Nursing homes rarely garner positive attention, but COVID-19 brought the sector into the public eye like never before — bringing more negative headlines but also an unprecedented opportunity for change. Our podcast, “Elevate Eldercare,” was created in an effort to bring together thought leaders, activists, and advocates in the field of aging services to foster thoughtful discourse and diverse perspectives aimed at elevating eldercare. Join Susan Ryan, Penny Cook, Alex Spanko, and other GHP t ...
Join us in Doing it Best with Eldercare Success where we explore ways to relieve the stress, exhaustion and overwhelm that we all face in caring for an aging parent, frail spouse, or partner. Fear, frustration, emotional and financial strain do not have to be your MO! In this show, we dive into unraveling the tricks, traps, and gotchas that create more questions than answers while caring for those we love. Join Nancy May, and her guests as she helps relieve the pressures and delivers solid w ...
Torchlight’s Eldercare Illuminated empowers family caregivers as they overcome obstacles and navigate the complexities of caring for an ill or aging loved one. Tune in for conversations with top eldercare experts, practitioners, or experienced caregivers who can provide practical advice and hands-on tips designed to help you simplify your life while meeting your loved one’s needs. Want full access to Torchlight’s online caregiving platform, including personalized action plans, eGuides, and t ...
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Awakening: Eldercare - Interviews with Compelling People by Connie Shaw

"Awakening" boldly investigates the steps that heroic people everywhere are taking to meet the effects of the current economic and social crisis in daily life. These dynamic role models are feeding the homeless, retrieving parents from nursing homes, growing their own food, creating community, radically forgiving, and discovering the miraculous. The Western American author Louis Lamour has said that "There will come a time when you think that everything is ending. But that will be the beginn ...
Your parent or loved one has always been there for you but has now passed. Is there a way to still contact them? Knowing what to do might help you manage through some tough days a bit easier. How do you attain guidance from your loved ones? What might you be doing, unintentionally, to discourage them from reaching out to you? You may learn some sur…
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BONUS: Introducing the Mission Possible Podcast
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This week, please enjoy the first episode of our new podcast series, “Mission Possible,” produced in conjunction with the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care and AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Each week, you’ll hear in-depth interviews and conversations about the ways that leaders can turn decades of r…
In this episode you might be surprised to learn how often chemical restraints are used on our folks to keep them calm, sleepy, and complacent, and easier to care for in hospitals, rehab facilities, nursing homes, and even in our own homes by some lesser concerned home health aides. Sometimes it’s tough to figure out if this is happening to your par…
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Founders’ Perspectives: Pioneer Network’s Rose Marie Fagan
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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 – but her status as an outsider almost immediately proved to be a much bigger asset than a liability. With her fresh eyes, Fagan was able to clearly see the injustices of the era, including physical re…
Can you get support, guidance, and love from a parent, spouse, or even a family member who died before you were born? Turns out, that might be true if you know about how spiritual guides or mediums work. This is part one of a two-segment show where my guest, Sloan Tate, an accredited Medium, and I dive into how you can tap into those you have loved…
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 policies that she and other consumer advocates are watching most closely – including minimum staffing levels, ownership and investor transparency, and finally incorporating real person-centered care pri…
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Founders’ Perspectives: Pioneer Network’s Barry Barkan
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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 fateful morning of reflection in Live Oak Park in Berkeley, Calif. Barry joins “Elevate Eldercare” and longtime colleague Penny Cook to discuss his five decades of advocacy for elders, starting with th…
In this episode, we'll be discussing how to get rid of those crappy, crummy, pissy moods that can come with caring for an elderly parent. It's normal to feel overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated when caring for someone you love who needs your help all the time. However, sometimes the worst feelings can get the best of us. It happens to me too.! In…
In this episode, my guest, James Hagerty, the Wall Street Journal Obituary writer, and I discuss how to capture the most interesting parts of our parents and loved ones’ life stories. Too often, those final days come about, and we lose, forever, stories about what our parents did in their lifetimes. How does one start, though? What are the best que…
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Bringing Nature to Elders, One Garden at a Time
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Even as a self-described “mediocre gardener,” Orla Concannon has brought the joys of nature to thousands of elders across the country – all by bringing the garden to them. Eldergrow, Concannon’s company, started out as a graduate school project but has since grown into a successful firm with national reach, empowering elders in a variety of setting…
In this episode, I share how even a whiny five-year-old can help us become better advocates and caregivers for those we love. It starts with one key question that adults often forget to ask, themselves. That simple question, asked over and over again, can be annoying to respond to. But, with patience and some extra thought, you may be able to satis…
