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Kathy Watson is a licensed residential care facility administrator with experience in long term care and program management. She began her career in social services then became a licensed skilled nursing facility administrator in 1992. She then provided consultation to skilled nursing facilities for 15 years before joining a non-profit health system to manage a community benefit program. While also serving on the board of a life-plan community, her passion for long term care was rekindled and led to the pursuit of her RCF license, followed by a director of health services position, in 2018. Kathy returned to consulting to support long term care more broadly with her expertise in regulatory compliance, policy development, quality improvement, leadership development, and staff training.
Kathy holds a bachelor’s in social work and sociology as well as a Master’s in Ministry Leadership. She is a native Oregonian who enjoys kayaking, hiking, and photography.
DUSTY AHRENS RN-BCDusty Ahrens is a Registered Nurse who has committed herself to the care of the elderly for over 20 years. She specializes in leadership development, and nursing and operational management. She has been the Vice President of Nursing for a nationwide senior living company and held several positions in senior living including Regional Director of Nursing, Executive Director, Marketing and Director of Nursing. She has a long history of being the go-to person to assist with needs regarding regulations and compliance in senior living. Although the majority of her experience is in community-based care, she also has held positions in Skilled Nursing, Hospice, Cardiology, Infectious Disease prevention and teaching. Dusty is a Registered Nurse Delegator for the Washington State Medicaid Program, and she is an Adult Family Home operator.
In addition to nursing degrees, Dusty holds a master’s in counseling from Portland State University specializing in Geriatric Addiction studies. Dusty volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Foster Children in the State of Washington and spends time volunteering to work with Elderly Veterans facing addiction and homelessness. She is an advocate for underserved populations and elderly in need.
Lana put herself through nursing school while raising 5 children under the age of 8. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Linfield College in 1996. She began her nursing career working in the hospital in a med-surg unit and quickly moved into critical care where she worked for 5 years. She has experience as a preceptor for nursing students, taught nursing assistant classes, managed triage nurses in a family practice setting, and spent over 15 years in community-based care. In the community-based care setting she was a health services manager in assisted living, and then moved into a regional nurse specialist position, traveling across Oregon and Washington supporting multiple assisted living and memory care communities. During that time Lana received an award as the “Care Manager of the Year.” She is certified through the CDC as an Infection Prevention Specialist.
Lana lives on a small farm, and enjoys taking care of her 2 horses, 2 kitties, dogs, chickens, and cows. She enjoys gardening, baking, going to the beach, walking in the woods, reading, watching movies, and spending time with her 14 grandchildren.
Kala Linville is a native Oregonian who currently resides in far Northeastern Oregon, with her husband of 17 years, Terry, and young daughter Evey. Kala has been a registered nurse since 2003, when she graduated from Oregon Health Sciences University in Ashland, Oregon. She has served as an RN in several different areas in her career, including working in neuro ICU, emergency, labor and delivery, critical access hospitals, serving as an infection prevention specialist, employee health nurse, wellness director in an assisted living facility, nursing instructor, faith community nurse, acute care manager, clinical educator, and community based-care nurse consultant. Kala loves to inspire others, learn, and share knowledge. She has been a TeamSTEPPS Master Trainer since 2010 and has spearheaded a whole house roll out of TeamSTEPPS in 2 different critical access hospitals. She has also served as an independent communication consultant and has helped introduce TeamSTEPPS into primary care clinics, mental health organizations, dental offices, long term care and residential treatment organizations and more. She is an American Heart Association Basic Life Support Instructor. When not working, you can often find Kala searching for treasures in thrift stores, volunteering or enjoying time in the woods with her family.
