Elevate Eldercare

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 and Aboriginal communities to projects for homeless populations and other social organizations.

Through Constructive Dialogue and Dementia Training Australia, a government-backed education initiative, he's working on the cutting edge of social design and elder-directed care principles in the country.

Seeman passionately argues that environments matter for overall wellbeing – and that leaders can create positive, supportive, and empowering environments for elders in even the most institutional of structures.

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

Explore the resources from Dementia Training Australia: Creating Supportive Environments Online Course Trailer: https://vimeo.com/463258086 Course Link: https://dta.com.au/online-courses/creating-supportive-environments Activity Cards Support Page: https://dta.com.au/enviro-activity-cards-resources/ Resources Book: https://dta.com.au/resources/environmental-design-resources/#Resource1 Constructive Dialogue Architects: www.constructivedialogue.com.au

Paul Pholeros and Healthabitat: https://www.healthabitat.com/

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 framework for LTC than the U.S. and Canada, they're just as focused on the financial and operational viability as their North American counterparts.

If we can harness the consumer demand for something better and realize that better care also means a more stable operational future, Sinha says, the momentum for change will be unstoppable.

Read about Dr. Sinha's work with naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) in the Toronto Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/11/04/i-adore-her-but-sometimes-im-overwhelmed-how-a-program-to-help-other-adults-age-at-home-allows-the-whole-family-to-thrive.html

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

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 hear how this team built the Penfield Green House Homes, and how they continue to sustain an empowering environment for the elders who call Penfield home.

To everyone in long-term care working through the holidays to keep elders engaged, active, and safe, GHP and Pioneer extend our deepest thanks and admiration.

Explore the Penfield homes: https://www.stjohnsliving.org/communities/st-johns-home/green-house/

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

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 Coalition, the expanded Green House trademark, and the 2023 Center for Innovation conference in Pittsburgh.

If you've been curious about what the Center for Innovation means for Green House, Pioneer, and the future of eldercare transformation, tune in to learn all the details!

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

Learn more about Pioneer Network: https://www.pioneernetwork.net/

Be the first to know about our new e-learning platform: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/elearning/

Read about the expanded Green House trademark: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/press-releases/the-green-house-project-expands-trademark-welcomes-the-new-jewish-home/

Explore the Moving Forward Coalition and learn how you can get involved: https://movingforwardcoalition.org/

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 care in Canada.

But those shared traits also mean that U.S. and Canadian long-term care leaders have much to learn from each other, and Hall challenges listeners to embrace the power of dialogue and collaboration across country lines.

Learn more about the Canadian Association for Long-Term Care: https://caltc.ca/

Explore The Green House Project and Pioneer Network's new alliance: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/pioneer-alliance/ Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

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 COVID-19 to shadowing the daily lives of people living with dementia. To Yates-Bolton, compassionate leadership isn't a "soft" or less demanding form of coaching – it's a way to equip people with the tools and mindset they need to be there when it matters most.

Explore Michael West's work on compassionate leadership: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/about-us/whos-who/michael-west

Learn more about Yates-Bolton's firm, Five Blocks Coaching: https://fiveblockscoaching.com/

Learn more about the Florence Nightengale Foundation: https://florence-nightingale-foundation.org.uk/

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

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 acceptable risks that younger people take every day, from an occasional indulgent meal to attending an indoor party amid an ongoing pandemic.

Liza Behrens, a PhD and registered nurse who serves as an assistant professor at Penn State's Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing, joins "Elevate Eldercare" to discuss her DIGNITY (Decision-making In aGing and demeNtIa for auTonomY) tool for fostering preference-based care, which balances the need for health and safety with the human right to choose.

Learn more about Liza's work in this interview: https://www.preferencebasedliving.com/updates/ask-the-expert/a-risky-preferences-interview-with-dr-liza-behrens/

Explore Liza's research at the links below:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36214738/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32756959/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29355878/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34958744/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6398972/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34039079/

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

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 Penny Cook, Ridenhour argues persuasively for a truly comprehensive workforce development strategy that goes beyond in-services and one-off programs. To confront shortages, organizations must address the void at the center of workplaces, both in LTC and elsewhere – the feeling that individuals' work is undervalued, underappreciated, and poorly understood by leadership.

DEI programs, workforce supports, and other HR strategies don't exist in a vacuum. They all contribute to building a culture that retains and develops talent, and Ridenhour challenges individuals and organizations to take a more holistic approach to the "workforce crisis."

Learn more about The Green House Project and Pioneer Network's new alliance: https://thegreenhouseproject.org/pioneer-alliance/

Learn more about Christopher Ridenhour's work: https://www.christophermotivates.com/

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 government funding for operators or increasing fines for wrongdoing. Organizations that have adopted Green House and Pioneer principles have shown that the equation for care improvement is more nuanced than one carrot versus one stick – but still eminently achievable with the right ingredients.

HHS, CMS, HUD, and states all play a role in the patchwork quilt of nursing home finance and oversight. Grabowski, along with The Green House Project's Susan Ryan and Alex Spanko, try to untangle the knots while exploring recent efforts to effect change through rate increases, capital grants, and new rules.

Transparency and proper incentives can go a long way toward achieving the change we all hope to see in LTC!

Watch Grabowski's recent appearance before a House hearing on nursing homes, COVID, and private equity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VUFu_DZzJ4

Learn more about the Moving Forward Nursing Home Quality Coalition's work to operationalize the recent NASEM recommendations for care improvement:

https://movingforwardcoalition.org/committees/

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org

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 – instead, eldercare leaders must work to foster a true community of citizen-residents who have real ownership and responsibility over what happens in their assisted living community or nursing home.

Vitale-Aussem dives into CLC's experience with the citizenship model, and how fostering a culture that mirrors a neighborhood or town – with all of the shared challenges and collective problem-solving that comes with it – can bring true empowerment and purpose to elders in any care setting.

Explore the tenets of the citizenship model: https://www.pioneernetwork.net/can-we-talk-a-culture-of-citizenship/

Check out Jill's book, "Disrupting the Status Quo in Senior Living: A Mindshift": https://www.amazon.com/Disrupting-Status-Quo-Senior-Living/dp/1938870824

Show notes/call to action:

Learn more about The Green House Project: www.thegreenhouseproject.org