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 elders in one of the most secluded spots in the United States. The town of Point Roberts, Wash. is what geographers call a pene-exclave. Located at the end of a peninsula, Point Roberts is surrounded by wa…
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Raised in Eldercare: The Story of a 16-Year-Old CNA
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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 administrator of the Spearly Center, a unique skilled nursing community in Denver, and the other works for the Alzheimer’s Association. At age 12, Eli followed in his moms’ footsteps and started as an activities…
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Eldercare Success


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Tough Choices, Right Decisions, Every Day Counts!
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What happens when the quality of care provided by your mom’s care facility was great, but then declined to a point where you’re worried that she’s suffering? Do you just suck it up and hope the quality of aides and services will get better? Or do you call medical transport, wrap her up in a blanket, and move her to a place that will make every minu…
Personal treasures or talismans have been used for a long time by caregivers, and those grieving, to reduce pain and stress. In this episode, I share a bit of history and some ways that you can use personal items to help you recover from loss and make better care decisions. My own experience with such simple items as my mom and dad’s handwritten no…
“Elevate Eldercare” often welcomes academic researchers from across the aging field, but Anne Basting is the first English professor to sit down behind our mics. Basting is a firm believer in the power of art and creativity as a medium of communication and connection for people living with dementia. From putting on a production of the ancient story…
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Eldercare Success


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Researching Hospitals to Get Better Care (Part #2)
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This episode is Part Two of my discussion with attorney Dan Frith. The quality of care our aging parents receive can vary by which hospital they use. The one closest to home might not be the safest, or even appropriate for them, or you. Not all hospitals are the same, nor equal, nor even similar in the types of services they offer or specialize in.…
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Reports to Results: Solutions for Real Change
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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 the Inspector General. But while understanding the mistakes of the past is important, the time for retrospective reports has long since passed – and policymakers have the tools to effect real change to…
How do you prepare your home, or a parent’s home, so it’s safe for them to return to after a hospitalization or long-term rehab stay? They might have recovered, but the last thing you want is for another issue or accident to happen. In this episode, we provide a list of suggestions to help you, the family or professional caregiver, better ensure co…
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Leadership at Play: Inside the Evolution of a Green House Community
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Every Green House community is different, from the people who call it home to the surrounding neighborhood and landscape. At Londonderry Village in Palmyra, Pa., outside of Hershey, the Green House homes come with the wafting smell of chocolate, an intergenerational play park, and people-powered vehicles known as trishaws. We sit down with Londonde…
In this episode, we discuss how to learn if your doctor is the right one for your parents, or you. Sometimes we base our trust on a doctor’s “likeability,” or bedside manner. But someone who seems good doesn’t mean they are good or even competent. When it comes to your health, skills, competency ( a low "accidental" death rate), and experience usua…
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Taking Action with the Moving Forward Coalition
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The Moving Forward Coalition launched with a clear but ambitious goal: Operationalize the host of recommendations from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) 2022 report on the state of nursing home care. This week, we welcome Moving Forward leaders Alice Bonner and Isaac Longobardi to talk about the group’s mission…
In this episode, I share some research done on the most challenging days of the week for those who care for an aging parent or spouse. From this, I learned that there really is an official calendar day called Blue Monday. Also, there are specific days when it seems, the effort of caregiving is that much more stressful. It’s good to know this and be…
The past year brought significant momentum for real eldercare reform, and the year ahead promises even more progress toward our goal of overhauling the long-term care system in the U.S. and abroad. We’ve gathered a group of CFI leaders – CEO Susan Ryan, chief culture officer Penny Cook, strategic advisor Ann Montgomery, and communications director …
What happens when you’re both a caregiver and, at the same, disabled yourself? In this episode my guest Daniel Hodges, JD, who is blind, was a caregiver for his parents and children while needing special care himself from the medical community. We discuss how he was able to succeed at this, by being a non-stop advocate for himself and those around …
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Rethinking Geriatrics for a Person-Centered Future
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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 both a trained geriatrician and the former leader of California’s largest nursing home chain, Wasserman can speak to both the medical and financial problems baked into the eldercare system. He joins …
