Speakers & Panelists 2022 – 2023

Thank you to the amazing speakers & panelists who shared with our Boston Bridge audience. Here’s a recap!

 September 13th – Boston Bridge 10th Anniversary Celebration

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October 19th – Makieya Kamara, ABCD Foster Grandparents Program

Makieya Kamara, MSW, MNL, LCSW, spoke about the Foster Grandparent Program, a volunteer program for low income older adults ages 55+ who serve in classrooms to support children with special and exceptional needs. For 10 years, Makieya worked with young people under 21 in congregate care settings, holding direct care and leadership positions, before making an unexpected shift to older adults and intergenerational programming. Makieya shared about civic engagement & COVID’s impact on volunteering from a multicultural perspective.

November 16th – Robert Weisman, Boston Globe

Robert Weisman reports on Baby Boomers — their work, health, money, and lifestyle — and life after 50. He writes about retirement and reinvention, aging, and second acts. In his 22 years at The Globe, he has worked as a technology editor and a business writer covering high-tech and venture capital, management issues, hospitals, health care, and life sciences. Before coming to The Globe, he was a business editor and reporter for the Seattle Times, Hartford Courant, and New Haven Register. He is a native of Norwich, Conn., and a graduate of Boston University. Topic: How I conceived and launched an Age Beat as part of The Globe’s beat reinvention initiative in 2017 and discovered a large audience for stories on getting older. It turns out there’s been so much to write about that my constant challenge is to figure out which stories are most important and will most interest our readers. 

December 14th – Annual Boston Bridge Conversations

December Boston Bridge Conversations is an annual opportunity for members to network, share thoughts on issues pertinent to the field of aging, and learn from each other. This year, Boston Bridge President Taylor Patskanick led us in a discussion on climate change and longevity, sharing a passage from The Gerontologist and a brief video on retrofitting housing. We had a lively discussion, sharing our own personal concerns for climate change, and then dissecting its impact (or future impact) on older adults specifically.  

January 18th – Amy Schechtman, 2Life Communities

Amy Schechtman is CEO of 2 Life Communities, an organization dedicated to empowering older adults to live with joy and purpose in housing that is affordable. Amy has a deep commitment to social justice and her work to advance affordable housing, economic development and equity are proof of that. As a leader for the concept of aging in community, Amy serves on the Governor’s Council to Address Aging in MA and was President of Citizen’s Housing and Planning Association which is the organization for affordable housing professionals.  Amy will speak to Boston Bridge about the housing initiatives she has created at 2 Life Communities and the housing crisis in Massachusetts for older adults.

February 15th – Health, Physical Activity and Sport Research Group/Blanquerna – Ramon Llull University

The Health, Physical Activity and Sport Research Group from the Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Sciences at Blanquerna – Ramon Llull University in Barcelona, Spain aims to advance current scientific knowledge to enhance a healthier society by means of examining the beneficial effects of physical activity on individuals’ psychosocial and biological health and quality of life. A team from Blanquerna visited the MIT AgeLab and Boston Bridge to present several of their ongoing projects with older adults, specifically focusing on how co-creation can improve adherence, uptake and sustainability of interventions aimed at improving health-related outcomes: Dr. Maria Giné-GarrigaPhD in Sport Sciences and Physiotherapist. Full-time Assistant Professor in the Sport Sciences and Principal Investigator of the Health, Physical Activity and Sport Research Group. Giuliana Longworth, Marie-Curie Doctoral Fellow at Blanquerna – Ramon Llull University. Giuliana’s area of research is implementation and evaluation strategies for participatory research approaches, specializing in evidence-based co-creation. Jorge R Zapata-Restrepo, Architect, urban designer, community planner, and Marie-Curie Doctoral Fellow at Blanquerna – Ramon Llull University. Jorge’s doctoral research is focused on urban design and co-creation with community-dwelling older adults and care home residents to improve movement behavior and reduce social isolation.

March 15th – Rachel Fichtenbaum, Mobility Management MassDot

Rachel Fichtenbaum is the Manager of Grant Programs and Mobility Management at the Massachusetts Depart of Transportation (MassDOT). From 2011-2022, she worked in community transportation through the MassMobility initiative of the MA Executive Office of Health and Human Services, serving as Mobility Information Specialist from 2011-2017 and Mobility Manager from 2017-2022. She has a Masters of Public Policy in Social Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University.

