Melody Desilets

Executive Director, Cypress Cove Foundation
Cypress Cove
Fort Myers, FL, US
  • 51-H. Enhance Workforce and Community Impact with Employee Scholarships

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    51-H. Enhance Workforce and Community Impact with Employee Scholarships

    Your organization can address workforce challenges and promote employee development by offering scholarships to help employees pursue higher education and improve their professional skills. This session will highlight three organizations that award scholarships to employees and students with support from residents who make donations, review applications, and allocate awards. Presenters will discuss the development, implementation, and outcomes of scholarship initiatives while sharing practical steps for securing funding, engaging stakeholders, and measuring success. Discover how to create scholarship programs that empower employees, attract new talent, and reinforce your organization’s commitment to mission-driven service. You’ll obtain tools to evaluate your scholarship program’s success, ensure its lasting impact, and demonstrate a return on investment for your organization and workforce.

Lisa DeSimone Arthur

Senior Partner and Practice Leader
WittKieffer
OakBrook, IL, USA
  • 38-J. Accelerating the Impact of a New CEO

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    38-J. Accelerating the Impact of a New CEO

    All chief executive officers (CEOs) can benefit from a proactive and supportive transition process that fully engages the board and leadership team to ensure early success in the role. Westminster-Canterbury of the Blue Ridge (WCBR), a life plan community in Charlottesville, VA, sought to orchestrate such a comprehensive transition for its new CEO. During this session, the community’s board chair and new CEO will share key elements of that transition plan. They’ll also address common and unexpected obstacles organizations must overcome to ensure a successful transition process. You’ll discover how a leadership transition can represent a strategic opportunity that enables organizations to step confidently into a brighter future.

Pam DeVito

Managing Director, Well-Being Services
Acts Retirement-Life Communities, Inc.
Fort Washington, PA, USA
  • 89-B. Thriving Your Way: Supporting Person-Directed Living Across the Continuum

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    89-B. Thriving Your Way: Supporting Person-Directed Living Across the Continuum

    Senior living professionals aspire to implement holistic, person-centered living in their communities. But how can this be achieved most effectively? During this session, leaders from Acts in Fort Washington, PA, will describe practices to help team members know, value, and connect with residents as unique individuals. You’ll examine common barriers to creating a more inclusive community culture, underscore the importance of breaking down silos between levels of living to promote inclusive engagement, and underscore the role all team members can play in supporting person-directed living. This session will emphasize the value of offering holistic engagement opportunities and well-being practices across the living continuum.

Stephanie DeWees

Quality & Regulatory Specialist-LTC
LeadingAge Ohio
Columbus, OH, US
  • 87-L. How to Align Quality Improvement and Financial Success

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    87-L. How to Align Quality Improvement and Financial Success

    A collaborative Quality Incentive Payment program implemented by an Ohio-based aging services provider resulted in a $14 million increase in Medicaid reimbursements and a 70% improvement in quality measure points. Attend this session to learn how the organization achieved this remarkable feat. Presenters will discuss the critical need to align clinical and financial goals, especially now that federal and state programs increasingly tie funding to quality outcomes. They will provide an overview of federal and state quality-based payment programs and show you how improved quality outcomes can drive clinical excellence and financial sustainability. You’ll learn how to navigate quality-based payment programs, implement evidence-based performance improvements, and leverage facility-specific data to create positive changes.

Bill Dillane

President
Responsive Group Inc.
Markham, ON, Canada

Denise DiNoto

Director, Partner Engagement
Intrepid Ascent
Berkeley, CA, USA
  • 7-E. How Data Exchange Benefits Your Care and Your Business

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    7-E. How Data Exchange Benefits Your Care and Your Business

    Interoperable data exchange among health and service providers is becoming increasingly common nationwide. How can your organization maximize the business- and care-related benefits of data exchange? This session can help. Presenters will demonstrate how data exchange can support your organization’s work, whether you’re sending care plans and treatment goals to a resident’s healthcare providers, sharing diagnoses and medication management information during care transitions, or receiving alerts about a hospital discharge. They will also explore the unique considerations you should prioritize as you develop your data exchange ecosystem. You’ll learn how to influence national and state data security policies and address common challenges that might arise as you integrate new systems and practices into daily workflows.

