Melissa Destout

Associate Principal
Perkins Eastman Architects PC
Pittsburgh, PA
  • 56-C. Do Life Plan Communities Need a Skilled Nursing Component?

    • Sunday, October 27, 2024

    4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

    56-C. Do Life Plan Communities Need a Skilled Nursing Component?

    Many life plan communities are looking for a different way to address the long-term care needs of their residents. Some organizations are reducing or eliminating their skilled care component or building new communities without skilled nursing. Others are re-building their long-term care products to be more consumer-friendly. This session will look closely at both options. Presenters will explore whether skilled nursing care is an essential part of a continuum in life plan communities, the steps involved in deciding whether to strengthen or dismantle a skilled nursing setting, and the financial implications of that decision. Learn about alternatives to including skilled care in the continuum and how to determine what your community needs.

John DiMaggio

CEO
BlueOrange Compliance
Columbus, OH
  • 11-J. Are You Inviting Hackers to Compromise Your Cybersecurity?

    • Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    8:00 – 9:00 a.m.

    11-J. Are You Inviting Hackers to Compromise Your Cybersecurity?

    No provider of aging services would volunteer to have their technology systems hacked, but many providers unknowingly invite hackers to compromise their cybersecurity. This session will explore common practices and pitfalls that leave senior living organizations open to potential harm and actions providers can take to avoid dangerous situations. You’ll hear from a technology consultant who works with hundreds of providers nationwide, a penetration tester who acts as a “bad guy” to help provider organizations assess and test their vulnerabilities, and a chief information officer who will offer the provider’s perspective on cybersecurity. Hear stories of providers who fell prey to hackers and learn how to promote a culture of security awareness in your organization.

Amy Dore

Professor & Program Director, Aging Services Leadership
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Highlands Ranch, CO
  • 143-F. Embracing Students as Future Leaders in Aging Services

    • Monday, October 28, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    143-F. Embracing Students as Future Leaders in Aging Services

    The field of aging services faces a pressing challenge: finding innovative strategies to recruit and retain employees to meet the projected demand of 20 million caregiving positions by 2040. Fresh approaches are essential to tackle this critical need. This session will present a solution that includes actively recruiting from colleges and universities that offer aging services and gerontology programs. Representatives from Metropolitan State University of Denver will demonstrate how to stay ahead of the recruitment curve by creating entry-level job opportunities, volunteer experiences, intergenerational learning moments, and internships to attract college graduates to the field. Attendees will hear from current students, alumni, and faculty and leave with practical strategies for collaborating with educational institutions to address the workforce shortage.

Derek Dujardin

Creative Director and Brand Strategist
3rdPlus
Seattle, WA
  • 84-K. Unleashing Your Nonprofit Superpowers to Boost Census

    • Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    9:30 – 10:30 a.m.

    84-K. Unleashing Your Nonprofit Superpowers to Boost Census

    Nonprofit life plan communities are the superheroes of the senior living world. So why are so many communities losing census to for-profit communities? Your nonprofit status brings with it a wealth of powerful advantages, but communicating those advantages to prospective residents takes time and effort. This session will help census-challenged nonprofit communities identify game-changing messaging that will improve their marketing, sales, hiring, and fundraising. Presenters will share a dozen impactful nonprofit messages and stories proven to resonate with different target audiences. They’ll also show you how to identify and mitigate operational activities and behavior patterns that can weaken sales performance, depress lead generation, and impact census.

Derek Dunham

Vice President Client Services
Varsity
Wormleysburg, PA
  • 79-F. Senior Living Marketing: Educate Them and They Will Come

    • Monday, October 28, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    79-F. Senior Living Marketing: Educate Them and They Will Come

    Research shows that most Baby Boomers want to age in their own homes. What’s unclear is how much Baby Boomers know about the challenges associated with meeting that goal. This session will offer compelling reasons why senior living organizations should move away from the traditional, transactional approach to marketing and toward an approach that educates older adults about senior living options and helps them make informed decisions. Hear about one organization that took an educational approach to marketing its Continuing Care at Home (CCaH) program. Find out what CCaH program benefits resonate most with older adults. Take home tips for implementing an educational approach to marketing that facilitates sales at all levels of care.

Zipporah Dunman

Assistant to Administration
Plano Community Home, Inc.
Plano, TX
  • 30-D. Creating Diverse Resident Councils in Affordable Housing

    • Monday, October 28, 2024

    8:15 – 9:15 a.m.