Caring for those we love is tough enough. When toxic people enter our lives wanting more of our time, attention, energy, and even money, offering nothing in return, they make caregiving even more difficult. In this episode, I share some tips on identifying, assessing, and more easily separating yourself from those I refer to as time vampires, blood…
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Looking Back – and Forward – After a Year of Change
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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 Innovation banner. Three CFI leaders – CEO Susan Ryan, chief culture officer Penny Cook, and chief learning officer Marla DeVries – look back on a year that saw the culture change movement gain even more powe…
In this episode, I share tips on how caregivers can overcome those holiday blues when you’re alone and away from those you love. The show mentions how to make your days brighter when you start feeling a little dark. Below are several links to those tips and solutions discussed in this episode. They’re fun and easy to do yourself or with your parent…
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 end of a person’s ability to contribute to society. Bobby Redman turns that notion on its head, living on her own and serving as an advocate for the entire community years after her diagnosis with front…
This show is in memory of James Degenheardt who was a gift that showed up on my dad's doorstep one New Year's Day. Finding that special, thoughtful gift for an aging parent, or loved one can be tough. Even more so when you are short on time, or just can’t bear the thought of going shopping. In this episode, I share how I faced this same dilemma as …
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Fighting for Rick: A Dementia Caregiver’s Story
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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 their home in Australia to Europe, Asia, and North America – winning friends and professional admiration at every stop along the way. But when Rick was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasi…
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Eldercare Success


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Help Line: Choking, Breathing, Speaking, Eating and more!
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Imagine not being able to eat, swallow or enjoy your favorite foods. Or feeling so tired you could fall headfirst into your soup bowl! Or, even worse, getting your tongue cut, and rebuilt due to cancer, and having to learn how to talk again! Would thinking about these things happening freak you out? Well, there’s lots to learn from my special guest…
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Bringing Social Design to Eldercare and Beyond
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Architect Nick Seemann joins the podcast to discuss social architecture and design – the idea that people and physical spaces interact to create each environment – in eldercare and beyond. The founder and managing director of the Australia-based Constructive Dialogue Architects, Seemann has a range of experience across a variety of settings, from o…
In this short episode, we talk about how to protect your parent’s credit cards from getting skimmed while in their wallets. RFID chips are now embedded in almost all our credit cards. For those of us caring for aging parents who are out and about shopping on their own, or with the help of an aide, the idea that their cards can be charged without th…
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Building an ‘Unstoppable’ Coalition for Change in LTC
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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 can learn from each other across the globe. Sinha argues that there’s a core misconception in international analyses of countries, such as Denmark, that have emerged as eldercare leaders; while those …
The stress from caregiving can wreak havoc on one’s entire body. Yet our brains and mental abilities often end up suffering the most. While in caregiving mode, some of us end up with overload. We feel like our brains are in a total fog. We question whether we’re the ones with dementia or suffering from early-stage Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, that’s p…
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Gathering Around the Gratitude Table: St. John’s
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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 Susan Ryan and Rebecca Priest welcome a trio of employees from St. John’s Senior Services in Rochester, N.Y. – dining practice partner Linda McCoy, dementia and quality of life specialist Mimi DeVinney, S…
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Inside the Center for Innovation: The New Home for Pioneer and Green House
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It’s official: The Green House Project and Pioneer Network are now formally aligned under the Center for Innovation umbrella. GHP senior director Susan Ryan and Pioneer Network CEO Penny Cook go inside the new alliance and share updates on some of the exciting work coming in the year ahead – including a new e-learning platform, their participation …
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Eldercare Success


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How to research problems before they happen to you
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How do you identify a problem doctor or facility before they become a problem for you? We all put more effort, time, and research into buying a car than into selecting medical care for our parents, and ourselves. Why do that? In this episode, I share easy ways to find out if the doctor, rehab, or care facility you select for your parents is compete…
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Eldercare Success


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Law, You, and Care Facilities (Part #2): Avoid becoming a victim.
