Joining Our Voices 2023: Envisioning the Future of Serious Illness Care

Esther Greenhouse, CEO of Silver to Gold Strategic Consulting, is a longevity strategist and environmental gerontologist bringing a unique constellation of experience and expertise in design, gerontology, environmental psychology, and planning to help organizations and communities excel at meeting the needs of the 50+ population to enable them to THRIVE!  Her unique Enabling Design Approach is a pillar for AARP International’s Equity by Design initiative, and informed the design of the nation’s first elder-focused ER at the request of Dr. Bill Thomas.

She co-authored the American Planning Association’s Aging in Community Policy Guide, is an industry scholar for the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures, and served as the Strategic Director for one of the nation’s first Age-Friendly Centers for Excellence.  The International Well Building Institute has appointed Esther to their new Investing for Health Advisory.  She is contributing her expertise to the NYS Master Plan on Aging.

For 10 years she was the primary caregiver for her mother, and Esther’s Enabling Design Approach enabled her mother to maintain her physical and financial independence longer, reduced demands on family and professional caregivers, and resulted in long term care savings of over $500,000. This is the basis of Silver to Gold’s Caregiving by Design Initiative, to help municipalities and senior care providers address the caregiving crisis and enable greater independence and well-being among the seniors they serve.

Dr. Zeev Neuwirth is a healthcare executive with over 15 years of clinical practice and over 15 years of experience in clinical operations, process improvement, population health & innovation.  He most recently served as the Chief of Care Transformation at Atrium Health, now part of Advocate Health.

In August 2017, Dr. Neuwirth launched an award winning healthcare podcast entitled, Creating a New Healthcare, with 160 episodes posted to date.

In 2019, Dr. Neuwirth published his first book, Reframing Healthcare – A Roadmap for Creating Disruptive Change, which achieved #1 status on Amazon in the category of Hospital & Health Policy.

In Sept 2023, Dr. Neuwirth published a second book, Beyond The Walls – the Megatrends, Movements & Market Disruptors Transforming American Healthcare. This book has already achieved #1 New Release on Amazon in the categories of Hospital Administration, Healthcare Delivery, and Healthcare Policy.

Dr. Neuwirth is an alum of Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He received a Masters in Healthcare Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. He currently lectures at the Yale School of Public Health, and his most recent book, Beyond The Walls, is being utilized as a core component of the curriculum in the executive Masters in Healthcare Management program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Neal K. Shah is a former hedge fund manager turned social entrepreneur after deeply personal experiences with caregiving. Motivated by creativity and humanitarian progress, he co-founded and serves as CEO of CareYaya Health Technologies, a tech startup and applied research lab focused on enhancing care delivery. Its flagship product is a technology platform that lets people quickly book experienced caregivers that are uniquely all students in the healthcare field, helping expand the care workforce amidst a critical caregiver shortage (www.careyaya.org). In addition, CareYaya is launching new applications of artificial intelligence to help people better manage caregiving, aging and serious illness. Its mission is to empower family caregivers and create a better future for care.

Previously, Neal founded and managed a $250 million investment fund in New York, including a focus on healthcare investments, and prior to that, was a partner at a $1.5 billion private equity and hedge fund focusing on a variety of sectors. He started his career in investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in philosophy and economics.

Mareah is a licensed clinical psychologist with specialty training in neuropsychology and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She had a deep-seated commitment to collaboration, mutual respect, and the pursuit of options that maximize safety, flexibility, and movement toward deep enrichment and a high quality of life. Essentially, she is retired, but still enjoys facilitating several DBT graduate groups. Gardening, dancing, reading, travel, the good company of friends and family, mindfulness-based practices, and the quiet pursuit of a high quality of life are her primary passions these days.

Mareah developed expertise in community development and leadership while in private practice for 18 years as a clinician and board member at owner-operated HRC Behavioral Health & Psychiatry, PA in Chapel Hill, NC. She served on the HRC Board in different capacities for many years. Her professional contributions include developing unique services for underserved psychiatric populations, working on a diverse team to establish a unique state-wide program for aging attorneys, and advocating for medically and psychologically unique individuals and their families.