    30-D. Creating Diverse Resident Councils in Affordable Housing

    Housing communities assisted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) thrive when residents are engaged, and their needs are heard by community staff. Resident councils represent one of the most effective strategies for achieving such engagement. This session will share promising practices for establishing and sustaining strong councils that bring together residents who speak various languages and are culturally, educationally, financially, and socially diverse. Presenters will walk you through the challenging steps involved in getting a resident council off the ground, review the latest HUD insights and requirements for these councils, and discuss how a housing community’s staff can work with and support a resident council and ensure its sustainability.

Sandra Dzankovic

Director of Operations
AHEPA Management Company
Akeny, IA
  • 144-G. Enhancing Quality through Teamwork in Affordable Housing

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    8:15 – 9:15 a.m.

    144-G. Enhancing Quality through Teamwork in Affordable Housing

    Working in subsidized senior housing communities is most rewarding when all the community’s team members pull in the same direction. Unfortunately, this teamwork doesn’t always come naturally due to restraints and restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. During this session, representatives of AHEPA Senior Living in Fishers, IN, will share their secret for improving teamwork between a housing community’s property management and service coordination teams. Presenters will explain how to establish healthy communication and working relationships across these teams by setting clear boundaries, being supportive, and fostering understanding. Discover the rewards and benefits of teamwork, explore the need for confidentiality in communications about residents, and review approaches you might take to resolving difficult situations.

Caroline Edasis

Assistant Vice President of Resident Engagement
Mather
Evanston, IL
  • 35-I. How Dementia Care Can Intersect with Your DEI Strategy

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    35-I. How Dementia Care Can Intersect with Your DEI Strategy

    Diversity of cognitive ability and care is often overlooked as an important component of organizational DEI efforts. What if we intentionally embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion when supporting residents living with cognitive change? This session will explore how discrimination in favor of people who do not have disabilities (ableism) affects how people with dementia view themselves and how they are perceived. Together we will explore how to acknowledge personal biases in dementia care and view dementia through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, and ableism. You’ll hear the voices of people with dementia and their care partners and be invited to consider how their lived experiences could inform your overall approach to dementia care.

Andy Edeburn

Managing Partner
Elder Dynamics
Rockford, MN
  • 47-H. Giving Board Members an Incentive to Serve

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

    47-H. Giving Board Members an Incentive to Serve

    Nonprofit providers of aging services require strong and capable boards of directors to help them make crucial decisions about the future of their organizations. Unfortunately, providers are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and recruit community leaders, stakeholders, and experts to serve on their boards. Some organizations have addressed this challenge by using incentives to help recruit, retain, and engage board members and trustees. This session will explore how incentive-based recruitment can help organizations strengthen their governance. LeadingAge members will share their experiences with incentive-based recruitment models, describe the difference incentives have made in the governance of their organizations, and share the lessons they learned along the way.

Jessica Eiland Anders

Michigan Program Director, Thome Aging Well Program
Enterprise Community Partners
Columbia, MD
  • 16-C. Preserving Owner-Occupied Homes with a Health Action Plan

    • Sunday, October 27, 2024

    4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

    16-C. Preserving Owner-Occupied Homes with a Health Action Plan

    Health Action Plans offer affordable housing developers an evidence-based process for embedding health-promoting features into the design of new housing or the repair of existing structures. This session will explore how six community-based organizations used these plans to address the health of older adults while repairing and modifying their homes. You’ll learn how to identify the health needs of older homeowners, ensure their full engagement in the home modification process, and work with design and public health partners to select healthy building materials. Presenters will describe Health Action Plans used to preserve owner-occupied housing in Michigan and Maryland. You’ll take home templates you can use to implement a Health Action Plan in your community.

Randy Eilts

Director of Public Relations & Communications
Covenant Living Communities and Services
Skokie, IL

Rebekah Erickson

Director of Insights & Engagement
Covenant Living Communities and Services
Skokie, IL
  • 148-I. Your Executive Playbook for Retaining Talent

    • Tuesday, October 29, 2024

    4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

    148-I. Your Executive Playbook for Retaining Talent

    Are you looking for new ways to slash turnover rates and create a team that’s here to stay? Then this session is for you. Presenters will help you achieve retention success by retooling your Human Resources team to ensure long-term retention success and revamping the new-hire experience to keep fresh talent on the job for more than 90 days. Whether you’re losing entry-level hires or seasoned leaders, this session will give you an executive playbook for retaining talent you can’t afford to lose and fostering a workplace where people want to stay and grow with you. You’ll return home prepared to make fundamental changes to improve productivity and quality of care while ensuring your organization’s long-term sustainability.