Why You Should Attend?

Make connections with others in the Assisted Living Industry across Texas and share ideas with peers. Learn about industry updates, lessons learned from the challenges communities overcame, new and innovative ideas in the senior care space, as well as training about connecting with residents.

Educational Tracks

Enjoy great content from our educational tracks aimed for senior living professionals. CEUs are available.

  • Nursing Track
  • Manager’s: Dementia or Leadership Tracks

Participants can attend any combination of sessions from the different educational tracks.

Continuing Education Units and NAB Credits

Texas Assisted Living Association is approved to give Continuing Education Units for LTC employees. All CEUs offered at conference are NAB approved.

Registration Options

Participants can choose to attend the 2-Day Conference for Nurses, the 2-Day Conference for Managers, or attend all 3 days for the nursing track and manager’s track.

Register before March 28th to receive Early Bird Pricing. Registration deadline is April 19th.

Pricing and CEU details below:

Early Bird

(February 21st - March 28th)

 Regular Registration

(March 29th - April 19th)

 Total CEUs
Member Non-Member Member Non-Member

Nurses 2-Day:

Tuesday & Wednesday

 $445 $575 $465 $595 16.5
Managers 2-Day:

Wednesday & Thursday

 $445 $575 $465 $595 14.5
2-Day Group Rate: discount applied to 6+ Registrations from a Company $385 $485 $400 $500

Nursing: 16.5 or

Managers: 14.5

Full 3-Day Nursing + Managers:

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday

 $700 $850 $800 $950 22.5

Conference Schedule with Session Descriptions

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

7:30 AM – 8:30 AM

Registration and Check-In: Welcome!

*Lower Level of Convention Center

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Nursing: Hollie Glover – “Trauma Informed Care”

Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?" Healthcare providers need to have a complete picture of a patient's life-past and present, to provide the best individualized care possible. It has been proven to improve a patient's engagement, treatment adherence, and outcomes, as well as staff wellness.

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Nursing/Dementia: Jaime Cobb Tinsley – “The Magic of Reminiscence”

Recalling past events, feelings, memories, and thoughts for stimulation and pleasure is one of the most beneficial therapies for older adults’, particularly those living with dementia. This program will demonstrate the multiple benefits of reminiscence, best practices in how to facilitate reminiscence activities with older adults and those living with dementia, and how staff, families and volunteers can “D-I-Y” a reminiscence activity tailored to the interests of each resident.

10:15 AM - 11:15 AM

Nursing: Linda Abel – “Ethics for Nurses and Social Workers”

11:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Nursing: Danny Mack – “Compassion Fatigue: Managing Care Stress”

This presentation will give the warning signs of compassion fatigue and will practical insights on how to lower the stress for giving care to others

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM

Lunch on your own: Check out Kalahari’s plentiful dining options. https://www.kalahariresorts.com/texas/things-to-do/dining

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM

Nursing: Misty Miller- “Infection Prevention and Control Program Considerations for ALF”

This session will cover the key considerations and evidenced based best practices when developing an infection prevention and control program in the ALF setting. In addition, this session will review the State (HHSC) and Federal Requirements (OSHA) for the ALF infection prevention and control program

2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

Nursing/Dementia: Heather White – “Why Dementia Specific Education is Crucial to your Business”

Dementia Specific Education is critical to your business, even if your business is not "Memory Care". The number of people living with dementia symptoms are at an all-time high and growing higher, only compounded more by SARS-CoV-2. When you and your team are set up for success, equipped with knowledge and confidence, your measurable metrics of retention and ratings increase, while your customer base and referral connections thrive.

3:15 PM – 3:30 PM

Break: Breathe, Stretch, and Take a Break! Refreshments provided in the hall.

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Nursing: Ara Sayabailan – “All Senior Living Stakeholders are Affected by a Clinically Proven Incontinence Program”

To educate executive directors and nurses that a clinically validated total incontinence management program minimizes and reduces the risk of falls, UTI’s, pressure ulcers, skin integrity issues, agitation, and sleep fragmentation while helping the communities success. The session will highlight how incontinence care affects prospect move-ins, resident retention, caregiver job satisfaction, overtime, and burn out, and challenging family conversations all affecting a community's bottom line. The presentation will provide the solutions that can be implemented to significantly reduce these risks of incidences all TALA community stakeholders are trying to prevent. Both caregiver survey data and clinical data on falls, UTI's, and agitation will be shared throughout the presentation supporting the goals and outcomes that were achieved through the implementation of a total incontinence care program.

