Elevate Eldercare

Checking In with the Moving Forward Coalition

20 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shook the eldercare world in April 2022 with a scathing report on the nation's broken nu...

Finding Hope and Light in the Darkest of Times

13 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As we navigate a holiday season set against the backdrop of global and domestic conflict, this 2021 interview with Dr. Edith Eger feels even more vita...

Speaking Up for Nursing Home Residents of All Ages

06 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to forget that not all nursing home residents are elders – and Vincent Pierce is dedicated to making sure leaders, advocates, and the gene...

Creating "Unpretentious" Housing and Care for All Ages

29 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Unpretentious" isn't a word you see often in marketing materials for senior living communities, but it shows up several times in the description of N...

Gathering Around the Gratitude Table 2023

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Each Thanksgiving, "Elevate Eldercare" centers gratitude by handing the mic over to the people who make Green House homes such great places to live. T...

Cross-Pollination: Sharing Person-Directed Practices Across Silos

15 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Stacey Bergmann joined the Center for Innovation this month as the new director of network and community relations – tasked with serving as the main...

Probing the Incentives that Shape Eldercare

08 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brian McGarry's research at the University of Rochester has focused on the ways that financial and economic factors affect care in nursing homes — a...

Surviving vs. Thriving: Training for Long-Term Success

01 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the last three years, many eldercare organizations haven't had the ability to truly thrive, with leaders focused squarely on surviving the many ch...

Reframing Nursing Home Reform as a Housing Issue

25 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In both the public and policymaker imagination, nursing home reform is strictly a health care issue, the domain of state health departments and the fe...

The Heart and Soul of Person-Directed Living

18 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

David Simpson is an accomplished musician who's been singing since the age of 12, performing alongside music legends like the Staples Singers, Dionne ...

Envisioning an Eldercare System Beyond Nursing Homes

11 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The discourse around improving the eldercare landscape tends to focus on narrow, discrete metrics: What's the correct number of nursing home staff hou...

Architecture as a Verb: Creating Human-Centered Aging Spaces

04 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Biophilic design – incorporating nature into the built environment – has grown in popularity in recent years, but the term itself may still seem d...

Finding Creative – and Social – Solutions to Top Eldercare Issues

27 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Faced with the workforce issues plaguing the entire eldercare sector, Goodwin Living in Northern Virginia developed a citizenship assistance program f...

Rebuilding Trust After a Complete System Failure

20 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2021, Dr. Samir Sinha was given a potentially daunting job: serving as the technical committee chair for a group tasked with establishing new, nati...

Empowering Elders to Build Age-Friendly Communities

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Building truly age-friendly communities starts with incorporating elders' needs, wants, and goals into civic planning. As the executive director of Ag...

Find an Adventure No Matter Your Age

06 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week on the show, we take a break from eldercare policy and best practices with a story of mindfulness and adventure. Previous guest Natalie Yate...

Building Empowered and Collaborative Nurse-CNA Teams

30 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The relationship between nurses and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in nursing homes can often be fraught with hierarchy and disputes over tasks a...

Support, Guidance, Advocacy: Rethinking the Ombudsman Role

23 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The people who work in state long-term care ombudsman's offices are unsung heroes for residents of nursing homes, assisted living communities, and oth...

Designing New Ways to Age in Place

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Within the world of aging services, there's perhaps no more popular concept than "aging in place." But what exactly does that mean, and how can we mak...

A Destination, Not a Regret: Nursing Homes as Community Hubs

09 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

oe Carella has a bold prescription for the future of eldercare, starting with reimagining nursing homes as hubs for entire communities. Instead of loo...

Enshrining Eldercare as a Civil and Human Right

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Laxton recently retired after a 40-year career in eldercare, including the last 10 at the helm of AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and ...

Learning from the Past to Build a Whole-Person Health System

26 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Georgetown University formed its School of Health last year, college officials deliberately left out the word "public" from the name – not as a...

Building Palliative Care Communities – Right from an App

19 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

While researching ways to improve the end-of-life experience as part of her PhD work, Andrea Grindrod discovered something interesting: People are alm...

Bridging the Gap Between Health and Tech

12 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a physician with an MBA and a Silicon Valley programming background, Vipan Nikore has a rare perspective on the world of health technology. Nikore,...

Celebrating 200 Episodes of Elevate Eldercare

05 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Join the Green House-Pioneer team for the celebratory 200th episode of "Elevate Eldercare."  What started as a pandemic-era project to stay connected...

