Small Houses Guides
Pioneer Network’s Small Houses Webinar Series
FacilitatorNora Gibson
Executive Director, ElderHealth Northwest
Nora Gibson has worked in the field of adult day services since 1978, as a clinician, program manager and assistant director. For over 10 years she has been the executive director of ElderHealth Northwest, the largest provider of adult day health services in the Pacific Northwest. Every year, ElderHealth serves 1,400 frail and chronically ill individuals through its adult day programs, in-home services and supported living homes. ElderHealth also offers volunteer companion services through its ElderFriends program. This range of programs is part of an Integrated Neighborhood Network of services that addresses the complex needs of community-based frail elders.
Nora has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio and a graduate degree in Social Work from the University of Washington. She serves on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Social Work. She is on the boards of directors of the Alzheimer's Association—Western and Central Washington State Chapter, Brain Injury Association of Washington, Heritage Affordable Housing, Pioneer Network (national and Washington State boards), and the Washington Adult Day Services Association. She is also an advisory board member for the Washington Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, a board commissioner for the Seattle Housing Authority, a member of the Directors for Disability Organizations Leadership Team, and cabinet member for the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aged, Home and Community Based Services Cabinet.
Nora's work increasingly receives national recognition. In 2006, the National Adult Day Services Association selected Nora to receive an honorable mention for its Ruth Von Behren Award, recognizing her personal achievements and commitment to the field of adult day services. The same year, the Washington State Housing Finance Commission recognized Nora as a "Friend of Housing" in recognition of her leadership and exceptional contribution to provide safe, decent and affordable housing for Washington residents. In 2007, the American Geriatrics Society selected Nora for its David H. Solomon Distinguished Public Service Award, in recognition of her commitment to community service and advancement of knowledge for caring for older adults. Her most recent award is the Washington Association of Housing and Services for the Aging's Meritorious Service Award, recognizing her significant contributions to the field of long-term care, services, and housing for the elderly.
One of her most prominent projects at ElderHealth Northwest is Buchanan Place, a small, supported-living home for persons with Alzheimer's or other dementia. The home is featured in the 2006 documentary "Brave New Home: Changing the Culture of Nursing Home Care," which is frequently reprised on KCTS.
Session 1 March 5, 2009 1:00 PM EST Creating Home: The Essential Elements of Small HousesLead GuidesRobert Jenkens Director, THE GREEN HOUSE® Project
Robert Jenkens serves as a Vice President of Community Solutions Group, LLC (CSG) where he directs NCB Capital Impact's GREEN HOUSE® Project. The Green House Project partners with long-term care providers to create small-scale homes, typically licensed as skilled nursing facilities, to replace aging nursing facilities – providing the most impaired institutional residents a non-institutional long-term care option. The Green House Project provides policy, development, operations, and financial consulting to federal agencies, state governments, and organizations interested in creating Green House® homes. Jenkens is the former director of The Coming Home® Program. The Coming Home program concentrated on making high quality, private-occupancy assisted living an affordable alternative to nursing homes for persons with substantial disabilities and low-incomes. Both programs were funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Jenkens received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (1984) with an emphasis on innovative housing with services models. He received a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1992) and studied public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Jenkens is a founding board member of the Center for Excellence in Assisted Living, an organization dedicated to improving the availability of high quality and affordable assisted living. Jenkens received the 2006 Dick Ladd Award for exemplary work in developing models of affordable assisted living.
LaVrene NortonExecutive Leader, Action Pact, Inc.
LaVrene
Norton is Executive Leader
and Principal of Action Pact, specializing in the Household Model. She is
recognized as the nation's foremost organizational change facilitator in
long-term care. Norton pioneered the Household Model and has guided hundreds
of organizations through deep change in the US, Canada and Australia. She is
editor and publisher of Culture Change Now, a magazine dedicated to promoting
change strategies in elder services.
Session 2 March 12, 2009 1:00 PM EST
Creating Home: Lessons Learned from Small House ModelsLead GuidesRuta KadonoffDeputy Director, THE GREEN HOUSE® Project
As Deputy Director of the Green House Replication Initiative, Ruta Kadonoff provides technical assistance to organizations adopting the Green House model of long-term care. In addition to working directly with project adopters to facilitate the planning and development process and to train leadership and care staff, Ms. Kadonoff also works to advance acceptance and spread of the model in the long-term care community,
Previously, she was Regional Vice President with the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), working to ensure the association effectively served member needs and furthered members' ability to advance their missions. Ms. Kadonoff joined AAHSA as a member of the public policy team, serving as a leading advocate for members with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and other federal agencies on issues related to nursing home quality, staffing and resident assessment.