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Nursing/Dementia: Hollie Glover – “Sexuality and Dementia”

People with dementia, often have sexual needs. It continues to be part of their identity. There is a fine line between appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior. We will discuss misconceptions about sex and dementia as well as learn appropriate ways to manage intimacy and other issues.

5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

Board Reception - Board Members, Industry Partners & Nurse Attendees are Invited

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

6:30 AM - 5:30 PM

Registration and Check-In: Welcome!
*Lower Level of Convention Center

8:00 AM - 9:15 AM

Welcome and Opening Keynote: Jennifer L. FitzPatrick – “Refocus, Refresh, Resilience: Flourishing After Two Tense Years”

We all know that the past two years have been filled with tension, drama, fear, grief, and stress. Staff, residents and even family members can be overwhelmed and at a loss for how to move forward. But what if you can discover meaning from all the challenges, take stock in your resiliency, and bounce back better than ever? This opening keynote session led by a former psychotherapist will inspire you to:

    • identify signs of compassion fatigue, countertransference and burnout in yourself, your team and others
    • recognize opportunities of growth for yourself and your team
    • create a plan for refocusing so you can forge ahead for the remainder of 2022 and beyond

9:15 AM - 10:15 AM

Plenary: Anthony Ormsbee-Hale - “The Makings of a Leader: How Organizations Can Increase First Time Manager Effectiveness”

Research conducted by CEB shows that 60% of all new managers fail within the first 24 months of their new position. This presentation will outline how organizations can put mentorship, skill development and additional programs in place that improve internally developed talent outcomes and increase manager competency levels.

10:15 AM - 11:15 AM

  • Nursing & Dementia: Jaime Cobb Tinsley – “Effective Tools for Managing Dementia Behaviors: Non-pharmacologic Approaches”
    It is estimated that up to 97% of persons living with dementia experience at least one behavioral disturbance. Nonpharmacologic approaches have been shown to be the most effective at preventing and reducing behavioral disturbances should be the first-line of interventions. This program will discuss in causes of behavioral disturbances and review in detail different types of nonpharmacologic approaches in dementia care that promote wellness and quality of life.
  • Leadership: Jennifer L. FitzPatrick – “Dealing with Difficult & Challenging Residents & Their Family Members”

    Ever wonder why some residents and family members are so much harder to satisfy? Approximately 15% of people have a personality disorder (DSM-5). These frequently occurring conditions impair an individual’s ability to reason and relate effectively with others. This includes our residents and their family members!

    Without the proper tools, serving someone who is overly dramatic, has difficulty respecting boundaries or needs excessive attention exhausts your team and leads to relentless complaints and poor reviews.

    This program-- presented by a former psychotherapist-- will unlock the secrets to de-escalating and possibly even delighting those with some of the most challenging personality disorder types. You will walk away better understanding what makes them tick and how to better manage them.

  • Leadership Panel: “Reflections on 2021 workforce challenges; A peak into 2022”
    • Panel discussion diving into recruitment and retention changes, current demands and strategies for 2022.
    • Panelists: Charles Turner, KARE; James Lee, Bella Groves or Bear Wise Consulting; Anthony Ormsbee-Hale, Civitas Senior Living; Kimberly Varley, Retirement Center Management (RCM); Chris Holland, Landing at Augusta, Frontier Management

11:30 AM - 1:15 PM

TALA HEROES Award Ceremony Lunch Reception

Ceremony to celebrate peer nominated assisted living heroes.
*Lunch provided in barn for Manager, Nursing, and Provider attendees

Ceremony Sponsored by Brookdale Senior Living

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Plenary: Carmen Tilton and Jaime Capelo – “Public Policy Update”

Update on Texas Public Policies relevant to the assisted living industry.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Plenary: Kyle Loeber - “Argentum Update”

Argentum will give an update on Global issues, and where the Senior Living Industry is headed as a whole.

