We are so very proud to announce that NCCNHR-The national consumer voice for quality long-term care - has awarded long-time KABC board member Jeanne Reeder the Elma Holder Founder’s Award for 2008.

Jeanne’s small stature belies the power she packs. Jeanne is so deeply impassioned about "doing right" by residents of long-term care that no care situation is too difficult or challenging for her to meet head on. It is not because she is unrealistic nor because she is overly idealistic, but because she believes to the core of her being that residents deserve a favorable outcome and that she can make a positive difference for residents. And she is correct in that belief.

Jeanne is trained and licensed as a professional master’s level social worker and has a master’s in religious education. Since obtaining her MSW, Jeanne has focused her professional work and interest on serving senior adults and their families. She is especially interested in helping them navigate the ups and downs of coping with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease. Since 2000, Jeanne has been an active and fully contributing member of the board of directors for Kansas Advocates for Better Care. In her role as board member she brings all of her skills and passion to bear by working one-on-one with residents in crisis, with family members needing help to navigate the nursing home system or to identify health care resources and prescription related problems for loved ones with Alzheimer’s, with start-up support for family councils, with caregiving education, and by delivering hope and compassion in large doses to residents, family members, and colleagues. At KABC’s annual membership meeting in 2008, Jeanne presented concrete strategies for "Finding Joy on the Alzheimer’s Journey" for caregivers.

During her board tenure at KABC, Jeanne has contributed significantly to the organization’s vitality. She has been instrumental in concept development for major, successful fund raising campaigns. She has traveled across the state (which is a lot of miles for anyone not familiar with Kansas) to participate in board sponsored site visits to nursing homes and assisted living facilities doing a good job in providing resident centered care and to those doing a poor job. She is a person with a strong vision of what "care" should be and a passion to work well with others in bringing that vision into reality.

Jeanne has had a long-time commitment to long-term care issues. In addition to the work she does with Kansas Advocates for Better Care around long-term care issues, Jeanne serves in the Stevens Ministry program. Stephen Ministers offer care and support for people experiencing life difficulties. Jeanne has focused her efforts to persons experiencing long-term care challenges. She has been actively involved with the Mental Health and Aging Coalition at the local and state levels. In 1998 she coordinated a state-wide workshop to address mental health and aging.

Jeanne’s knowledge about the long-term care system comes from her professional training, her eight years volunteering on the board of directors of Kansas Advocates for Better Care, volunteering in the development of family councils in nursing homes, serving as a Stevens Minister, personal experience with loved ones in facilities, from doing social work on a geri-psych unit and as patient and family services specialist for the Heart of America Alzheimer’s Association. But it is Jeanne’s dynamic spirit that moves individuals and systems ever closer to better care.