April 19th – Anne Calef, Boston Indicators

Anne Kiyono Calef, is the Research Manager at Boston Indicators, where she’s worked on topics ranging from housing and land use to labor markets and care work. She recently completed a Master of City Planning degree from MIT where she studied equitable economic and community development. Prior to MIT, she worked as a public school teacher for six years. Anne holds a Master’s degree in Educational Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Asian American Studies from Pomona College. With the steady aging of our population, care jobs are among the fastest growing in our economy. These jobs are staffed predominantly by immigrant women and women of color, so despite their societal importance, racial prejudice and gender discrimination have led to a systematic devaluation of this sort of labor. In their recent paper, “Care Work in Massachusetts: A Call for Racial & Economic Justice for a Neglected Sector,” Boston Indicators and SkillWorks provide a demographic profile of care workers in Massachusetts and pair that with a job quality analysis for a few key subsectors.

May 17th – James Fuccione, Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative

James Fuccione is the Director of the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative (MHAC), which is a statewide, cross-sector network of organizations and state and local government partners working together to promote inclusive age- and dementia friendly communities. Funded by Point32Health Foundation, MHAC and its collaborators are supporting more than 200 age- and dementia friendly communities, several regional initiatives and a statewide approach led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. MHAC also promotes policies and practices that advance issues like housing, transportation and social engagement and works to replicate best practices that emerge from local initiatives. Previously, James spent nearly nine years as Director of Legislative and Public Affairs for the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts advocating for stronger home health care services, higher pay for in-home care workers, falls prevention and a range of other issues. James also previously served as an aide in the Massachusetts Senate. James Fuccione, presented on “The Age- and Dementia Friendly Movement in Massachusetts”.

June 21st – Janet Seckel-Cerrotti, Friendshipworks

With the impetus of the Surgeon General’s May 2nd Advisory on Loneliness and Isolation, neighborhoods, associations, and other non-governmental organizations can look to FriendshipWorks as a trusted leader in creating community-based solutions to thwart social isolation. Executive Director Janet Seckel-Cerrotti spoke to the value of collaboration with partners across sectors and how FriendshipWorks stands ready to codify and share its institutional knowledge and best practices for fostering social connections between thousands of people across generations and cultures.

 

Speakers & Panelists 2019 – 2020

September 18: Adam Berman

Join us as we hear from Adam Berman, President of Chelsea Jewish Living, about the Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea, MA. This nursing home, part of Chelsea Jewish Lifecare, is the first urban Green House skilled nursing facility. Adam will teach us more about the Green House model and enlighten us about the innovative ways the Leonard Florence Center for Living enables residents to live as independently as possible.

October 16: Dementia Friends Training

Join our very own Amy Walsh for a Dementia Friends Training. During this community awareness training program, we will learn what it’s like to live with dementia and how we can use our understanding to help those in our community living with dementia.

November 20: Roberta Robertson, PACE

Join us to hear from our very own Roberta Robertson as she teaches us about PACE programs. Roberta has over two decades of experience in elder services and is currently Director of Geriatric Outreach at The Elder Service Plan, the PACE program of Cambridge Health Alliance.

PACE, The Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly, offers coordinated, interdisciplinary care for people 55+ who have medical needs but want to continue to live in the community for as long as possible.

December 18: Boston Bridge Conversations

Join us at our December meeting for a thought-provoking discussion with City Life/Vida Urbana Executive Director Lisa Owens. Lisa is a local educator, community builder and social justice advocate and will lead us in a discussion about social justice and the importance of taking time to reflect on important topics.

January 15: End of life planning innovations

Join us as Ariel Sherry and Ailene Gerhardt tell us about innovations changing the way we talk about and plan for end-of-life, including Cake and Hello. We’ll get to try both and learn how these platforms are making a difference.

February 19: Cal Halvorsen

Cal Halvorsen, PhD, MSW is an assistant professor at the Boston College School of Social Work and Public Voices Fellow with Encore.org. His research interests include late-life self-employment and entrepreneurship, encore careers, and older adults as social innovators.  Join us as Cal discusses his current research, including the antecedents, experiences, and outcomes of longer working lives.