3:45 PM - 4:45 PM

  • Dementia: Andrea Freitas – “Dementia Detective”
    Understanding how to dig deep into resident issues, incidents, and personal habits is essential to running a successful memory care and taking proper care of dementia residents. Many times the dementia resident a mystery to be solved. There are protocols, processes, programs, and procedures that will be explored to become a great detective.
  • Leadership: Danny Mack – “Moving Forward: Bacon, COVID 19, and Luby’s”
    This presentation will encourage, motivate and inspire leaders to re-evaluate their leadership styles in order to adapt to the new world after COVID 19.
  • Leadership: Hollie Glover – “Supporting Your Families to Create a Cohesive Team: How to build trust, manage expectations, and create a team that works together for the benefit of the resident”
    Discover ways to implement trauma-informed care into your workplace for the benefit of your patients/clients/residents, family members, and staff.
  • Nursing: Kimberly Rogers – “5 Reasons Why Hospice in the Assisted Living Setting”
    Hospice and Assisted Living Work Toward the Same Goal…Keep Elderly Out of the Hospital

4:45 PM - 5:45 PM

  • Leadership: Adrienne Bambach – “Beyond the Burn: The Secret World of UTIs”
    • You know the impact of UTIs in long-term care facilities. But do you know the complexities involved in accurate UTI testing or the impact it has on antimicrobial stewardship?
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    • UTIs are far more complicated than most people realize and raise a host of questions: Is urine sterile? Can more than one organism cause a UTI? And what is PCR anyway?!
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    • Join us for ""Beyond the Burn: The Secret World of UTIs"" and get the answers to these burning questions…and more! We'll guide you through a fun and engaging session where you have the chance to apply your newfound knowledge of the challenges and complexities facing UTI testing in several realistic testing scenarios.
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    • You'll learn, play some games, and maybe win fantastic prizes for participating (if you define "fantastic prizes" as chocolate). You'll never look at UTIs the same way again!
  • Dementia: Jason DeCesari – “Resident Engagement and Socialization in the Management of Dementia”

When managing the care of a resident with dementia, it can be challenging to manage difficult behaviors, promote a safe environment, and maintain quality of life. Promoting engagement in meaningful activity, restoration of purpose, and healthy social interactions can assist in all of these areas. A skilled rehabilitation team with experience working with patients with dementia can obtain positive outcomes despite the diagnosis of dementia. Residents can regain positive social interactions, a sense of purpose, and increased quality of life.

  • Leadership: Michael Crowe – “COVID 19 Vaccination and Mask Mandates”

    An update on vaccination and mask mandates through the date of session

  • Nursing: Stephanie Berman – “Nursing Leadership or Leadership in Nursing…Why we need them both”
    • Assisted living communities in Texas are not required to have a nurse, so why am I here? This question goes unanswered so many times and is what often leads both the Executive Director and the Wellness Director/Director of Clinical Outcomes/Residential Care Director to both burn-out and feel undervalued. Nursing leadership is focused on quality of care while Leadership in nursing focuses on the nurse’s ability to motivate the team to capture your vision. Nurses go to school to be right; when we are not right harm, or even death can be the result. These same characteristics that save people’s lives daily, when used in leadership in nursing can harm or even kill your team.
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    • Focusing on quality of care through the nurse’s knowledge base and coordination of care with community vendors/partners starts with understanding the company policies, regulations and scope of practice. Am I supposed to deliver the acute care for the 30-day window? What does the Board of Nursing say about my ability to care or not care for someone in the role?
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    • In order to lead you need to get out of the way. Do you know what the company vision is, how it got started, what motivated this all to begin? The largest team you have is your direct care team; when the nurse can help them to see the vision the nurse can then inspire them to want to be a part of the vision.

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Tradeshow Kick-off and Opening Reception

Everyone gathers in the Tradeshow for the Kick-off and Opening Reception. Join us for drinks and hors d'oeuvres

Thursday, April 21, 2022

6:30 AM - 4:30 PM

Registration and Check-In
*Lower Level of Convention Center

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

  • Leadership: Aaron Fish – “Bringing Your Food & Beverage Program Front & Center: Generating Revenue & Brand Awareness with Your Senior Living Foodservice Program”
  • The senior living industry as a whole continues to evolve and face new challenges brought on by the pandemic and the transition from Silents to Baby Boomers. As a result, we are facing a shift in how we serve new residents and meet the expectations of their family members. Communities will need to create additional revenue streams to weather the numerous economic headwinds that are challenging the industry today. A great area of opportunity to battle these ongoing issues is with your food & beverage operations. These operations will have to become more front and center in the overall experience of a resident’s daily life. They are also a mostly untapped source of revenue and additional brand growth.
  • This interactive and engaging session will provide actionable takeaways for attendees of all experience and backgrounds looking to bring their food & beverage operation front and center. The knowledge gained from this presentation will be applicable to every care level of senior living and will give operators confidence to implement actionable items to enhance the overall experience for prospects, residents, families, and associates.
  • Leadership: James Lee – “We're Looking at Labor Analysis All Wrong”
    • The presentation will teach participants new ways to look at the quantitative aspects of labor impact instead of our industry's typical view of labor cost. While operators are familiar with traditional metrics such as labor cost, turnover rate, and REVpar, the evolution of the senior living industry will require that organizations measure the contribution of our diverse and multigenerational human capital rather than its cost.
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    • Traditional measurements of people management views labor as an expense, but a shift in perspective to "people as capital" can illuminate a different leadership outlook and path. Instead of floundering within the question of "workforce retention" - a more or less defensive stance - we can move to "workforce optimization" - an offensive strategy.

