Pioneer Network: Changing the Culture of Aging, Care and Support

Join Joanne Rader in a conversation with João Partel Araujo and Yves Gineste in a conversation about the Gineste-Marescotti® Care Methodology, also known as Humanitude®.  In this podcast, you will learn the story of what inspired Humanitude, what it is all about, and how the team from Humanitude is working to bring it to the US.

A multimodal care methodology for any vulnerable dependent person, such as those living with dementia, post-stroke dependency, physical or mental disabilities, etc. It is comprised of more than 150 care techniques based on four pillars: gaze, speech, touch and verticality.

In the culture change movement, we always talk about the resident voice – the value, how it needs to be heard in all aspects of our work. And who better to share their expertise on this topic than a resident who has actually been a member of her community’s board of directors.

In this podcast, Jan Spalding, shares her insights and experiences as a resident at John Knox Village in Pompano Beach, FL, and former member of their Board of Directors.

Conversations and considerations of COVID-19 have and continue to dominate a large part of our long-term care communities, often dictating how decisions are made. From dining to visitation, just about every aspect of life in these communities has been affected and changed by the pandemic. Now over 2 years later, it is time to adapt and adjust our way of thinking and figure out how we can once again prioritize resident voice in our decision-making. While the culture change fundamentals of a decade ago remain valid and valuable, they nonetheless need to be reimagined in order to be effectively implemented in today’s reality of staffing shortages and other challenges.

Heather Riley, a Licensed Master of Social Work and Licensed Nursing Home Administrator with over 20 years of experience working in long-term care. Heather has worked throughout her career to incorporate culture change principles and person-directed care practices into the communities she worked in and consulted with. 

In the podcast, she shares ideas on how we can reimagine consistent assignment, a core element of culture change, share ideas for improving new and/or agency staff orientation, and offer solutions such as the creation of resident preference cards and other ideas that individually and/or implemented together can positively impact a community while simultaneously prioritizing resident voice.

Though like all of us, she doesn’t have all the answers, she’ll share her thoughts, and then invite you to join her for further conversation and exploration of the question, where we go from here?  

Join Emily Lerner, founder of Perfect Pair, an organization dedicated to creating one-on-one connections between seniors and college students. Learn how Perfect Pair came to be, meet a "perfect pair", and find out how you can get involved.

Then join us on Tuesday, March 1 at 3PM EST when we'll join together in a virtual learning circle to further explore Perfect Pair with Emily, Lizzie and Bobbie Jean.  

When asked about what is keeping long-term care leaders awake at night, one of the top answers is the workforce crisis  - how am I going to hire and retain the best staff?  Pioneer Network is pleased to have Cara Stiletto as our guest for this latest podcast in our Listen, Learn, Explore series. As President and Chief Retention Officer of Magnet Culture, Cara is a workforce thought leader.  Her job is to change leaders’ perspectives to ensure they are successful as workforce trends and demographics change. Cara serves as the voice of the new workforce, offering insight into the mindset of today’s evolving workforce.

Pioneer Network's President & CEO Penny Cook is pleased to welcome Lynne Katzmann, President & CEO of Juniper Communities as her guest. Lynne has been recognized for her outstanding leadership.  As someone who champions a spirit of innovation, she is a firm believer in the double bottom line: doing well by doing good.  Listen as she shares the work she and the team at Juniper have been doing over the past 2 years as they have embraced the interconnection between physical, emotional and mental health, supporting innovation in in every aspect of their organization, including clinical care and engagement.

For most of us, the holidays are a time to gather together with family and friends to celebrate, share traditions and make memories. But for someone living with Dementia and their Care Partners, the holidays can present new challenges. In this podcast, Carrie Chiusano, Exec Dir, Dementia Care Center of Excellence, Presbyterian SeniorCare Network shares her experiences and provides insights into how, by setting shared goals, we can support residents and care partners in having the best possible experience over the holidays.

After listening to the podcast, join Carrie for a virtual learning circle on Wednesday, November 3rd at 2PM EDT where together we’ll explore this topic further, identifying more ideas that will help as you prepare for the up-coming holiday season.  

Biophiliac & Longevity Expert and Founder & CEO of Biophilia Pharma (Nature is the New Pharmacy) Tammy Marshall joins us for the latest episode in Pioneer Network’s Listen, Learn, Explore series where she challenges you to listen to your body’s desire to be in nature (When you feel the pull to be outdoors, respond to it); learn the positive impacts that nature can have on your health; and explore areas in and around your environment where you can immerse yourself and the residents in nature.

As we work to provide quality of life for residents living in care communities, we can all agree on the value of knowing each person and understanding their preferences around daily routines; preferences that support meaning and purpose in their life. We know we need to not only find a way to collect this information, but we also need to have a process to share it with all team members, incorporate those preferences into each resident’s plan of care, and identify if we are honoring those preferences.