Using Tech to Kickstart Person-Directed Care in LTC

28 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Long-term care is notorious for lagging behind other parts of the health care continuum – including hospitals and doctors' offices – in the adopti...

Fighting the 'Demographic Drought' with Diversity, Dollars

21 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Under Jeannee Parker Martin's leadership, LeadingAge California has achieved some remarkable workforce development numbers, graduating more than 1,000...

Using Data to Break Stereotypes Around Aging

14 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In his years marketing major brands like Gillette, Pepsi, and Dannon, Jeff Weiss never encountered any push to pitch products to consumers over the ag...

'You Made Me Feel Relevant': Telling Elders' Tales on the Road

07 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Jack York first started bringing computers into senior living communities in the 1990s, he never could have imagined the ways elders use technolo...

From Aging in Place to Aging in the Right Place

31 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of aging in place – already the overwhelming preference for most people – received more media an...

Prioritizing Emotional Safety in Long-Term Care

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The traditional nursing home took its design and operational cues from hospitals – a setting defined by its focus on physical health over all other ...

Moving Forward with Real LTC Workforce Solutions

17 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, the groundbreaking NASEM report on nursing home quality laid out a host of recommendations for improving the broken long-term care system i...

The Case for Compassion in Eldercare and Beyond

10 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Eldercare – and U.S. health care writ large – too often is a cold, impersonal experience for the people both giving and receiving care, as ever-in...

Bringing Green House Homes to Australia

03 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When the Australia-based ACH Group agreed to become the first provider outside of the United States to fully implement the Green House model, CEO Fran...

Powering Workforce Recruitment, Retention with Data

26 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More than 30 years ago, current Center for Innovation board chair Michele Holleran launched her eponymous data analytics firm with a focus that was co...

Inside the First Annual CFI Conference

19 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time ever, The Green House Project and Pioneer Network are hosting a single conference under the Center for Innovation banner, and we wa...

Abilities, Not Deficits: The Montessori Approach to Dementia Care

12 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Montessori approach to education empowers children to learn by doing activities that emphasize their innate abilities, not by rote or one-size-fit...

Opening a Box of Memories: Exploring Dementia on Stage

05 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

During the pandemic, the father-daughter team of Duncan and Erin McKellar teamed up – over Zoom, of course – to create a passion project based on ...

BONUS: Introducing the Mission Possible Podcast

29 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week, please enjoy the first episode of our new podcast series, "Mission Possible," produced in conjunction with the National Consumer Voice for ...

Founders' Perspectives: Pioneer Network's Rose Marie Fagan

22 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Rose Marie Fagan first applied for a job as a nursing home ombudsman, she had no prior experience with long-term care or health care in general –...

Inside Key Nursing Home Policy Discussions

15 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lori Smetanka of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care returns to "Elevate Eldercare" for an update on the key nursing home reform po...

Founders' Perspectives: Pioneer Network's Barry Barkan

08 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Barry Barkan played a crucial role in the formation of Pioneer Network in 1997, but his experience in eldercare goes back 20 years before that, to a f...

Bringing Nature to Elders, One Garden at a Time

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Even as a self-described "mediocre gardener," Orla Concannon has brought the joys of nature to thousands of elders across the country – all by bring...

Building a Circle of Care for Elders

22 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As the president of the Point Roberts Circle of Care board, Galen Wood has a unique task in a unique place – providing services and supports for eld...

Raised in Eldercare: The Story of a 16-Year-Old CNA

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

High school junior Eli Grundy has been immersed in eldercare for as long as he can remember, thanks to his parents: One of his moms is the administrat...

Art and Expression at Any Age

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

"Elevate Eldercare" often welcomes academic researchers from across the aging field, but Anne Basting is the first English professor to sit down behin...

Reports to Results: Solutions for Real Change

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The new year year kicked off with another report analyzing the failures of the nursing home system during COVID-19, this time from the HHS Office of t...

Leadership at Play: Inside the Evolution of a Green House Community

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every Green House community is different, from the people who call it home to the surrounding neighborhood and landscape. At Londonderry Village in Pa...

Taking Action with the Moving Forward Coalition

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Moving Forward Coalition launched with a clear but ambitious goal: Operationalize the host of recommendations from the National Academies of Scien...

2023 Eldercare Reform Outlook

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The past year brought significant momentum for real eldercare reform, and the year ahead promises even more progress toward our goal of overhauling th...

Rethinking Geriatrics for a Person-Centered Future

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Michael Wasserman's unique combination of professional experience makes him one of the most incisive voices in the long-term care reform space: As...