Heather’s experience in long-term and community-based care started as a CNA and progressed to RN then to Licensed Nursing Home Administrator. In her over 20 years of nursing experience in the skilled nursing environment in multiple states, she has been a floor nurse, unit manager, restorative manager, MDS coordinator, assistant director of nursing, staff development coordinator, director of nursing in multiple states and facilities, corporate director of risk management, and corporate regional nurse consultant. She has been instrumental in bringing multiple facilities – skilled, assisted living, and memory care – into compliance and preparing them for survey or responding to concerns. Her experience includes managing multiple surveys, preparing plans of correction, providing clinical leader orientation and training, risk management, and problem-solving. She has also taught nursing as an adjunct instructor. Heather has been practicing in Oregon since 2017 and is an expert in her field.
In her free time, Heather enjoys spending time with her friends and family going on hikes and exploring the many Oregon forest trails.
Daniel is a licensed residential care facility administrator and an LPN with over 10 years of healthcare leadership and management experience. Prior to moving into healthcare settings, he worked in management and leadership roles in other industries. His consulting work for Elderwise focuses on system development and implementation, quality improvement, clinical education, metric development and tracking, survey response, and staff training. Daniel has a passion for teaching and training, problem solving, and organizational management.
An Oregon native, Daniel was raised in the Rogue Valley and has been living in the Portland area for the past 15 years. In his leisure time, he enjoys woodworking and is a voracious reader.
Emma is the Chief Support Officer for Elderwise Inc. She adopted Cynthia and John six years ago in Nogales, Mexico. Since then she has traveled far and wide with them – in planes, trains, automobiles, sailboats, dingy’s, RV’s, pulmonia’s (Mazatlan), ferries, bike trailers, and golf carts. Emma is a beautiful Border Collie and English Setter. She ensures her humans, Cynthia and John, take enough walks and schedule time to relax.
Emma loves to travel, has a thing for squirrels, and is a founding member of the Elderwise team. She provides a calm presence for working and reminders when it’s time to get some exercise. Her focused energy and laid-back demeanor are critical to our success.
Kay Bassett graduated from Oregon State University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in psychology and began her career working in social services. She then went back to school and obtained a nursing degree and RN license and joined the health services field as a labor and delivery nurse. Kay took time off work to raise her 4 sons, then re-entered the work force on the other end of life’s spectrum, senior living. She was offered a position as Health Services Director for a large, assisted living community. From here Kay knew she had found her calling. In 2015, she was presented an opportunity to become the Corporate Director of Health Services for another senior living organization. Kay has worked at the executive and/or regional level of senior living for the past 8 years where she provided health services oversight, support, and training to multiple senior living communities in multiple states.
Away from work, you will likely find Kay working in her garden, walking her dogs, or hiking in nearby forests. She is an avid reader and enjoys traveling with her family.
Kathryn entered long term care as a Registered Nurse in 1974 and continued her career in long term care management and operations after receiving her master’s in health care administration. She worked for a professional review organization for several years doing binding Medicare and Medicaid review and quality assurance in nursing facilities. Kathryn has been a nursing home administrator, then moved into regional oversight and then on to management and oversight of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities. Long term care has always been her passion, and resident and staff interaction her reward. She has enjoyed every position she has had and feels very fortunate to have met incredible people along the way. Born and raised in Molalla, the Oregon native now lives in Corvallis Oregon. Her leisure time activities include reading, gardening , biking, stain glass creation, and enjoying her 13 grandchildren.
Mary is a Nurse Consultant with over 30 years of healthcare experience. Mary’s experience spans acute and post healthcare areas. In the last 10 years Mary’s consulting work has focused on project management, quality improvement with metric management, presurvey preparation, and staff training. Mary has a passion for organizational operations and problem solving.
Mary holds a Teepa Snow Positive Approach to Care Trainer Certification. She teaches both live and online courses for dementia training, role of the nurse for community-based care, RN delegations, and medication administration for medication technicians.
Mary hold a bachelors in the science of nursing with a minor in psychology from the college of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota.
Ms. Vakarchuk is a Nurse Consultant with nearly 15 years of healthcare experience. Anna’s nursing interest and focus has always been in post-acute and community-based care. Anna’s consulting work focuses on quality improvement, presurvey preparation, and staff training. Anna has a passion for organizational operations, problem solving, and teaching.
