In honor of National Nurses’ Week, we’re sitting down with Dr. Donna Fick – director of the Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State University – and three of her Ph.D. student-researchers, Thakshila Dasanayake, Olivia Rubio, and Nahida Akter. While their backgrounds and upbringing couldn’t be more different, these nursing leaders are bound by a desire to improve the lives of elders through groundbreaking research. By building on a growing evidence base for person-directed care and other more dignified and empowering interventions, Fick and her students are blazing a trail for the ..read more

Workforce development remains the number-one issue for eldercare providers of all types, and this week, we’re taking you inside a comprehensive, nationwide effort to build the care force of tomorrow. Laura Thorn, director of the Direct Care Workforce Strategies Center, joins the podcast to discuss this vital project from the Administration for Community Living and the National Council on Aging. Along with CFI resource development specialist Ella Lawson, Thorn describes the goals of this grant-funded effort – including bringing together leaders from states to share real solutions that work – an ..read more

From a very young age, Paddy Moore learned the value of speaking her mind and advocating for those facing discrimination and exclusion, and she turned those lessons into a lifetime of fighting for others – whether it was creating anti-poverty programs under the federal Office of Economic Opportunity, working to de-institutionalize care for people living with disabilities, or working to build small-home alternatives to traditional nursing homes on Martha’s Vineyard, where she has lived since the 1970s. Moore joins the podcast to talk about her formative years in progressive movements, her work ..read more

You can’t fix what you can’t measure, and for too many years, advocates and officials have attempted to reform the nursing home system without an accurate accounting of multiple metrics – including the flow of money and the track records of owners. CFI strategic advisor Anne Montgomery joins the podcast to discuss her efforts to bring greater transparency to the long-term care landscape, as well as her advocacy for the EINSTEIN Option – a comprehensive federal pilot program that would support a variety of transformation efforts, including workforce development and the construction of small-hom ..read more

When Jennilie Brewster first started inquiring about volunteering at the Coler nursing campus on New York City’s Roosevelt Island, she never imagined that her work with the residents would have a national impact. Brewster – a writer, painter, and film producer – joins the podcast to discuss her work with OPEN DOORS NYC and the Reality Poets, a group of younger men of color, each affected by gun violence, who all found themselves living at Coler. What started as a powerful creative pursuit soon turned into a nationwide movement in the wake of COVID-19, as the Reality Poets filmed their experien ..read more

Reminiscent of the ageist discourse around the “silver tsunami,” the concept of people aging without the support of children or a spouse – once referred to as “elder orphans” – is far too often discussed as a problem, and not a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a new phase of life with friends, neighbors, and other people who bring us joy. Sara Geber helped to popularize the term “solo agers” to describe this cohort of older people, and she joins the podcast today to discuss the ways that people without extended support networks can still thrive as they get older. The author of several books abou ..read more

The idea that structural racism has a direct impact on all facets of American life – including the experiences of elders in care settings – shouldn’t be a controversial statement in 2024, but far too often, the question of equity and race-conscious policymaking gets wrapped up into a broader political discourse. Shekinah Fashaw-Walters, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, joins the podcast to discuss her framework for directly and bluntly addressing the racial disparities and inequities that plague our eldercare system – and her prescriptions for crea ..read more

Tetyana Shippee first became fascinated with the power of structural forces to shape individual lives as a grad student from Ukraine studying the sociology of addiction in the United States. That academic interest soon expanded into gerontology and elder issues – including a two-year stint living in a continuing care retirement community as part of her studies. Shippee, now a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and the associate director for research at the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation, joins the podcast to talk about her work to improve the systems that ..read more

Artificial intelligence is the tech buzzword of the moment, but as eldercare providers know, implementing any technology in the aging space comes with its own unique set of concerns – even solutions that don’t go as far as generating complex written narratives or autonomously analyzing resident data. At Cypress Living, a senior living and home health provider in Fort Myers, Fla., VP of innovation Joe Velderman works to strike the right balance between embracing new technology and maintaining thehuman touch that people of all ages need when receiving care and support services. Velderman joins ..read more

Individuals and companies frequently develop new solutions to make life easier for elders and caregivers, but not all of them have what it takes to actually make the jump from theory to widespread practice. In Australia, that’s where ARIIA – Aged Care Research & Industry Innovation Australia – comes in. Since 2021, ARIIA has funded a host of projects to test a range of technological innovations, workforce processes, and service delivery models, all with the goal of helping the best solutions scale across the country. The group also translates cutting-edge research into new best practices i ..read more