March 18: Mentor Madness

Due to concerns about COVID-19, our upcoming meeting will be held by video conference. As planned, we will begin the evening with an overview of Boston Bridge’s great mentoring opportunities, and then hear from some of our wonderful mentors.

April 15: Survey Results & COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, we’ve had to shift around our speaker and topic. This month our board member Taylor Patskanick from the MIT AgeLab, will take us on a deep dive into the results from our recent organizational survey, “Checking in with Boston Bridge.” We will discuss key findings and its implications for Boston Bridge participants and members.

In the spirit of “checking in” we will use the second half of our meeting to discuss how we have been professionally impacted by COVID-19, with a particular focus on how the pandemic is impacting aging network services, our clients, and how our roles as professionals have changed. Time will also be provided for the

May 20: Lou Woolf

Join our zoom discussion on May 20th with Lou Woolf who is the president and CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife, a top provider of senior care in the Boston area and a national leader in redefining the experience of aging. In light of our ever changing world Lou will be discussing his organization’s philosophy and approach as a front line service provider during to the Covid-19 pandemic, and how that fit (or didn’t) with their organizational culture.

June 17: Boston Bridge June Conversation – Systemic Racism in Aging

Today, more than ever, we need to talk about social justice and advocacy. We are taking the opportunity for our June meeting to discuss issues of white privilege in our work with older adults, systemic racism more broadly, Black Lives Matter, and intersectionality. We hope you join us for this pertinent discussion as we look for ways to elevate these discussions in our aging field. 

In preparation for this meeting, we suggest watching this video with an overview of Systemic Racism in the video “Systemic Racism Explained”.

Speakers & Panelists 2020 – 2021

Check out our amazing list of speakers & panelists throughtout the year!

September 16: Maureen Bisognano

Maureen Bisognano is President Emerita and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, who has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine among other distinctions. She is an Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Research Associate at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Co-Chair of the Mass Coalition for Serious Illness Care with Atul Gawande. She will be speaking to us about global innovations in healthcare as it relates to aging.

October 21: Jumaada Abdal-Khallaq Henry Smith, J.D.

Jumaada Abdal-Khallaq Henry Smith, J.D. is the Coordinator of the Goldenaires of Freedom House. Jumaada is a Boston community advocate for underrepresented neighborhoods. She is a founding committee member for Age Strong’s Age-Friendly Boston’s Advisory Committee and Black History Month Committee, member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People  (NAACP-Boston), Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO), Veterans and Friends of Gourdin Memorial Park, and the Chair of the Boston Juneteenth Committee. She will be speaking to us about the Goldenaires and how older adults are moving the needle on civic engagement.  

November 18: John Froio & Courtney Libon, De Novo

John Froio is the Deputy Director and Courtney Libon is the Housing and Disability Law Supervisor at De Novo. De Novo provides free civil legal assistance and affordable psychological counseling to low-income people in Cambridge, MA. John and Courtney will provide an overview of De Novo and its unique model, and will address their response to the lifting of the eviction moratorium in Massachusetts.

December 2021: Boston Bridge Conversations

Join us for our annual Boston Bridge Conversations. This year we will break into small groups to network and discuss how we think COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on the future of aging.

January 13: Grassroots Aging Professionals Networks

This month will feature a panel discussion with representatives from three grassroots organizations founded to help support and develop professionals in the field of aging. Alongside representatives from our very own Boston Bridge (MA), we welcome founders of EmergingAging (NY) and Emerging Leaders in Aging (CO). We’ll explore how each group got started, what they’re currently focused on, and what they hope to do in the future.

February 17: Dr. Ryan Chin

Dr. Ryan C.C. Chin is the CEO and Co-founder of Optimus Ride Inc. – an MIT spinoff company based in Boston, MA that develops self-driving technologies that enable safe, sustainable, and equitable mobility access. Dr. Chin is a leading expert in the area of Smart Cities and urban mobility systems. Dr. Chin will be talking with us about Optimus Ride’s recent work, including how they are rethinking urban mobility and the implications of autonomous mobility systems for older drivers.

March 17: Rebecca Gutman

Rebecca Gutman is Vice President of Homecare with 1199SEIU, a multi-state healthcare workers Union.

