Speaker's Bureau
As part of Lutheran SeniorLife's commitment to serving the community, we have developed a Speaker's Bureau to help keep area residents, congregations and other service organizations informed and educated on a wide variety of long-term care topics and issues.
Interested in the latest developments in Alzheimer's care? Perhaps you need thorough explanations about Medicare options. Want to learn the differences between independent and assisted living and how they are funded? As a caregiver, maybe you are looking for available resources to help you care for your loved one. Whatever your need, we can provide an expert in that particular field who can provide the latest information.
For more information on the Speaker's Bureau, please contact Dana Dudra-Biel at 724-625-4860.
Following is a list of available speakers. Click the name of an individual speaker to view a detailed description of their area of expertise.
Speakers
Donna Cawthorne
Community Outreach Coordinator
Passavant Retirement Community
Pastor Wilfred Goetze
Chaplain
Passavant Retirement Community
Frances Grabowski
Director of Annual Giving
Lutheran SeniorLife Foundation
Kim Groves
Fitness and Wellness Manager
Passavant Retirement Community
Pastor John Hoogerbrugge
Chaplain
Passavant Retirement Community & St. John Specialty Care Center
Ann Mutmanksy
Director of Marketing
Passavant Retirement Community
Mark O'Donnell
Director of System Development and Communications
Lutheran SeniorLife
Barbara Reck
Marketing Coordinator
Lutheran SeniorLife
Laura Roy
Executive Director
Passavant Retirement Community
Suzanne M. Spohn, LCSW, QCSW
Director for Managed Care
Lutheran SeniorLife
Lyn Walker
Director of Rehabilitation
Lutheran SeniorLife
Lori Tormey
Coordinator
SWPA Lutheran Synod Health and Wellness Ministry
For more information on the Speakers Bureau, please contact Dana Dudra-Biel at 724-625-4860.
Donna Cawthorne – Community Outreach Coordinator, Passavant Retirement Community
Topics:
- Volunteer Trends & Recruitment Techniques
- Passavant Retirement Community & Volunteering
As the Community Outreach Coordinator for Passavant Retirement Community (PRC), Donna Cawthorne recruits and manages volunteers from the community as well as looks for ways to develop cooperative relationships between PRC and the community at large.
This position combines Donna's past experience of recruiting and managing volunteers in a nonprofit religious institution and that of working with people in restaurant supervision. Donna became employed at PRC as a casual resident aide as a bridge between these two jobs, but continued to stay on as a casual aide because of her belief in the faith based Abundant Life mission of PRC along with observable caring attitude of the staff for their residents.
Donna has a BS from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and is currently working on her masters in theology. Donna lives with her husband Russ in the Butler area.
Pastor Wilfred Goetze – Chaplain, Passavant Retirement Community
Topics:
- Compassionate Friends Program – That none should die alone
- How to Grow Young While the Body Grows Old
- The Place of Prayer, Silence, Scripture and Hymns in Visiting with the Elderly
Pastor Wil Goetze currently serves as chaplain at PRC, as well as pastor of Seaman Lutheran Church. Pastor Goetze and the chaplaincy department provide residents with four worship services each Sunday, a weekly hymn sing on each nursing unit, Bible studies, support groups and individual visitation.
Pastor Goetze has served as a chaplain at both St. John Specialty Care Center in Mars and at PRC since 1995. He has also served at Faith Lutheran Church in the North Hills, Resurrection Church in Oakdale, St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Zelienople and St. John's Lutheran Stone Church in Harmony.
Pastor Goetze was born in Hanover, Germany, and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He is married to Sandy. They have two sons. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University and his Master of Divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He was ordained at Stewart Avenue Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh in 1977. He is originally from the Zelienople area.
Frances Grabowski – Director of Annual Giving, Lutheran SeniorLife Foundation
Topics:
- Fundamentals of Fundraising
- Who are you, what do you do? (Increase community awareness of your organization's mission)
- Why are you fundraising? (Communicating your needs)
- How are you raising funds? (Providing a meaningful role for your donors)
- Getting started: What strategies work for your organization?
Frances Grabowski has been the director of annual giving for the Lutheran SeniorLife Foundation since November 2001. Prior to that time she worked in the development department of Camp Lutherlyn for 15 years.