Mareah has lived in the Piedmont area of North Carolina for 32 years. She is a co-creator and current board member of the Traditional Music and Dance Retirement Society in 2011 (TTMADRS or 2T, https://www.dancingintoretirement.org/). 2T became a non-profit organization in 2015 and operates with a consent model of governance with the mission of education about wellness, aging challenges, and needs during the fragile phase of life. Mareah has served as the President of the TTMADRS Board for a number of years with the support of the Board. More recently, a partner organization was formed, Hands Four Development Cooperative (H4D). H4D is a housing cooperative with goals that include exercising building supportive community practices, establishing a intentional residential community that fosters creativity and the arts in partnership with innovative ways of sustaining a environment of rich opportunities for social, physical, and mental wellness while also planning proactively for the fragile phase of life, death, and maintaining community and dignity. Mareah is a member of the H4D cooperative board and a Core Share member; she intends to live in the community.

As a health services researcher, Dr. Miller applies an economic lens to research at the intersection of aging and health policy evaluation. She is interested in understanding the effects of policies on outcomes of the long-term care workforce (e.g., wages of home health aides, well-being of family caregivers); the mechanisms impacting quality of care (e.g., turnover); and, patient outcomes. While these are her core research questions, she is also interested in understanding disparities in long-term care and caregiver support by rurality.

Charlotte Sweeney has served on NC Serious Illness Coalition’s Caregiver and Patient Engagement Workgroup since its inception. Her voice is that of a patient, caregiver, and professional in healthcare. She retired from patient care in 2012: 29 years in obstetrics and gynecology in private practice, student health, and volunteer clinics. Thereafter, she wrote assessments and educational recommendations for seven years as an associate medical director for physicians to sharpen clinical skills. Her first job after college was teaching English, culminating in remedial reading specialty seven years later with experience in public and veteran dependents schools, grades six through nine. Years of giving care to her parents, brother, and husband of 52 years (disabled Vietnam veteran) motivate her volunteering since 2015, as a founding member on VetREP (Veteran Research Engagement Panel), Durham, NC.

Jenny Thompson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in History and Geography in 2006 and an MS in Occupational Therapy in 2013. She has worked in a variety of clinical settings throughout her career as an occupational therapist including home health and hospice care, dementia care, public school system, skilled nursing and short-term rehabilitation, and large hospital system before joining the Durham VA Medical Center in 2021. Jenny joined the Durham VA Caregiver Support Program in 2022. She meets with veterans and caregivers applying to the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) via telehealth and at their homes to conduct required assessments and connect veteran/caregiver dyads with appropriate adaptive equipment and VA/community resources.

Professor Coughlin is a Professor of Law at Wake Forest University School of Law.  She has been recognized for both her teaching and scholarship. She is the recipient of the Mary S. Lawrence Award from the Legal Writing Institute, the Wake Forest University Teaching and Learning Center’s Teaching Innovation Award, and the Joseph Branch Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Her scholarship, which is interdisciplinary in nature, has been cited in legal, scientific, medical, and educational journals and texts.  She has authored five books, and over a dozen law review and law journal articles. Professor Coughlin is a core faculty member of the Wake Forest University Center for Bioethics, Health & Society and an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Karen is a northerner, grew up in Philadelphia and pursued degrees in Psychology and Public Health. She spent her career in New York City at the American Lung Association as the Director of Tobacco Control programs. She moved happily to Chapel Hill, NC about 35 years ago because she could not imagine letting her 8-year-old son ever ride the NY subway without his Mom vigilantly holding his hand…

Karen has been at the CCRC, Carolina Meadows in Chapel Hill for almost 7 years. About 5 years ago, she and her new husband, George Evans started a small group called Compassion & Choices (after the national organization committed to end of life choices). It provides interested residents with a place to discuss their concerns and experiences in dealing with end-of-life issues. Through both serious and humorous discussions, this group has developed a bond of friendship and trust as they develop their future plans. In fact, they have agreed to advocate for each other when the time comes to implement their plans.