Rebecca will discuss the gains made by Personal Care Attendants through 1199SEIU and the continuing need to lift up homecare jobs in order to provide quality care to seniors and people with disabilities.

April 21: Elders for Climate Action

This month we will be joined by elder activists from the Massachusetts chapter of Elders for Climate Action. Tina Grosowsky and Seth Evans will speak about the ECA’s climate change advocacy work, including how they help concerned elders become effective climate change activists and leverage a multigenerational lens in doing their work.

May 19: Jeff Weiss

This month we will here from Jeff Weiss, the President and CEO of Age of Majority, a marketing consulting group. Jeff will define Active Aging consumers, a group who spend close to $3 trillion on products and services every year. He will describe the mistaken way society portrays this group and explain why by crushing these myths and breaking the stigma and stereotypes attached to older consumers, there is a significant opportunity to change how society and businesses/organizations see and engage older, active adults so that everyone benefits.

June 2021: BB Networking

This year has been an unusual one, and the Boston Bridge Board would like to thank you for your patience and participation as we relied on Zoom for all of our meetings. We recognize that this new format left less opportunity for the networking for which Boston Bridge is known.

This month we will devote our meeting to networking with one another through small breakout sessions. Come ready to chat and make connections!

Speaker & Panelists 2021 – 2022

Although a challenging year, Boston Bridge Inc adapted and recruited a variety of speakers to present and engage in relevant topics & discussion! Take a look at our guests below:

October 2021: Home Care Aide Council & Home Care Alliance of MA

We will have representatives from the Home Care Aide Council & Home Care Alliance of MA joining us to discuss the direct care workforce.

They’ll discuss what working in home care is like (home health aide, homemaker, etc.), who works in these positions, and how these services are paid for. They’ll discuss the safety challenges, interdisciplinary challenges, and what the field has learned about protecting this essential workforce and their clients in the last year. We hope you’ll join us for a discussion of these very timely issues.

November 2021: Amy Rosenthal, Health Care for All

Our November speaker wtill be Amy Rosenthal, the Executive Director of Health Care for All (HCFA). HCFA advocates for health justice in MA by working to promote health equity and ensure coverage and access for all. Amy will inform us about their outreach efforts to ensure coverage for those with low literacy or those with limited access. She will also share the issues for which they are presently advocating in the state legislature and what Boston Bridge can do to assist those efforts.

December 15th: Annual December Conversations Meeting

Please join us for our annual December Conversations meeting. This year, we will feature one-on-one networking sessions as well as trivia! Get to know your fellow Boston Bridge attendees, compete for a trivia prize, and celebrate the season with us!

January 2022: Aarabi Balasubramanian

Our speaker this month will be Aarabi Balasubramanian, Founder & CEO of EmTech Care Labs, an early stage tech startup based in Cambridge. She is currently developing Care-Wallet, a digital long-term care management solution for home-based family caregiving.

Aarabi is also a strategy executive with extensive business, innovation & operations leadership experience across healthcare, financial services and technology industries. She is very passionate about the evolutionary application of technology for societal progress, in particular, access to better healthcare, financial wellness and aging well. Aarabi will provide an overview of the state of innovation & technology in the aging marketspace and also share her own entrepreneurial experiences including how her team is addressing long-term care needs and challenges.

For more details – https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarabib/

February 2022: Dr. Elissa Sherman, LeadingAge

Our speaker this month will be Elissa Sherman, PhD, President of LeadingAge Massachusetts. LeadingAge Massachusetts represents the full continuum of mission-driven, not-for-profit providers of health care, housing, and services for older persons in Massachusetts.

Dr. Sherman has worked in aging policy for over 30 years, and will provide a review of the aging services landscape, including the impact of the pandemic on nursing homes, CCRCs, and assisted living facilities. She’ll tell us what lies ahead for these sectors, including challenges and opportunities.

April 2022: Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN

We will be joined by Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN,Former Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and current Adjunct Faculty and Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing CAPABLE Program, and Senior Advisor for Aging at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

Dr. Bonner’s talk is entitled Age-Friendly Health Systems, Communities, and a Time for Leadership:

 Many different professional organizations, health systems, community-based organizations and government agencies are working to become Age-Friendly. Unfortunately, these efforts are not always aligned or integrated. This presentation will give an overview of some of the current state and national initiatives and will talk about how each of us may play a leadership role – from wherever we are.

