10 cited for innovation, excellence at annual meeting

LeadingAge paid tribute to 10 individuals or organizations it deemed innovative or otherwise excellent at its annual meeting.

 

The Award of Honor went to Barry Berman, CEO of Chelsea Jewish Foundation, Chelsea, Mass. (named a "Leader of Tomorrow" by Long-Term Living earlier this year). "By pushing the envelope on care models and financing programs, Barry Berman has proven that with determination, anything is possible," says the organization.

 

The Excellence in Not-for-Profit Leadership Award was bestowed on Hearth Inc., Boston. The Hearth model "has effectively removed low-income, multi-challenged, frail elders from homeless shelters, precarious living arrangements and the streets and placed them in appropriate, permanent homes," according to LeadingAge.

 

The Excellence in the Workplace Award was given to Greenspring, Springfield,Va. "Greenspring employees enjoy a workplace culture that promotes career development of staff at all levels," says LeadingAge, noting that the company's retention rate is 94 percent and that 44 percent of the workforce has been employed for five or more years.

 

The Innovation in Care and Services Award went to Friends Life Care, Plymouth Meeting, Pa. Friends Life Care's VigR (vitality, independence, growth and resilience) program "makes the Continuing Care at Home model even more relevant to the future of long-term care as baby boomers age in great numbers and redefine the aging experience," according to LeadingAge.

 

The Hobart Jackson Cultural Diversity Award was bestowed on Episcopal Retirement Homes, Cincinnati. The organization's Council for Life Long Engagement "has created a replicable model and is sharing a toolkit for implementation with other schools and aging-services organizations," notes the award-giver.

 

The Dr. Herbert Shore Outstanding Mentor Award was presented to Alex Candalla, executive director of the Terraces of Los Gatos, Los Gatos, Calif. This LeadingAge Leadership Academy fellow "has served as a mentor for dozens of aging-services professionals in his own organization, his state and elsewhere across the nation," the group says.

 

The Excellence in Research and Education Award was given to Marc Agronin, MD, medical director for mental health and memory services, Miami Jewish Health Systems, Miami, which runs "a leading center for the diagnosis, treatment, education and clinical research for Alzheimer's and related memory disorders."

 

The Public Trust Award went to Beatitudes Campus, Phoenix. The "award-winning Comfort First dementia care education program is teaching quality of care and providing quality of life for thousands who are living with some form of dementia," according to LeadingAge.

 

The Outstanding Advocacy Award was presented to The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, Bronx, N.Y. The facility, LeadingAge says, "has advocated successfully for federal and state regulators to recognize the need for long-term housing options for victims of elder abuse."

 

The Joan Ann McHugh Award for Leadership in Long-Term Care Nursing was given to Santhamma Varghese, RN, a clinical nurse manager for short-term rehab for Schervier Nursing Center's orthopedic unit in the Bronx, N.Y.