown.

David's story challenges all of us to remember what empowering, dignified services and supports for elders really mean, and why we must continue to fight to make places like Thome Rivertown the rule, not the exception.

View David's work: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9qu4cjc7bnueug24io91n/h?rlkey=vwulmwjyzkjdu1cng4n4rscjy&dl=0

Learn more about Thome Rivertown: https://www.pvm.org/locations/rivertown/

The discourse around improving the eldercare landscape tends to focus on narrow, discrete metrics: What's the correct number of nursing home staff hours per day? How can we reduce rehospitalizations? What types of services can be provided in the home most efficiently?

Scott Townsley, professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Erickson School of Aging Studiers and a longtime eldercare leader, recently challenged a group of industry executives to go beyond the silos and build a new system from scratch.

The Center for Innovation released the results of that exercise in Beyond Nursing Homes, a new white paper that Townsley joins the podcast to discuss with Susan Ryan and Alex Spanko. Tune in to hear why the future of eldercare is based on community, connectivity, and customization – and why one size will never fit all when working to create an empowering eldercare system.

Read the white paper: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/wp-content/uploads/Beyond-Nursing-Homes-White-Paper-Fall-2023.pdf Learn more about Scott Townsley and Trilogy Consulting: https://www.trilogyconnect.com/about

Biophilic design – incorporating nature into the built environment – has grown in popularity in recent years, but the term itself may still seem daunting and strange, especially in an eldercare space where new development of nursing homes is exceedingly rare.

Dr. Tuwanda Green, an adjunct instructor at Virginia Tech with more than 30 years of architectural experience, joins the podcast to discuss biophilic design as the process of creating human-centered spaces for all ages. The physical environment can have a substantial impact on day-to-day wellbeing, whether it's enjoying the view of trees and flowers from a picture window in your living room or freely accessing outdoor space in an eldercare community.

Green encourages listeners to see architecture as a verb, the fuel for holistic care environments and living spaces alike.

Dive into the research on the impact of biophilic design on student performance:https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/the-impact-of-biophilic-learning-spaces-on-student-success/

https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/49192

Faced with the workforce issues plaguing the entire eldercare sector, Goodwin Living in Northern Virginia developed a citizenship assistance program for its immigrant employees – simultaneously boosting recruitment and retention while also providing a new social outlet for residents, who help their caregivers prepare for the citizenship exam.

Looking for a way to help his mother respond to a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, Goodwin Living CEO Rob Liebreich worked to develop the non-profit's StrongerMemory program, which supports people in retaining and improving cognitive skills through simple reading, writing, and mathematics exercises.

This week, Liebreich joins Susan Ryan for a discussion of these unique programs, which combine practical solutions with community-building activities that benefit everyone involved.

Learn more about StrongerMemory and download the resources for free:https://goodwinliving.org/stronger-memory/ Explore Goodwin Living's Citizenship Program, including its free Citizenship Playbook: https://goodwinliving.org/about-us/citizenship/ Join us in Detroit October 3-4 for a workshop on building innovative new care communities: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/education-events/workshops/

In 2021, Dr. Samir Sinha was given a potentially daunting job: serving as the technical committee chair for a group tasked with establishing new, national long-term care standards in Canada in the wake of COVID-19's devastation.

Dr. Sinha, an internationally renowned geriatrician who serves as the Director of Geriatrics at Mount Sinai and the University Health Network Hospitals in Toronto, joins the podcast to discuss how he navigated the politics and logistics of reshaping an entire nation's long-term care standards.

By incorporating as many resident and caregiver voices as possible, and focusing as much on person-directed care practices as infection control and clinical concerns, Dr. Sinha's team laid the groundwork for real transformation in Canada and abroad – though, as he notes throughout the interview, the work to build a truly empowering care system is far from over.

Explore the new Canadian long-term care quality standards: https://longtermcarestandards.ca/

Join us in Detroit October 3-4 for a workshop on building innovative new care communities: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/education-events/workshops/

Explore cultural transformation services from The Green House Project and Pioneer Network: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/cultural-transformation/