Ms. Vakarchuk has successfully led and managed day-to-day healthcare operations in residential care with an advanced understanding of each employee’s role because of her work-life personal experience with each role. She excels in developing and implementing organizational strategies for health promotion, disease prevention, and constructively managing dementia related behavioral disturbances.
Anna is bi-lingual. She holds a bachelors in the science of nursing from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon.
Tim Malone is a Gero-Psychiatric Specialist and behavioral consultant. He has 30 years of experience in social work and behavioral health. He specializes in geriatric mental health, dementia, complex care consultation, and advocacy. Tim has a Master of Social Work degree from Portland State University. He developed and has supervised a community mental health program for Older Adults for 22 years. Tim also teaches behavioral intervention classes for Oregon Care Partners.
For several years, Tim was adjunct faculty at Portland State University and Oregon State University. He teaches behavioral intervention classes for Oregon Care Partners. He was Vice-Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services, and Chair of their Committee on Mental Health and Addictions. In 2008, he was awarded the Mental Health Award for Excellence, State of Oregon.
Tim is an ElderWise Inc. Associate and has a private practice, Gero Care Solutions, helping families and caregivers experience success with behavioral challenges.
Kari McDaniel MSN RN CNEKari McDaniel is a registered nurse with 20 years of experience caring for others. Kari began her nursing career in the acute care setting but transitioned to community-based care nearly a decade ago. Her community-based care includes case management, home health care, and restorative consulting for assisted living and memory care facilities.
Kari has a dynamic understanding of online learning, focused on maximizing the learner experience. Kari’s talents focus on the build of content and the methods for content delivery. She is well versed in learning management systems and information technology associated with online learning. Kari graduated from Oregon Health Science University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in nursing and a Master’s in nursing education from American Sentinel University in 2019.
Cynthia McDaniel is a registered nurse and the CEO of ElderWise Inc. She has been consulting in the field of elder care and assisted living for more than 30 years. Cynthia specializes in business operations and clinical consulting. She has also had a private practice as a geriatric care manager, been a regional director of clinical operations for a senior living company, and held the administrator/director position of professional service for a home health agency.
Cynthia has been involved in developing RN delegation, actively participating in regulation development since the inception of the practice. She was an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing, where she developed and led online population-based nursing courses and has authored and published over 100 online courses related to community-based care.
Cynthia holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Gonzaga University. She is a Fellow of the Sigma Theta Tau/John A. Hartford Foundation Geriatric Nursing Leadership Academy. She presents and trains on a variety of subjects, locally and nationally. Cynthia is the co-founder of the Gero Leadership Alliance and the Community Nurse Network.
Laura Richardson has worked as a nurse consultant in several community-based care facilities. She has been the Director of Health Services for multiple assisted living communities, and the Director of Nursing Service for a skilled nursing facility. She has developed and designed live training programs that empower staff to be problem solvers and facility leaders with the ultimate goal to help communities to be successful. Laura is a leader with extensive knowledge in regulatory compliance and change management. Through collaboration and partnerships with organizational leaders, she is able to help build sustainable change.
Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Psychology. Laura sees the opportunity in every obstacle and makes it her goal for each individual and company to achieve their personal best.
John McDaniel is the CFO/COO of ElderWise Inc. and a business operations consultant. He works with care communities providing mock surveys, community and documentation audits, systems review and recommendations, protocol and policy development, quality improvement, and physical plant/risk management.
John has extensive and varied experience in assisted living operations, project management, construction, and asset management. He has worked as a project manager for the development of a new assisted living community, and a facilities consultant.
Prior to entering the world of elder care, he was a project manager for commercial and residential construction, a general contractor, a professional climbing guide, an operations manager/professional ski patrol director for a ski area, and a safety engineer. John holds a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Portland State University and is a licensed assisted living administrator in the state of Oregon.