LaVrene Norton

LaVrene is Executive Leader Action Pact, LLC. A pioneer and champion of the Household Model, LaVrene has been guiding organizations on their culture change journeys since 1984. She is recognized as the nation’s foremost organizational change facilitator in long-term care and has taken her expertise to Ireland and Australia as well. In addition to building curriculum for the broad series of Action Pact workshops, intensives and consulting, LaVrene has led the Action Pact team in the development of a deep catalog of culture change and Household Model literature, workbooks and DVDs, most notably In Pursuit of the Sunbeam which she co-authored with Steve Shields. She holds a Masters of Social Work.

Megan Hannan

Megan has provided insight and support around quality of life, dementia care, leadership, and change facilitation for over 25 years. She has held leadership roles with both Eden Alternative International and The Pioneer Network. She has presented numerous state, national and international conferences including the World Congress on Alzheimer’s, and the International Eden Alternative conference. Megan developed Action Pact’s signature train the trainer program, PersonFirst®, including the workbook and video titled Becoming Who They Were.

Glenn Blacklock

Glenn has a Master of Arts, Leisure Studies with emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation from the University of Iowa. In his 15 years as Administrator of Big Meadows Nursing Home in Savanna, IL he led the organization through their culture change and pioneered many initiatives for elders in the facility that challenged what it means to be “frail.” Glenn developed and leads the Action Pact workshop Unlock the Life Within.

Linda Bump MPH, RD

Linda is a Registered Dietitian and Licensed Nursing Home Administrator with a passion for resident choice and quality of life with a particular focus on the kitchen as the heart of the home.  As an administrator, has guided four organizations through transformations to a social model of care: Northome Healthcare Center, Bigfork Valley Communities, Meadowlark Hills and Pennybyrn at Maryfield.  She has extensive experience as both an internal and external consultant in nursing homes and has provided education on culture change to 60+ nursing homes through her work with Action Pact since 1999.

Linda leads the Action Pact workshops: Food for Thought, and Life Happens in the Kitchen.
She is the contributor and author of Action Pact workbooks: Nourish the Body and Soul and Life Happens in the Kitchen.

Bev Cowdrick

Bev Cowdrick joined Action Pact as a consultant/trainer in 2008 after successfully partnering with Action Pact to develop a new 168-bed household-model SNF for a large public hospital system in Charlotte, NC. She has 20 years experience leading healthcare facilities through organizational and architectural change projects to meet market and regulatory demands for resident-directed care and a residential quality of life. Bev holds a masters degree from Yale School of Management, where she focused on long-term care and healthcare financial management, law, public policy and architectural planning.

Patricia Maben

Since 1968, Patricia has focused her practice on the care of frail elders.  She has had experience as a Director of Nursing in two nursing facilities, Director of a community hospice and home health agency, Director of Allied Health for a community college and for 15 years the Director of Long-Term Care Program for the State of Kansas.  She served on the Case Mix and Quality Improvement Demonstration Project that developed the case mix reimbursement system for nursing facilities.  She participated in an expert panel for the Quality Indicators project. For 18 months she served as interim Clinical Leader for Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community. She is the author of the Creating Home Policy and Procedure Manual in the Household Matters Toolkit.

Vonda Hollingsworth SPHR, LNHA

Vonda is the Health Services Administrator for Pennybyrn at Maryfield.  Her role includes responsibility for the nursing home, assisted living, wellness and community clinic.  Vonda started with Pennybyrn in human resources over 14 years ago and over time transitioned to the role of administrator.  Throughout her time at Pennybyrn, she has been a champion for its culture change journey culminating in a 7 million dollar physical redesign of a the traditional 125 bed nursing home turning it into six households, as well as an organizational redesign from a top-down management structure to a team-driven environment of empowered staff.

Vonda is the instructor for Action Pact’s Household Leader workshop.

Read more about the Pennybyrn at Maryfield story here.

Marnie Ammons MSN, RN

Marnie has worked as a registered nurse for the past 38 years. Her passion to teach and work with the elderly led her to long-term care staff development roles and teaching since 1989. In 2004, she was hired by Perham Memorial Home to design and provide training programs for the nursing home staff to transition from the traditional, institutional model nursing home to the household model of care. Presently, Marnie is the Director of Nursing at Perham Memorial Home.

Marnie is co-instructor for Action Pact’s Nurse Leader Training workshop.

Carmen Bowman

Carmen Bowman is owner of Edu-Catering: Catering Education for Compliance and Culture Change turning her former role of regulator into educator.  Carmen was a Colorado state surveyor for nine years, a policy analyst with CMS Central Office where she taught the national Basic Surveyor Course and was the first certified activity professional to be a surveyor. Carmen has a Master’s degree in Healthcare Systems, a Bachelor’s in Social Work and German, is a Certified Eden Associate and Eden Mentor, Certified Validation Worker and Group Practitioner. 

Carmen is host of the webinar Conversations with Carmen. She co-developed the Artifacts of Culture Change measurement tool. She is author of Action Pact workbooks: Living Life to the Fullest, Quality of Life, and Regulatory Support for Culture Change. She has co-authored: Changing the Culture of Care Planning, Soften the Assessment Process and Vibrant Living.

Marilyn Oelfke RN

Marilyn is a registered nurse with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Facilities Administration.  She completed the Patient Care Administration program through the University of Minnesota and has worked in healthcare for more than 40 years in a variety of settings. For the past 22 years, she has served as Director of Nursing and more recently Director of LTC Services at Perham Memorial Home. Marilyn and the residents, family members, staff and community members of PMH, have converted a 96-bed traditional skilled nursing facility to six households, creating a true home for those who live there. 

Marilyn is co-instructor for Action Pact’s Nurse Leader Training workshop.