Frances' primary responsibility is to raise funds for the Lutheran SeniorLife system through the implementation of an annual fund program that includes direct mail appeals, telemarketing and special projects.
Frances is a member of the AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) and also serves as a board member for the Butler Area High School Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation, which raises funds to support special programs and projects that benefit the students of the Butler Area School System. Frances is from the Butler area.
Kim Groves – Fitness and Wellness Manager – Passavant Retirement Community
Topics:
- Use It…Or Lose It!
- Basic Movements to Help You Feel Better
- Osteoporosis Prevention and Management Through Exercise
- Staying Healthy in 2010
- Exercising Safely During and After Pregnancy
Kim is the Fitness and Wellness Manager for PRC and Wellness Coordinator for Lutheran SeniorLife. She has a degree in exercise science and is available to speak to groups on all levels of fitness and well-being.
Pastor John Hoogerbrugge – Chaplain, Passavant Retirement Community & St. John Specialty Care Ctr.
Topics:
- Ministering to the Spiritual Needs of the Elderly (Note: This is a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation followed by time for open discussion. A projector will need to be provided.)
- Finding meaning and purpose to life when life seems hopeless
- Coping with loss, anger and forgiveness
- Validating one's dignity and worth
- Using scripture in ministry
Pastor John Hoogerbrugge was raised in the Dutch Reformed tradition and became involved in the Charismatic Movement in 1970. He was a pastor for two churches and also spent seven years in North Africa as a missionary. He has been working as a full-time chaplain for Lutheran SeniorLife since 1997, dividing his time between Passavant Retirement Community and St. John Specialty Care Center.
Pastor Hoogerbrugge graduated from Elim Bible Institute, a Pentecostal Bible school near Rochester, NY, in 1974 and received a full ordination with Elim Fellowship in 1980. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 2003. He has lived in the Southwest Butler County area since 1980.
Ann Mutmansky – Director of Marketing, Passavant Retirement Community
Topics:
- What to Look For in a Retirement Community
- Levels of care defined
- Options in payment models
- Reasons for choosing a community
- Trends in retirement living
- Downsizing
- An organized approach
- Break it into small segments
- What to do with everything
- Why outside help can improve the process
- Long-Term Care Issues
- Medicare and Medicaid primer
- Long-term care insurance
- Facility versus home care
- Why "spending down" is a misnomer
Ann Mutmansky has been the director of marketing for PRC since January 2002. She joined the organization after a long career in retail management.
Ann is active in professional networking groups, is a member of the American Marketing Association and is a volunteer for CANDLE, Inc. in Butler, PA where she regularly participates in the Reality Tour anti-drug program in the community. She is from the Butler area.
Mark O'Donnell – Director of Systems Development and Communications, Lutheran SeniorLife
Topics:
- Lutheran SeniorLife and Its Church Affiliates
- Marketing and Communications – Branding Your Name and Getting Out the Message
- Creating a brand for your organization
- Developing a mission statement, communicating the "heart of the organization"
- "Connecting" with your target markets and discerning how to serve them
- Building Effective Ambassadors for Your Organization
- Team building: The critical elements for effective communications
- Identifying "spiritual gifts" in your workforce and putting them to work
Mark O'Donnell is director of system development and communications for Lutheran SeniorLife, bringing more than thirty years of experience to his position. He began his professional career as an editor/writer for the Valley News Dispatch where he won seven state and regional awards for excellence in writing. He also served as communications manager at Allegheny General Hospital, where he led that system's "On the Frontier of Advanced Specialty Care" advertising campaign. He then joined the Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh in 1989 and directed the "Amazing Kids" campaign, when it changed its name to the Children's Institute. Before joining Lutheran SeniorLife, he taught business, advertising and related courses at the college level. Mark resides in the Brackenridge area.
Barbara Reck – Marketing Coordinator, Lutheran SeniorLife
Topics:
- Sandwich Generation
- The Long Term Care Journey
Barbara Reck has more than 25 years of experience in the healthcare arena. She has spent the last 16 years of her career working for Lutheran SeniorLife at St. John Specialty Care Center, Passavant Retirement Community and most recently at The Commons at Stonebrook Village. Having worked on three different campuses with diverse programs and services, Barbara has developed a true understanding and appreciation of how the long-term continuum works.