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Part two: Holding everyone at the facility(ies), including you, accountable (Part #2) Here, in part two, we dive into more ways to avoid falling into the traps that Long Term Care homes, nursing homes, rehab facilities, in-home aide agencies, and hospitals use to protect themselves from your or your parents’ outrage. Are your folks one of what they…
Canadian Association for Long-Term Care CEO Jodi Hall joins Penny Cook to discuss the challenges and opportunities around systemic change post-COVID. Hall’s answers will probably sound familiar to providers and reform leaders on both sides of the border – funding questions, staffing shortages, and regional regulatory variations loom large as lawmak…
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Compassionate Care Starts with Compassionate Leadership
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As a chronic cancer patient and senior lecturer in nursing at the University of Salford in Manchester, England, Natalie Yates-Bolton knows about the importance of compassionate health care from both sides of the equation. She joins “Elevate Eldercare” to discuss her extensive work in the field of compassionate leadership in nursing homes and other …
Elder Law and Care Home Mishaps. Who’s on your side to help, are they able, and will they help? You might be surprised by the answers. After listening to these next two episodes (part 1 and part 2), you will gain a new, more empowered understanding of your parent’s care facility and what they’re legally allowed to do, or not do for them. In additio…
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Rethinking “Surplus Safety” in Long-Term Care
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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 dangers of poor diet – as though elders have no autonomy or ability to make decisions on their own. Zero-tolerance COVID lockdowns have helped to reframe the discussion in recent years, but too often we…
When caring for your parents, how do you make the right decisions for them when they can’t? Some of us go into paralysis mode, some panic, and others decide based on what choices they feel are best for their folks. But what’s a good way to weigh the options available? Do you use facts, desires, and what seems right, or face the realities of life – …
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Reframing the “Workforce Crisis” in Long-Term Care
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Persistent staffing issues in long-term care don’t have a single solution. In fact, leadership expert and educator Christopher Ridenhour argues that creating a stable, resilient, and satisfied workforce requires the intersection of multiple goals – from diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts to employee recognition to fostering a culture of true …
What is a Long-Term Care or Nursing Home Care Resident Ombudsman? Who do they serve? How can they help you, if your mom or dad reside in a facility where they’re NOT getting the proper care needed? Knowing how to get help from an independent outside authority can give you the support you may need or help with deciding what to do if you’re concerned…
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Breaking the Binary Between Funding and Transparency
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Harvard researcher David Grabowski returns to the podcast to discuss the financial incentives that have created our current long-term care landscape – and how small changes to the way the federal government funds and regulates nursing homes can lead to significant improvements in quality, safety, and satisfaction. Too often, nursing home reform is …
Top 10 Ways To Reduce The Burden Of Being Cared For: It can be tough to avoid becoming emotionally involved in and impacted by an aging parent’s needs. But, what about when YOU become that aging parent? Well, there are things you can do, now, to reduce the likelihood of becoming that caregiving ball-and-chain around your kids’ necks. Here are 10 wa…