Dignity.  It's a word we hear and use all the time.  For those of us working in aging services, we know that in the long-term regulations as far back as OBRA '87 you will find that the word 'dignity', along with 'respect', are two of the more commonly seen words in the document.  And it makes sense - who doesn't believe that it is a fundamental right for residents in nursing homes to be treated with dignity, and don't we all want to be treated with dignity as well?  

Marianne Schmenk, who spent the last 15 years of her career managing a regional long-term care ombudsman program in NW Ohio, has recently had an "A-ha" regarding the concept of dignity, and she is here to share her thoughts with you, and hopefully stimulate some thinking.  No, she doesn't' have all the answers on how to operationalize dignity, though there is surely a tie to person-centered care, but she is eager to share ideas and get the conversation going.  

The title says it all and it’s also the title of Phyllis’ Ayman’s latest book. Join Penny Cook for this transparent discussion with Phyllis about nursing homes, senior living and the advocacy needed to change the culture of care and support.  Phyllis Ayman is a speech and language pathologist who works with families as an elder care advisor and strategist, helping them get the best information for themselves and their loved ones.

Like so many of us, Jim Vanden Bosch, a filmmaker and the founder and executive director of Terra Nova Films, a not-for-profit company specializing in films and videos on a wide variety of aging related issues, was curious about what it must be like to live in a "dementia unit" in a nursing home. Unlike most of us, Jim decided he needed to know - first hand, and so with the support of his family and a local nursing home administrator, he moved in and lived there for 4 days. 

This episode of Listen, Learn, Explore provides the opportunity to listen to Jim's story and learn what he experienced. 

CNAs and other caregivers shoulder a great burden every day. In particular, the task of moving elders up to or away from the dining table requires a great deal of push-pull-shove-twist. Chairs get damaged and lose their structural integrity. Floors get damaged from the dragging and the weight. Most importantly, the risk of personal injury to care staff from such exertion adds to an already burdensome workday.

ComforTek Seating seeks to provide care communities with caregiver-focused solutions that benefit the resident, the caregiver, and the administrator. With chairs that swivel, turn, roll, and lock for safety. ComforTek President, Randy Schellenberg, shares the mission of ComforTek and explains why it’s all about the caregiver.

In Episode 5 of Listen, Learn, Explore, you’ll learn about a new toolkit from the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston that outlines steps that policymakers at the state level can take to implement a pay-for-performance (P4P) program that uses Medicaid funds to promote person-centered care in nursing homes. The toolkit focuses on lessons learned from implementation of the Promoting Excellent Alternatives in Kansas Nursing Homes (PEAK 2.0), a program that helps Kansas nursing homes implement person-centered care.

You hear from Laci Cornelison, the Program Director of PEAK 2.0 at Kansas State University and Natasha Bryant, Managing Director and Research Associate of the LeadingAge LTSS Center at UMass Boston as they talk about how the toolkit can help you advocate with your state to integrate person-centered care expectations and incentives into state policy.

Trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and except for those quick April snowstorms, we’re in the throes of spring and itching to be outside. After the year long-term care residents have had, we know that they are as well. Are the outdoor spaces in senior living and care communities ready for spring? Are they accessible to everyone so that no matter where people live or whatever their abilities or disabilities are, they can go outside too? Join Maggie Calkins from IDEAS Institute and Matt Richardson from WhisperGLIDE Swing Company as we discuss Designing Gardens to Attract Activity.

Dr. Rosemary Laird is a board-certified geriatrician who knows that collaboration and communication are critical to managing intricate issues of aging. She graduated from the Georgetown University School of Medicine. She completed her advanced fellowship in geriatrics at the University of Kansas.

In this Listen, Learn, Explore episode sponsored by Seni, we talk with Dr. Laird about the importance of person-centered incontinence care; that incontinence is not inevitable as we age; the ways to maintain continence; and the importance of knowing a person well, both for the type of care and the products you provide.

After listening to the podcast, join us for the virtual learning circle on Thursday, March 18 at 1:00 PM EST as we delve deeper into this topic and be part of normalizing the conversation about incontinence. You will also have the opportunity to receive a newly published white paper by Dr. Laird and Seni. Seni is a premium brand of adult incontinence products and is part of the TZMO Group.

In this new Listen, Learn, Explore podcast, Dr. McNicoll will offer insights into an array of COVID related issues such as brain fog, delirium and sepsis showing how a person centered lens can make a world of difference in supporting the care of elders. As you listen and learn, Dr. McNicoll will share examples from high performing organizations, opening up a world of ideas that will illuminate and guide.

This month’s Listen, Learn, Explore episode is titled “Did You Know?” In the podcast, Dr. Gravenstein will share his considerable knowledge and deep insights into the COVID-19 pandemic, exploring questions like, did you know . . . about band standing, information about the new strains, and using video to improve quality.

After listening to the podcast, we invite you to join us as we continue to explore this topic in the second part of the Listen, Learn, Explore program, an interactive, learning-circle style event which will be held on Tuesday,  January 26 at 3:00 PM EST.