LeadingAge 2018 National Conference

This past month, I was fortunate enough to have attended the 2018 LeadingAge national conference in Philadelphia as part of their student scholarship program. As someone interested in pursuing a career in aging services, I was elated to be able to spend a week learning from and meeting like-minded individuals with a shared passion for helping improve the quality of life of older adults. Furthermore, I had attended the LeadingAge PA conference in June of 2018 as part of my internship, so I knew how beneficial this opportunity would be for my ongoing continual education.

Throughout the week, I attempted to select a wide variety of diverse sessions so as to gain exposure to as many different aspects of senior living as possible. I went to several sessions on dementia best practices, including how to integrate technology with this population and a debate on whether to isolate those with dementia in a "neighborhood" or integrate them with other residents. In addition, I chose sessions on quality improvement, shifting market trends, person-centered approaches, and improving care transitions. The two keynote speakers were an Uber executive and a world-renowned photographer, both of which had insightful messages that could carry into the workplace.

Another aspect of the conference I enjoyed was member site visits. I had the chance to attend tours of two member communities, Granite Farms Estates (an Acts community) and Waverly Heights, where I had done my internship this past summer. Both are located in the Greater Philadelphia area and showed tremendous hospitality towards their visitors while showing off their beautiful campuses. Lastly, I ventured into the Expo Hall, filled with hundreds upon hundreds of vendor booths. Standout booths included the Flik Lifestyles food truck, goat yoga, and Morrison's cameo appearance by Jeff Mauro, Food Network star and "Sandwich King" (see photo above).

LeadingAge also provided a significant number of student-only sessions, including meetups, networking opportunities, mentorship, resume/interview tips, and other career building efforts. Since the national conference can be quite overwhelming with over 7,000 attendees, it was helpful to meet some fellow students to navigate the week with and share our stories.

Throughout the week, I met individuals from Australia, Canada, Korea, and the United Kingdom, not to mention all over the United States. It was beautiful to see that all over the world, there are people advocating for older adults and going great distances to best serve their residents. This conference further motivated me to pursue a career in senior living and be a part of the next generation of healthcare administrators. Thank you to everyone who made this possible!