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

  • Leadership: Jack Angel – “Increase Occupancy with Prequalified Referrals"
  • This presentation is a practical and realistic approach to the process of working with the growing number of Senior Placement Advisors and Specialists. It defines the roles of these professionals and how your Assisted Living community can maximize the skills and resources of these professionals to increase occupancy with pre-qualified referrals.
  • The presentation covers some of the best ways to confirm the placement advisor is qualified to provide the services they claim to offer, their primary referral sources, and ways to collaborate with them to increase your communities’ utilization.
  • Once you have verified the credentials of the professional, you have the ability to share differentiating features of your community (care, safety, location, activities, services, cost and others). One overlooked area is the ability to get a candid, 3rd party, assessment of your facility. This may include a review of recent state inspection reports, verified and open complaints, and opportunities for improvement. You may not be aware that many Senior Placement Advisors are conducting an assessment of your business when they first meet you. This presentation covers the most important aspects of that assessment.
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    Finally, we will present the most effective ways to stay at the top of the Senior Placement Advisors list of preferred communities, and the most effective communication practices.

    • Communication (Weekly text, Open house, Networking events (breakfast or after hours)
    • Virtual and in-person presentations (to staff and families)
    • Constructive feedback on tours
    • Ability to respond and clarify any outstanding HHS inspection issues, intakes and complaints.
  • Leadership: Lucas McCurdy – “The Market Shift: Navigating design, materials & construction challenges in Senior Living”
    Senior Living construction & design professionals Lucas McCurdy and Keri Muniz Moore discuss the challenges senior living providers face when planning a renovation or new development project. We will discuss how operators should navigate today’s labor and supply chain challenges around, FF&E, materials and construction.

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  • Leadership: Charles Turner – “The Looming Labor Crisis”
    The Senior Care industry has a workforce retention problem for years, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only made things more challenging for Senior Living Operators. This much is clear and largely agreed upon by most operators, however the underlying reasons for this issue has never been less clear. Throughout this presentation we will explore some of the assumptions we make as employers of front-line care workers and challenge ourselves to become an employer of choice!
  • Leadership: Paul Jarvis – “Get proactive! How to use data to get ahead (and stay there)”
    We are all familiar with using data and KPIs to measure what happened in the past. But what about using data to identify trends and forecast what is going to happen in the future? Even better, we'll discuss using data to understand WHY things happen (and how that influences the future) so you can be proactive. We will also cover key mistakes and challenges to avoid when using data.

11:00 AM – 1:30 PM

Lunch Served in Tradeshow

This lunch is included with your reservation. Join us in the Tradeshow for:

    • Pitch off at 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
    • Raffle Drawings at 1:00 - 1:30 pm

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

  • Leadership: Elizabeth Thomas – “Innovative Leadership-Position Your Community for Success”

This session is designed to inspire you towards developing innovative solutions to position your community for future success. We will explore the latest concepts of leadership; the challenges that are facing Assisted Living Communities; Examples of innovative ideas and solutions and we will bring it together in a formula for success. We will also discuss the One Big Thing that puts you in a powerful position for success.

  • Leadership: Vladimir Chemadurov and Arlene Luu – “Make Risk Management and Insurance Costs Your Competitive Advantage”
    Four parts for this discussion.

    1. Risk Management Principles - Frequency vs Severity Risks and appropriate risk management techniques to address these risks.
    2. Most frequent and most expensive types of claims in an assisted living community - insights and lessons from Senior Care Case Analysis - a study of paid claims published by MedPro Insurance company in January 2022 based on most recent history of claims payments.
    3. Key strategies to reduce risk
    4. Brief overview of that State of insurance marketplace for professional liability, property and workers compensation insurance.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Plenary Panel: "Are the bluebonnets really bluer in Texas: Senior living leaders share insight on operating in Texas"

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Closing Keynote: Ty Jones – “Creating an Environment that Empowers Seniors”