In this episode, Susan Ryan sits down with Rachel Broudy, MD, a passionate physician, innovator, and advocate for transforming eldercare. Her extensive experience includes serving as medical director at two PACE programs and currently as medical director of Pioneer Valley Hospice and Palliative Care and eldercare faculty at Ariadne Labs.

This episode explores Dr. Broudy’s journey into aging services and her groundbreaking work at Ariadne Labs, where she led the creation of a well-being framework and conversation guide for nursing homes. Developed through Ariadne's Innovation Arc process—research, design, test, and spread—this four-year project culminated in a pilot at two Mississippi nursing homes. The result? A practical, scalable toolkit that empowers staff and centers care on purpose, connection, and meaning.

Dr. Broudy also shares her work on the Living Well with Dementia Toolkit, which redefines dementia care as an adaptive, relational journey. The toolkit includes conversation and emotion cards that help families and caregivers explore emotions, relationships, and identity—helping shift how we understand and support those living with dementia.

If you're looking for inspiring ideas and practical tools to shift the culture of aging and long-term care, this episode is a must-listen.

Some links of interest:

Ariadne Labs Innovation Arc: https://www.ariadnelabs.org/about-us/ariadne-labs-arc/

Ariadne Labs Well-being Framework & Conversation Guide: https://www.ariadnelabs.org/resources/downloads/wellbeing-toolkit-conversation-guide/

Ariadne Labs Living Well with Dementia Toolkit: https://www.ariadnelabs.org/dementia-solutions/

There are few people who have the depth and breadth of knowledge about long-term services and supports than Jennie Chin Hansen, who we are honored to have as the 300th guest on today’s episode.

With a rich background in nursing and a penchant for solving problems, Hansen’s career spans decades of leading top healthcare organizations such as the American Geriatrics Society, AARP, and On Lok, which is the flagship/prototype for what is now known as People for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). She currently serves on the boards of the Medicare Advantage SCAN Health Plan and HelpAge USA. In 2019, she helped to craft the California Masterplan for Aging, now in implementation.

For this week’s episode, Hansen sits down with Susan Ryan to discuss how her childhood experience as an Asian girl living in Boston shaped her career choices. She also discusses her desire to see more upstream work that focuses getting “people prepared for their own aging changes.”

Finally, Hansen shares her vision for what she believes will help to not only “hold the line,” but also move it with regard to ensuring economic security for older Americans.

Among Hansen’s many awards are the American Academy of Nursing’s Health Care Leader Award, American Society on Aging’s Hall of Fame Award, and the National Council on Aging’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2024, she received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from Harvard University at its commencement ceremony in May of 2024. Here is video of highlights from that event: https://youtu.be/lzDYU7sNddA?si=W0hGbEWsS8osCaRq.

Susan Ryan welcomes three trailblazers in the eldercare culture change movement to this week’s episode: Joanne Rader, Charlene Boyd, and Rose Marie Fagan. Each guest has a distinct and storied history within the culture change movement, and each has taken an interesting and unique journey built on their pioneering experiences.

Joanne Rader recounts her shift from rehab nursing to transforming geriatric mental health—moving away from restraints and toward truly personcentered care. Charlene Boyd shares how she led organizational change in longterm care settings, dismantling outdated practices to put residents first. Rose Marie Fagan reflects on her journey from teaching to eldercare advocacy, culminating in the formation of the national Pioneer Network.

Together, they explore past challenges, celebrate hardwon successes, and cast a vision for continued communitydriven reform.

Collectively, they recount the wins they have accomplished along the in transforming eldercare and improving quality, including the following: eliminating restraints and realityorientation protocols transforms quality of life; perspective shifts that views elders as full participants, not passive recipients in their care; the creation of grassroots forums and persistent advocacy that gave birth to the Pioneer Network and a national movement; and change that now demands risktaking, intergenerational partnerships, and amplifying elders’ voices.

In addition, they discuss their work in making “good trouble” that champions bold, disruptive ideas that advance personcentered care.

Their call to action is to join them at the Center for Innovation conference this Aug. 11 to 14 in St. Louis, Mo. Don’t miss the preconference session featuring Boyd, Rader, and Fagan, as well as many other pioneers who continue to mobilize the culturechange movement: https://cfi2025.org/.