Ms. Kadonoff's work in long-term care began in policy research with Abt Associates, Inc., where she contributed to management and implementation of studies of nursing home quality and regulation. Ms. Kadonoff holds a Masters of Health Science degree in Health Policy from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the Catholic University of America.
Megan HannanSenior Consultant/Trainer, Action Pact, Inc.
Megan Hannan is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant in aging, long term care, culture change, and dementia. She has provided insight and support around quality of life, dementia care, leadership, and change facilitation for over 25 years. As a change leader with Action Pact, Inc. she works directly with organizations in the process of deep change. In 1993 she began collaborating with Dr. William Thomas, the founder of the Eden Alternative(TM), and was appointed as a Regional Coordinator in 1997. In this capacity she lead Eden Alternative certification training through 2005 and since then has provided guidance and mentoring for the Eden Alternative International organization.
Megan has participated with elders, families and staff to shape innovative environments for people living in long term care. Over 45 of these organizations are in the household model working in self-directed teams utilizing versatile and blended roles. She has presented numerous state, national and international conferences including the World Congress on Alzheimer's, and the International Eden Alternative conference on innovative and effective means of involving and including elders who live with dementia, staff and family together in meaningful life. Megan was appointed to the Pioneer Network board of directors in 2003 and is presently the incoming President.
Session 3 March 19, 2009 1:00 PM ESTCreating Home: Policy, Regulatory and Reimbursement IssuesLead Guides from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesKaren SchoenemanDeputy Director, Division of Nursing Homes, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Karen C. Schoeneman, MPA, is the Deputy Director of the CMS Division of Nursing Homes, which has the responsibility for survey and certification of nursing homes. She manages the Division Clinical Team which has responsibility for the long term care survey process, the interpretive guidelines, and the new Quality Indicators Survey process. She has trained over 5000 surveyors as part of their Basic training course. She has executive produced several CMS live satellite broadcasts including shows on the activities requirements, quality of life, culture change and dementia care, among others. She is a nationally recognized expert in culture change and is the CMS lead for this topic. She is one of the founding members of the Pioneer Network and is also an Eden Associate. She is the co-developer of the CMS Artifacts of Culture Change questionnaire. She was the CMS lead for the CMS/Pioneer Network "Creating Home in the Nursing Home" national public symposium on culture change and the environment requirements, which was held in April, 2008. She is the CMS representative on the Veterans Administration Culture Change Task Force and the Pioneer Network Small House/Household Project, and a CMS participant in the Pioneer Network National Life Safety Task Force.
Sheila LambowitzDirector, Division of Institutional Post Acute Care, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Ms. Lambowitz is a nationally recognized expert in nursing facility RUG-III prospective payment systems. She has more than 25 years of experience in Medicare and Medicaid post acute care health policy. Her current responsibilities include developing payment and coverage policies related to the SNF PPS, SNF consolidated billing programs and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs). She is a member of the work groups designing an SNF Value-Based Purchasing model and an Integrated Post-Acute payment demonstration. She also directs the SNF Staff Time and Resource Intensity and Verification project (STRIVE) that has been charged with collecting the data needed to update the RUG-III payment methodology used in the Medicare prospective payment system (SNF PPS). As Chair of the SNF Open Door Forum (ODF), she works with providers, trade associations, and other stakeholders to communicate timely information on CMS activities. Prior work included the design and administration of the Ohio Medicaid RUG-III PPS system, and the development of Medicare medical review programs for home health, SNF, swing beds and hospice for a fiscal intermediary.
Jim MerrillLife Safety Specialist, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
James Merrill is the Life Safety Engineer for the Nursing Homes Branch in Survey and Certification Group of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). His work covers the areas of general safety in health care facilities and fire and life safety and physical environment in Nursing Homes. He oversees the development and enforcement of CMS regulations in regards to deficiencies found on surveys of nursing homes. Jim provides consultative services concerning life safety surveys of health care facilities to State Survey Agencies. He has also done work in the area of acute care including working with accrediting organizations for various provider types.
Previous to coming to the CMS Central Office in Baltimore he was the Life Safety Code Specialist in the CMS Philadelphia Regional Office and has served as the Facility Engineer at the Pine Ridge Indian Hospital in Pine Ridge, SD
Jim is a member of the JCAHO Committee on Healthcare Safety and the steering committee of the "Guidelines for Design and Construction of Healthcare Facilities." Jim has a B.S. in Civil Engineering and is a registered Professional Engineer.
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