by Ron Whalin, ORANJ President
My wife and I and two other residents of Fellowship Village attended the LeadingAge National Conference and Expo in Boston October 31-November 3. Because we are residents of CCRCs, there was no cost for registration. On Monday, Atul Gawande gave a warmly received presentation on Being Mortal. His ideas have been presented in his best-selling book, “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End”. The audience responded with a standing ovation.
Friday Afternoon, Rev. Lillian J. Warner of Newbury Court in MA spoke on “Let Our Voices Ring Out” and Barbara Gay, Director of governmental Affairs, LeadingAge spoke on “The 2016 Presidential Election”
General Sessions were held Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. These were all very interesting. On Sunday, LeadingAge announced that they were recommending a new name for CCRCs. It is “Life Plan Community.” This is a better marketing description of these communities. It is not necessary for people to stop using CCRC.
I attended several education sessions: Achieving Green Savings and Sustainability, Financial Ratios for CCRCs: 2015, and improving the Sleep/Wake Experience of Residents. Most sessions have published their presentations on the LeadingAge website.
The Expo was very interesting with many interesting exhibits. NaCCRA manned booth #551. ORANJ items handed out at meetings and the booth include brochure for ORANJ and brochure from NJ Ombudsman on Bill of Rights.