Being part of the Sandwich Generation, Barbara has utilized her experience to guide both her mother and mother-in-law through numerous hospitalizations, skilled care stays and assisted living placement. As a result, she is able to empathize with other adult children as they embark upon the sometimes overwhelming long-term care journey in order to facilitate the best possible placement decisions for their family members.
Barbara received her Associate Degree in business management from Community College of Allegheny Conty and has completed the Nursing Home Administrator Course.
Laura Roy – Executive Director, Passavant Retirement Community
Topics:
- History of Passavant Retirement Community
- Community Life
- Abundant Life
- Labor Relations
- Leadership
Laura Roy is the Executive Director at Passavant Retirement Community. She has worked for Lutheran SeniorLife, Passavant's parent organization for 13 years and has served in a variety of roles, including assistant administrator, director for special projects and administrator. She has been the Executive Director since July 2000. Her enthusiastic leadership and passion for serving elders has been instrumental in the creation of Abundant Life, a model of culture change that encourages and enables elders and the staff who serve them to be who they were created to be.
Laura grew up in Mars, PA. She has her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Allegheny College located in Meadville, PA. She holds both a Masters of Business Administration and Masters of Health Administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a licensed nursing home administrator in the state of Pennsylvania and a graduate of the Coalition for Leadership in Aging Services through the University of North Texas and is a Certified Aging Services Professional.
Suzanne M. Spohn – Director for Managed Care, Lutheran SeniorLife
Topics:
- Advance Directives
- What are advance directives?
- What types of advanced directives are recognized in Pennsylvania?
- Under what circumstances does an advance directive apply?
- How do advance directives help with end-of-live care?
- Medicare and Managed Care
- What is Medicare and what does it cover?
- What are Medigap plans and how do they work with Medicare?
- What are Medicare Advantage health plans and how do they compare to original Medicare?
- Paying for Nursing Home Care
- How much does nursing home care cost?
- What types of insurance are available to help pay the costs of nursing home care?
- What is the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?
- What is Long Term Care insurance?
- Case management in Long Term Care
- What is case management in a long term care facility?
- What role do case managers have in long term care?
- How does effective case management assist both the facility and the resident?
Sue Spohn is director for managed care at Lutheran SeniorLife. Over the past 10 years with LSL, she has developed and adapted case management programs to meet the needs of seniors within the ever changing and challenging health care environment. Previous positions held within the company include senior social worker on the sub-acute unit and director of admissions at St. John Specialty Care Center.
Sue has experience working in acute care environments, as well as community-based organizations serving those with serious and persistent mental illness, victims of domestic violence and the homeless. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology/Psychology from Clarion State College and Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pittsburgh.
Sue is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers and past-president of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care. She currently resides in the Harmony area.
Lyn Walker – Director of Rehabilitation, Lutheran SeniorLife
Topics:
- Fall Prevention and Home Safety
- Why Seniors Fall: Risk factors that contribute to falls
- Medical conditions and medications
- Vision, sensory, strength and balance changes
- Identifying hazards in the home
- What you can do to prevent falls
- Exercises to stay fit and prevent falls
- Strategies to improve safety in the home
- Resources that can help
Lyn Walker has been with Lutheran SeniorLife for six years and is currently the director of rehabilitation and the administrator of home health. Lyn has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh and is a licensed physical therapist with 25 years of experience working with seniors. She is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association. She currently resides in the Gibsonia area.
Lori Tormey – Coordinator SWPA Synod Health and Wellness Ministry
Topics:
- What is Health and Wellness Ministry
- What is Parish Nursing
- Becoming an Advocate
- Resource Referrals
- Promoting Health and Wellness
- Developing a Health and Wellness Team
- Visitation Ministry
Lori is a registered nurse with experience working in many areas of health care and 5 years experience as a commissioned Parish Nurse, serving three Lutheran congregations in Beaver County. She has been called by God to care for people and has responded to that call by developing the Southwestern Pennsylvania Lutheran Synod Health and Wellness Ministry in collaboration with Lutheran SeniorLife, the Southwest Pennsylvania Lutheran Synod and Mercy Parish Nurse and Heath Ministry Program. The Health and Wellness Ministry is a ministry of care and compassion and holistic health – mind, body and spirit. It encompasses a wide range of activities which include education, advocacy and care of God’s people.