Looking Back – and Forward – After a Year of Change

28 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's been a momentous year for The Green House Project and Pioneer Network, as the two organizations formally united under the new Center for Innovati...

Embracing Dementia as a Stage of Life

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Part of the enduring stigma surrounding dementia is the collective misconception that a diagnosis means the end of someone's life – or at least the ...

Fighting for Rick: A Dementia Caregiver's Story

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In Lynne Sewell's telling, her husband Rick seems almost larger than life, trotting the globe with his family as his job in technology took him from t...

Bringing Social Design to Eldercare and Beyond

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Architect Nick Seemann joins the podcast to discuss social architecture and design – the idea that people and physical spaces interact to create eac...

Building an 'Unstoppable' Coalition for Change in LTC

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Samir Sinha has emerged as a leading voice for eldercare improvement in Canada, and he joins CFI's Penny Cook to discuss the lessons that leaders ...

Gathering Around the Gratitude Table: St. John's

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A Thanksgiving tradition continues as we gather around a virtual gratitude table with the folks who make Green House homes work. This year, GHP's Susa...

Inside the Center for Innovation: The New Home for Pioneer and Green House

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's official: The Green House Project and Pioneer Network are now formally aligned under the Center for Innovation umbrella.  GHP senior director Su...

Building LTC Bridges Across Borders

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Canadian Association for Long-Term Care CEO Jodi Hall joins Penny Cook to discuss the challenges and opportunities around systemic change post-COVID. ...

Compassionate Care Starts with Compassionate Leadership

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As a chronic cancer patient and senior lecturer in nursing at the University of Salford in Manchester, England, Natalie Yates-Bolton knows about the i...

Rethinking "Surplus Safety" in Long-Term Care

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Even the most well-meaning people sometimes talk about "keeping our seniors safe" from a variety of possible outcomes, from disease to falls to the da...

Reframing the "Workforce Crisis" in Long-Term Care

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Persistent staffing issues in long-term care don't have a single solution. In fact, leadership expert and educator Christopher Ridenhour argues that c...

Breaking the Binary Between Funding and Transparency

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Harvard researcher David Grabowski returns to the podcast to discuss the financial incentives that have created our current long-term care landscape –...

Autonomy Through Community: The Citizenship Model in LTC

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic threw a harsh light on the lack of autonomy that far too many people experience when receiving care in an institutional setting, and supp...

Incentives Matter: Paying for Performance in Long-Term Care

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Frequently lost in the debates over nursing home reform is an uncomfortable fact: the federal and state governments spend billions on care in outdated...

Workforce Voices: Different Paths, Same Heart

21 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Susan Ryan and Alex Spanko discuss a pair of interviews with care professionals conducted at the recent Pioneer Network conference. First up, Lauren F...

DEI Beyond Workshops: Creating Real Belonging

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Organizations in all industries have embraced the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their operations – but how can eldercare organi...

Volunteers and Validation: Infusing Humanity into Care

07 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The voices from the Pioneer Network conference continue to speak as Alex Spanko and Penny Cook break down a pair of interviews focusing on the need fo...

"Let Me Say This About That" – June Recap

29 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this edition of "Let Me Say This About That" we focus our discussion on health care innovations, a closer look at employees in skilled nursing and ...

Beyond EAPs: Building the Mental Health Support Pyramid

22 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During COVID, many long-term care organizations have leaned heavily on employee assistance programs (EAPs) to support employee mental health. While th...

Respect, Wages, Education: Paying It Forward for CNAs

15 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Lori Porter was a young CNA, she relied on the support – both moral and financial – of others to access the training she needed to advance he...

Keep Learning, Keep Growing, Keep Thriving

08 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Before he was the CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife, Louis Woolf's career started in consumer research, where he worked with Children's Television Workshop –...

Inside the Green House Project-Pioneer Network Alliance

01 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Since we announced a formal alliance with Pioneer Network this spring, we've gotten a lot of questions: Why now? What will happen to the Pioneer brand...

What Do You Want to Do When You're Older?

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As we close out Older Americans Month, "Elevate Eldercare" takes a wider look at the societal problem of ageism with Paul Irving, the former president...

Bringing a European-Style Dementia Village to New Jersey

18 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As soon as Larry Carlson saw a CNN piece about a unique dementia village in the Netherlands, he knew he had to see it for himself – and once he did,...

How Nurses Can Drive Nursing Home Culture Change

11 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In honor of National Nurses Week, we convened an all-star panel of nurses from the Green House and Pioneer Network communities to discuss the vital ro...