John Dixon

Dean of Education
Lasell Village
Auburndale, MA, US
  • 130-E. International Perspectives: Fostering Lifelong Engagement in Age-Inclusive Urban Areas

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    130-E. International Perspectives: Fostering Lifelong Engagement in Age-Inclusive Urban Areas

    A growing percentage of older adults live in urban areas, and this trend is expected to continue. This session will illustrate how to reimagine urban spaces as collaborative, age-inclusive environments that view ageing as a societal asset. Presenters will share their expertise in age-friendly urban design and urban longevity. They’ll introduce you to the City of Longevity framework, developed by the United Kingdom’s National Innovation Centre Ageing to promote healthier, more inclusive urban environments. Representatives from Lasell Village in Newton, MA, will describe their community’s focus on integrating lifelong education, multigenerational design, and community engagement. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore program designs, urban planning strategies, and data-driven approaches to creating healthier, more inclusive cities for all ages.

Lindsay Doak

Director of Research
BerryDunn
Portland, ME, USA
  • 93-D. Enhancing the Home Health and Hospice Experience for All

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    93-D. Enhancing the Home Health and Hospice Experience for All

    Eighty home health and hospice agencies recently worked together to identify ways to improve satisfaction among their caregivers and care recipients. This session will describe the National Patient and Caregiver Satisfaction Quality Improvement Project, which invited patients and caregivers to share what they value most about their healthcare experiences at home. Presenters will help you use their findings to implement a patient-centered care model that prioritizes the unique needs and preferences of clients and their families while increasing employee engagement. You’ll take home tools designed to help your agency boost staff morale and caregiving outcomes while ensuring compliance with new regulations like the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing program, which ties patient and caregiver satisfaction directly to reimbursement.

Rebecca Donato

Executive Director, Vitalize 360
Orchard Cove
Canton, MA, United States
  • 86-K. Integrating Affordable Housing and Healthcare

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    10:00 – 11:00 a.m.

    86-K. Integrating Affordable Housing and Healthcare

    Hebrew SeniorLife developed the Right Care, Right Place, Right Time (R3) model to offer enhanced wellness services to older adults living in affordable housing. This session will focus on a partnership between Hebrew SeniorLife and Schochet, a property management company that implemented the R3 model. Presenters will outline the resources, organizational readiness, and leadership commitment necessary to become an R3 provider. You’ll gain a deeper appreciation for the significant impact your organization could have if it integrated housing and healthcare. Take home practical steps for engaging more frequently with residents about their health and well-being.

Amy Dore

Professor & Program Director, Aging Services Leadership
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
  • 143-D. Experiential Learning: A Next-Generation Workforce Strategy

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    143-D. Experiential Learning: A Next-Generation Workforce Strategy

    Experiential learning that integrates education, mentorship, and hands-on practice represents a valuable opportunity to address workforce shortages while nurturing a new generation of compassionate and skilled caregiving professionals. This session will outline a comprehensive framework for developing experiential learning by offering internship, industry immersion, service-learning, capstone, volunteer, and job shadowing opportunities. You’ll gain insights into the benefits of enabling students and professionals to build their knowledge and skills through hands-on experience within your organization. Discover how to engage academic institutions, students, and community partners in designing and implementing opportunities that nurture the next generation of professionals in the aging services field.

Susan Downey

Director of Healthcare
North Hill
Needham, MA, US
  • 19-D. Enhancing Inclusion through English Language Training

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    19-D. Enhancing Inclusion through English Language Training

    After conducting a campus-wide inclusion survey in July 2024, North Hill in Needham, MA, enlisted the help of life plan community residents to develop an English as a Second Language (ESL) program for team members with limited English proficiency. This session will focus on the inclusion survey and the ESL program it inspired. Presenters will describe how trained resident volunteers provide language instruction to team members during work hours, helping North Hill invest in employee skills, reduce turnover, enhance engagement, and foster a culture of inclusion and respect. Residents and ESL trainees will share their experiences working together in an individualized ESL program tailored to each student’s unique communication level, job, and learning needs.

Derek Dujardin

VP of Creative Direction and Leadership
3rd3rd Marketing
Vashon, WA, USA
  • 69-L. Are You Wasting Money on Marketing? Assessing Your Blind Spots

    • Wednesday, November 05, 2025

    11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

    69-L. Are You Wasting Money on Marketing? Assessing Your Blind Spots

    “Half my marketing budget is being wasted: But which half?” If you’ve ever asked yourself that question, this session is for you. Presenters will address the critical blind spots many organizations experience when evaluating their marketing budgets. They’ll provide tips to help you confidently assess and improve marketing performance at every level while unlocking growth opportunities, boosting sales, eliminating wasteful spending on underperforming tactics, and crafting marketing messages that resonate in competitive markets. You’ll learn how to align your marketing plan with your broader strategic goals and ensure accountability within your sales and marketing teams. Take home tools to achieve better returns on your marketing investment by amplifying what works well and adjusting what doesn’t.