It is estimated that Virginia will need 22K nurses in the next 5 years to meet escalating demand ... without increases in enrollment, by 2020, one in three patients in Virginia will not have a nurse to care for them.
Members/Partners
Member Profiles
Name: Katie M. Roeper
Title: Executive Director
Company/Organization: SeniorNavigator
ODP Member Since: March 2008
ODP Committee Affiliation: Community Readiness
Summarize your professional background relevant to Age Wave preparedness.
As Executive Director of SeniorNavigator, I have worked with the Virginia Department for the Aging and state and local agencies to co-develop No Wrong Door for Virginia’s seniors, caregivers, and adults with disabilities with a goal to coordinate public and private services and streamline access to home- and community-based supports. Currently, I provide direction to SeniorNavigator, as the statewide lead for private sector participation in No Wrong Door, responsible for collaborating with VDA and partnering agencies on system and process decisions; marketing NWD to private sector providers; co-developing best practices for private sector participation; representing the private sector in technology development; negotiating pricing with technology vendor; developing pricing model for the private sector; managing contracts and administrative functions such a billing and leasing processes; demonstrating the technology; and administering a team for training and help desk support and providing technical assistance to private providers.
Additionally, I serve on statewide advisory teams to include: Virginia Systems Transformation Leadership Team (TLT); NWD Internal Oversight Committee (IAOC); Resource Team for No Wrong Door; and the Tools Subcommittee and Streamlining Access Subcommittee.
I created a local government partnership program, which brings together, SeniorNavigator, local government, and the local Area Agency on Aging to raise awareness about the importance of community readiness, increased access to home- and community-based services, and attention to diversity of cultures in the planning process.
In order to increase awareness across the state, I created “E-Quicktips” a bi-weekly health/aging-related email message reaching well over 100,000 consumers through its ripple effect and developed a partnership with 60+ weekly newspapers that publish “Ask an Expert” provided by SeniorNavigator as free content for weekly publication.
On a national level, I was a governor appointee to the White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA) and serve as speaker at national conferences including the National Council on Aging/American Society on Aging, Administration on Aging, and the Southern Governor's Association.
What expertise or other strengths do you bring to the Older Dominion Partnership?
With a background in marketing and communications, I bring creative experience in managing public relations and marketing campaigns for non-profit and public service initiatives. With a strong history of community engagement and non-profit and faith-based volunteerism, I bring experience in non-profit board development and management, and strategic planning.
What do you believe are the most pressing issues in Age Wave-preparedness in Virginia today?
Lack of awareness that there are issues; lack of understanding about where to find informational and financial resources to address the issues so that each entity is not reinventing the wheel; severe gaps in community-based support services critical to enabling seniors to age in place; an alarming deficiency in support for geriatric education for future health care providers.
What advice do you have for age wave planning in Virginia?
Promote best practices with a focus on successful replication; collaborate on delivering consistent messaging; leverage technology; develop partnerships that encourage multi-generational approaches to planning and fund development. Virginia has a long history of successful public/private partnerships -- ODP and SeniorNavigator are two great examples on a statewide level, but there are also many on the community level thanks to the leadership of the Area Agencies on Aging.