Growing the Next Generation of Caregivers

04 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The New Jewish Home has been serving elders in New York City since before the Civil War, but CEO Jeffrey Farber knows that even an organization with t...

"Let Me Say This About That" – April Recap

27 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this edition of "Let Me Say This About That" we focus on innovation and how to make substantive change – from the perspective of those that are d...

A Comprehensive Roadmap for Meaningful Reform in Nursing Homes

20 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During this pandemic there has been a trusted and credible voice that has used data to shine a light on the urgent need for comprehensive nursing home...

Dismantling Institutional Culture in Long-Term Care

13 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When The Green House Project talks about bringing an end to the institutional nursing home, we don't just mean the outdated, hospital-like buildings w...

Going Beyond Good Enough for Elders and Workers

06 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For years, Barry Berman and Betsy Mullen thought they'd built the best possible nursing home – to the point where people came from all over to see t...

Maintaining Leadership in LTC as the World Moves On

30 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the CEO of an eldercare organization and the chair of LeadingAge's board, Carol Silver Elliott faced a pair of daunting leadership challenges durin...

"Let Me Say This About That" – March Recap

23 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

March of every year is declared "National Women's Month". The National Women's History Alliance designates a yearly theme for Women's History Month…...

Building Morals into Long-Term Care

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amid the current national debate over new nursing home regulations, Dr. Eleanor Feldman Barbera presents a provocative reframing of the system-wide pr...

Emphasizing the Living in Senior Living

09 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jane Rohde's career in senior living architecture and design is based on a simple but often overlooked truth: What's good for elders is also what's go...

Who Cares for the Caregivers?

02 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The solutions to the workforce crisis in long-term care are complex and systemic, from better wages to battling deep-seated biases to inspiring young ...

"Let Me Say This About That" – February Recap

23 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We continue our new format for "Let Me Say This About That" – highlighting all of the podcasts released in the month in one episode. In February thr...

Getting Closer to Home with Marvell Adams, Jr.

16 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Marvell Adams, Jr. has built his career in non-profit senior services on a desire to bring the traditional spaces associated with eldercare – the nu...

Editing the Genetics of Alzheimer's

09 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Ornit Chiba-Falek's work as an Alzheimer's researcher sounds almost like science fiction – but it's real. At the Duke University School of Medic...

Reframing Dementia and Caregiving for the Future

02 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Amid the gradual aging of the American population, there's never been more awareness about Alzheimer's and other dementias – but the stigmas and mis...

"Let Me Say This About That" – January Recap

26 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's a new year and we've got a new format for "Let Me Say This About That" – instead of highlighting just one Elevate Eldercare podcast, we will di...

Overcoming Inertia in Eldercare Reform

19 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As a longtime advocate for better eldercare options, Susan Reinhard knows that calls for change will always be met with tough resistance from those in...

"Be Kind and Be Useful": Finding Common Ground in Eldercare Reform

14 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Laura Tamblyn Watts has a mantra for her work in eldercare reform: Be kind and be useful. The temperature around long-term care reform debates can oft...

Building a True Eldercare System with Rep. Jan Schakowsky

12 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Among the many long-simmering problems that COVID-19 revealed in long-term care, a lack of coordination among providers and leaders may be one of the ...

COVID 2022: Hope and Reality with Dr. William Haseltine

05 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

To kick off yet another uncertain year, "Elevate Eldercare" welcomes back Dr. William Haseltine for a dose of both hard reality and hope for managing ...

Revisiting the Biggest Ideas of 2021

29 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this last episode of the year, Susan Ryan and Alex Spanko look back at some of the guests and ideas that stuck with the entire Green House Project ...

"Let Me Say This About That" - Speaking the Truth with Dr. Joycelyn Elders

22 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we have another inspirational woman to highlight on "Let Me Say This About That" – Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former Surgeon General of the Unit...

Speaking the Truth with Dr. Joycelyn Elders

15 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, "Elevate Eldercare" has the true honor of welcoming former U.S. surgeon general and current Green House Project board member Dr. Joycelyn E...

"Let Me Say This About That" – From Victimization to Empowerment with Dr. Edith Eger

08 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Edith Eger's life took her from unimaginable despair to peace and a calling to help others.  As a teenager, Dr. Eger survived the Nazi concentrat...

From Victimization to Empowerment with Dr. Edith Eger

01 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The arc of Dr. Edith Eger's life took her from unimaginable despair to peace and a calling to help others. This week, she joins "Elevate Eldercare" to...