Carolina Meadows administrators, staff and our C & C group members have since initiated a campus -wide program called “Positive Endings,” to help all 800+ residents develop an awareness of end-of-life issues. They offer lectures, movies, workshops (such a developing a video to tell your health agent and family what really matters to you at the end of life) and even our own “Death Café” to help folks learn more and make decisions on their future. Kudos to Carolina Meadows for their open attitude to discussing these sometimes- delicate issues without fear and often with a few laughs.

Keith Stirewalt, MDiv DMSc PA-C MBA is Program Director for FaithHealth Clinical Medicine, a hospital chaplain, an ordained minister, a medical educator, and a Physician Assistant at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.

Keith received his Physician Assistant from the Wake Forest School of Medicine, his Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, his Master of Divinity from Wake Forest University, and his Doctor of Medical Science from the University of Lynchburg. Additionally, he completed two years of chaplain residency at the School of Pastoral Care at (then) Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Keith’s focal points center on the narrative interaction of clinical medicine, spirituality, end-of-life, serious illness, and bioethics. Keith serves on the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Clinical Ethics Committee, the Schwartz Rounds task force, and teaches in the Medicine and Patients in Society (MAPS) course for 1^st and 2^nd-year medical students.

Additionally, Keith leads classes and workshops for clinical students, clergy, community leaders, and other medical professionals. He serves on a variety of health-related task forces and committees.

Keith is married to the Reverend Margaret Norris, has three adult children, and two grandchildren.

Dr. Maggie Clifton, DO is a hospice & palliative medicine specialist in Greenville, NC and has over 6 years of experience in the medical field. They graduated from Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine Virginia in 2016. They are affiliated with ECU Health Medical Center.

Denisé Dews has been a social worker for 38 years, with practice experience in acute care hospital settings. She was an associate professor with the UNC School of Social Work for 16 years until September when she took a position as education specialist with the UNC School of Medicine, Center for Aging and Health. Denisé continues to teach in the MSW program, including the graduate level interprofessional course on death and dying at UNC with students from a wide range of disciplines, including social work, nursing, medicine, allied health, psychology, and others.

Keith Stirewalt, MDiv DMSc PA-C MBA is Program Director for FaithHealth Clinical Medicine, a hospital chaplain, an ordained minister, a medical educator, and a Physician Assistant at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.

Keith received his Physician Assistant from the Wake Forest School of Medicine, his Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, his Master of Divinity from Wake Forest University, and his Doctor of Medical Science from the University of Lynchburg. Additionally, he completed two years of chaplain residency at the School of Pastoral Care at (then) Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Keith’s focal points center on the narrative interaction of clinical medicine, spirituality, end-of-life, serious illness, and bioethics. Keith serves on the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Clinical Ethics Committee, the Schwartz Rounds task force, and teaches in the Medicine and Patients in Society (MAPS) course for 1^st and 2^nd-year medical students.

Additionally, Keith leads classes and workshops for clinical students, clergy, community leaders, and other medical professionals. He serves on a variety of health-related task forces and committees.

Keith is married to the Reverend Margaret Norris, has three adult children, and two grandchildren.

Marisette Hasan is a 1981 graduate from the University of South Carolina with Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She is the Principal & CEO for LifeSprings Consulting Group, LLC. She is passionately engaged in supporting hospice and palliative care providers and policy advocates to increase access and decrease end of life disparities for patients and caregivers who live in black and brown communities.

In addition to her role as Vice-Chair for the Alliance for a Healthier SC, Marisette serves as Program Coordinator for The SC Coalition for the Care of the Seriously Ill.  Through her leadership, the Coalition oversees the My Life My Choices grass roots advance care planning initiative funded by BCBS SC Foundation.  This initiative provides education for clinicians, SC citizens and organizational stakeholders on how the benefits of having advance care planning conversations and executing their Advance Directives prior to experiencing an acute medical life-threatening emergency. Information and resources can be accessed for clinicians and the general public on the My Life My Choices website. (www.mylifemychoices.org)

Nationally, Marisette also serves as the VP for Community Action & Policy with CTAC(Coalition to Transform Advanced Care) and is a Community Co-investigator for the Equal ACP & Equal Space African American Faith Advance Care Planning Research projects led by Dr. Kimberly Johnson and funded by the PCORI Foundation.