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, USA
  • 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.

Michelle Duke

Director of Dining and Life Enrichment
Rockwood South Hill
Spokane, WA, USA
  • 80-G. It’s Time to Reset Your Approach to Culinary Success

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    8:30 – 9:30 a.m.

    80-G. It’s Time to Reset Your Approach to Culinary Success

    Your life plan communities can no longer dictate dining products, services, and rules, or be satisfied with occasional menu refreshes. Instead, it’s time to reset your entire approach to dining so you can finally recover from the staffing shortages, supply chain challenges, and skyrocketing costs that defined the pandemic years. Presenters will show you how to collaborate with stakeholders to rediscover the drivers behind operational success and achieve excellence in your culinary experience. You’ll learn how to create a strong and talented “core” team to help you operate a high-quality dining operation that reflects your community’s unique culture.

Gosia Duncan

Independent Sector Lead
Scottish Care
Glasgow, UK
  • 8-F. International Perspectives: Using Technology to Transform Care Delivery

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    8-F. International Perspectives: Using Technology to Transform Care Delivery

    The Digital Support Hub model helps Scottish aged care organizations provide scalable, person-centered care to older adults by blending digital tools with human interaction. This session will explore how the Hub uses a simple, one-button computer and regular welfare calls to engage with older adults living in the community, address gaps in traditional care delivery, tailor care to individual needs, and reduce reliance on in-person services. Presenters will outline strategies for using the Hub model to address workforce shortages, improve staff retention, and empower caregivers and care recipients. You’ll take home practical steps for using a Digital Support Hub to reduce hospitalizations, support transitions to independent living, and preserve autonomy all while achieving significant cost savings.

Donna Duncan

CEO
Ontario Long Term Care Association
Toronto, ON, Canada

DeAnne Dupont

Board Member
Goddard House Assisted Living
Brookline, MA, USA
  • 131-F. Inclusive Planning and Design to Support an Expanded Mission

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    131-F. Inclusive Planning and Design to Support an Expanded Mission

    Goddard House, a 175-year-old single-site assisted living and memory support community in Brookline, MA, embarked on a journey in 2019 to expand a mission that already distinguished it from the competition. This session will showcase the significant physical updates that Goddard House undertook to support programs deemed essential to that expanded mission, which calls for greater engagement with the Boston community, an increased focus on the creative arts, and renewed efforts to foster a sense of belonging for everyone. Presenters will describe the community’s innovative approach to aging and examine the inclusive master plan and evidence-based design process that have enabled the Goddard House campus to create spaces tailored to support current and future residents and programs.

Scott Eckstein

Managing Director
Active Living International
Las Vegas, NV, USA
  • 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.

Joesha Edmorin

Program Manager
LBFE Boston | Little Brothers -Friends of the Elderly
Boston, MA, USA
  • 6-E. Can Technology Foster Meaningful Relationships?

    • Monday, November 03, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    6-E. Can Technology Foster Meaningful Relationships?

    Social isolation puts many older adults at risk for declines in physical and mental well-being. In-person communication is the best antidote to this isolation, but it’s not always available to those who need it most. That’s why technology is playing an increasingly vital role in helping older adults connect with others. This session will describe how a Boston-based affordable housing provider and its community partner connected older housing residents with their peers while teaching them how to stay connected through technology. Presenters will share their experiences recruiting university students to teach technology skills to a diverse group of older adults. You’ll gain strategies for creating programming that fosters socialization and community-building by helping older adults use technology with confidence.

Brad Edmunds

Weyrich Health Care Center Administrator
Westminster Village
Scottsdale, AZ, USA
  • 134-H. The Evolution of Campus Design: A Holistic Approach

    • Tuesday, November 04, 2025

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    134-H. The Evolution of Campus Design: A Holistic Approach

    As the older adult population continues to grow, senior living communities must evolve to meet the increasingly diverse and multifaceted needs of their residents. This session will provide two essential tools for achieving this goal: experience-based design, which examines the lived experiences, emotions, and behaviors of older adults, and data-driven design, which uses quantitative metrics to identify inefficiencies and enhance functionality. Presenters will explore the principles, value, and application of both design models and offer tips for combining these approaches to create communities that balance empathy and efficiency. You’ll gain tools to help you build adaptable, sustainable, and future-ready living spaces that promote the physical, emotional, and social well-being of older adults.

Jason Eldering

Chief Executive Officer
Southern Cross Care (QLD)
Upper Mount Gravatt, QLD, Australia
  • 43-B. International Perspectives: Building Community-Integrated Care Settings

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

    43-B. International Perspectives: Building Community-Integrated Care Settings

    Two solutions to improve services for older adults have emerged independently on opposite sides of the globe, and both will be showcased during this session. Presenters from St. Monica Trust in Bristol, United Kingdom, and Southern Cross Care in Queensland, Australia, will explain how they enhanced quality of life in aged care by listening to their communities, collaborating with trusted partners, and creating outward-facing, integrated care settings. Learn how St Monica Trust shaped The Chocolate Quarter design during 250 focus groups with residents and community stakeholders. Explore how Southern Cross Care Queensland’s Chinchilla Community Wellness Hub promotes provider interaction while reducing resident isolation. You’ll discover how to build integrated communities with older adults at their center.

Jacob Elliott

Director Of Operations Management
LCS
Des Moines, IA, USA
  • 29-C. A Collaborative Approach to Strategic Planning

    • Sunday, November 02, 2025

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    29-C. A Collaborative Approach to Strategic Planning

    Strategic planning is a team sport requiring clear communication, mutual accountability, and a shared vision among all participants. This session will draw on the experiences of Porters Neck Village, a life plan community in Wilmington, NC, to explore essential steps in the strategic planning process. Presenters will outline the roles that the single-site community’s board members, management organization, executive director, staff, and residents played in developing its 10-year growth and campus expansion plan. They will describe how planning decisions were discussed and communicated, how participants held each other accountable, and how retreats, committee meetings, board meetings, and resident gatherings advanced the process. You’ll gain practical strategies that can be applied to your community’s strategic planning process.