Show Notes
How can senior living environments support brain health, preserve identity, and help residents feel at home? In this episode of Brain Bytes, Kelly talks with Sandi Soraci, director of senior living strategies for Tarkett North America, about how thoughtful design can do more than meet safety and functional needs.
Kelly and Sandi explain how the built environment can reduce cognitive and sensory demands, support independence, and create opportunities for meaningful connection. The conversation explores the power of "sticky spaces," comfortable places along residents' everyday paths where spontaneous interactions can happen naturally, and how glare, visual patterns, background noise, and competing conversations can increase cognitive load and fatigue. Looking ahead, Sandi makes the case for treating belonging as an intentional design outcome and extending cognitive-supportive design beyond memory care into independent and assisted living. The challenge for the industry is to connect design investments to measurable outcomes, including resident satisfaction, caregiver experience, family confidence, occupancy, and operational efficiency. For more information on Tarkett: https://commercial.tarkett.com/
More from Elevate Eldercare
Neurologist Doug Redosh, MD, and Up ENDing Parkinson's founder Molly Cupka join AgingIN CEO Susan Ryan to explore the powerful connection between exercise, climbing, confidence, and community. Doug shares his personal experience with Parkinson's and how climbing helped him reconnect with something he loved. Molly explains how one climber with Parkinson's inspired her to create Up ENDing Parkinson's, which now connects people with Parkinson's to climbing programs across the country. Their conversation explores how climbing can support strength, balance, focus, and connection, as well as help people move beyond what they think is possible. More about Up Ending Parkinson's here: https://www.upendingparkinsons.org/. More information on AgingIN here: https://aginginnovation.org
Aging policy expert, author, and journalist Howard Gleckman joins AgingIN CEO Susan Ryan to explore the fragmented U.S. long-term care system, the challenges of financing care, the workforce crisis, and the limitations of the "aging in place" ideal. Howard and Susan make make the case for aging in the right place, wherever a person can experience the care, autonomy, connection and community they need. Their conversation also highlights the Leonard Florence Center for Living, a Boston-based Green House home that demonstrates how even highly complex care can be delivered in a true home environment. Susan and Howard close with a message for families and policymakers alike: plan ahead, rethink assumptions about long-term care, and build a system that supports people wherever they call home. More about Howard, including his book Caring for Our Parents, here: https://howardgleckman.com. Information on AgingIN Education Opportunities: https://aginginnovation.org/solutions/education/
Barbara Infante joins AgingIN CEO Susan Ryan to share how a family member's difficult rehabilitation experience led her from a 25-year career in process improvement and project management into aging services. Barb's secret sauce is about looking for what's working and sharing the ideas so others can build on them. Through her initiative, Eldercare Quest, she has taken to the road visiting aging services communities across the country to discover person-centered practices that are working well. In today's episode, she shares some remarkable examples she's discovered along with way and lessons senior living providers can learn from each other. Susan and Barb also discuss Agile Aging, a company Barb founded to help senior living organizations turn overwhelm into momentum by prioritizing initiatives, strengthening teams, and creating sustainable systems for change. More about Agile Aging here: https://www.agile-aging.com/. Information on AgingIN Education Opportunities: https://aginginnovation.org/solutions/education/
Lori Mars, director of the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), joins the show this week to explore elder abuse, ageism, and what can be done to prevent both. AgingIN CEO Susan Ryan sits down with Lori to discuss the different forms of elder mistreatment, including physical, psychological, sexual, and financial abuse, as well as neglect and self-neglect, and why recognizing the signs matters. Lori also explains how ageism can devalue older adults and create conditions that increase the risk of abuse. The conversation highlights the power of intergenerational connection, multidisciplinary approaches to elder justice, and programs that support caregivers and promote restorative justice. Lori also shares her personal journey into elder justice and the NCEA's work providing education, research and resources to professionals, families and the public. The message is simple: respecting the dignity and humanity of older adults is essential to preventing abuse. More about NCEA here: https://ncea.usc.edu
James Balda, president and CEO of Argentum, joins Elevate Eldercare this week to explore how senior living can help address some of the biggest challenges facing aging and long-term care. Balda sits down with AgingIN CEO Susan Ryan to discuss his journey to Argentum and the organization's policy priorities, including developing stronger care workforce pipelines, expanding senior housing, and finding new ways to serve the "forgotten middle," older adults who struggle to afford private-pay care but don't qualify for Medicaid. The conversation also explores what quality senior living should look like: home-like environments, resident choice, dignity, social connection, meaningful engagement, and strong memory care. He and Susan also delve into the potential of AI and other technologies to support caregivers while emphasizing that technology should enhance—not replace—the human side of care. The episode closes with a call to change the public narrative around senior living through storytelling and to give residents, families, and caregivers a stronger voice in shaping the future of aging. More about Argentum here: https://www.argentum.org/ Information on AgingIN Education Opportunities: https://aginginnovation.org/solutions/education/