May 2022: MassTech/MeHi Caregiving Initiative Presentation & Panel

MassTech/MeHI’s Caregiving Initiative: The Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition is an innovative team of leading employers, advocates, and government partners committed to recognizing, supporting, and building creative solutions that allow family caregivers to continue to thrive in the workplace while also caring for family at home.  Their mission is to partner with, encourage, and challenge Massachusetts employers wherever they are in their progress of supporting employee caregivers by:

  • Illuminating the needs of employee caregivers and their economic impact;
  • Identifying, sharing, and leveraging best practices inclusive of all employer sizes, locations and types of workforce;
  • Championing employee caregiver policies; and
  • Enabling culture change for caregivers across all sectors of the economy.

Speakers:

  • Ben Linville-Engler, Chief Investment Strategist and Program Executive at MassTech
  • Laurance Stuntz, SVP of Customer Success at Xealth & Co-Founder of Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition through Massachusetts eHealth Initiative
  • Alexandra Drane, CEO & Co-founder of ARCHANGELS

June 2022: Philippe Saad, AIA, LEED AP

We are excited to welcome Philippe Saad, AIA, LEED AP. He is currently a principal at DiMella Shaffer, an architecture, planning, and design firm based in Boston. In 2021, Philippe was named Design Champion by Environments for Aging for his long term commitment and advocacy for inclusive senior living environments. His belief that architecture is a tool for equity and social change led him to co-found Project Q Communities and LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc., two non-profit organizations focused on facilitating the development of “welcoming, safe, and affordable housing for low income LGBTQ seniors”The Pryde, Boston’s first LGBTQ-friendly senior housing, is the result of that endeavor and he is delighted to share the journey to success with us!

June 15th: Philippe Saad, AIA, LEED AP

This meeting will be held at 6pm via Zoom. RSVP Here.

We are excited to welcome Philippe Saad, AIA, LEED AP. He is currently a principal at DiMella Shaffer, an architecture, planning, and design firm based in Boston. In 2021, Philippe was named Design Champion by Environments for Aging for his long term commitment and advocacy for inclusive senior living environments. His belief that architecture is a tool for equity and social change led him to co-found Project Q Communities and LGBTQ Senior Housing, Inc., two non-profit organizations focused on facilitating the development of “welcoming, safe, and affordable housing for low income LGBTQ seniors”The Pryde, Boston’s first LGBTQ-friendly senior housing, is the result of that endeavor and he is delighted to share the journey to success with us!

May 18th: MassTech/MeHi Caregiving Initiative Presentation & Panel

This meeting will be held at 6pm via Zoom. RSVP Here

MassTech/MeHI’s Caregiving Initiative: The Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition is an innovative team of leading employers, advocates, and government partners committed to recognizing, supporting, and building creative solutions that allow family caregivers to continue to thrive in the workplace while also caring for family at home.  Their mission is to partner with, encourage, and challenge Massachusetts employers wherever they are in their progress of supporting employee caregivers by:

  • Illuminating the needs of employee caregivers and their economic impact;
  • Identifying, sharing, and leveraging best practices inclusive of all employer sizes, locations and types of workforce;
  • Championing employee caregiver policies; and
  • Enabling culture change for caregivers across all sectors of the economy.

Speakers:

  • Ben Linville-Engler, Chief Investment Strategist and Program Executive at MassTech
  • Laurance Stuntz, SVP of Customer Success at Xealth & Co-Founder of Massachusetts Caregiver Coalition through Massachusetts eHealth Initiative
  • Alexandra Drane, CEO & Co-founder of ARCHANGELS

April 20th: Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN

This meeting will be held at 6pm via Zoom. RSVP Here

We will be joined by Alice Bonner, PhD, RN, FAAN,Former Secretary of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and current Adjunct Faculty and Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing CAPABLE Program, and Senior Advisor for Aging at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

Dr. Bonner’s talk is entitled Age-Friendly Health Systems, Communities, and a Time for Leadership:

 Many different professional organizations, health systems, community-based organizations and government agencies are working to become Age-Friendly. Unfortunately, these efforts are not always aligned or integrated. This presentation will give an overview of some of the current state and national initiatives and will talk about how each of us may play a leadership role – from wherever we are.