On October 21st, 2021, we held our fourth annual Rothkoff Law Group Elder Care Symposium. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis, the Symposium was held virtually for the second year.

We want to thank all of the attendees, exhibitors, presenters, and generous sponsors who helped support the Symposium. We are proud to announce all Symposium ticket sale proceeds will benefit HFC, Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogan’s national non-profit dedicated to caring for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, inspiring the next generation of Alzheimer’s advocates, and being leaders in brain research and education.  Upon logging into the Symposium platform, each attendee was greeted with a welcome message from Seth and Laura.

The theme for the Symposium was “Lessons Learned.” We examined our current healthcare delivery system for seniors and their care partners and addressed how to make a change for the better.

All in attendance then had the opportunity to network with other attendees and exhibitors via the interactive platform. Rothkoff Law Group managing partner, Jerold E. Rothkoff, opened the Symposium noting COVID-19 did not cause many of the problems with our long-term health care system but rather it simply shined a light on many of these pre-existing issues. Our hope is that COVID-19 has given policymakers the impetus to fix what is wrong with our system.

Read on below for a few of the highlights from the Symposium event.

The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How It Became a Crisis and What We Have to Do

Dr. Jason Karlawish, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director of the Penn Memory Center, discussed his new book, The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It, and explained how scientific advances and cultural transformations turned Alzheimer’s from a rare disease into a common one. Importantly, Dr. Karlawish discussed how world history and political controversies thwarted the objectives of the modern Alzheimer’s disease movement.

Rothkoff Law Group 2021 Annual Caregiver Award

Since the inception of our Symposiums in 2018, Rothkoff Law Group has been honored to recognize some of the best professional caregivers in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area. This past year has presented enormous challenges to caregivers in organizations such as nursing homes, assisted livings, home care agencies, and hospices, among others. Yet, those caregivers managed to dedicate themselves to providing their care recipients excellent care with compassion and dignity, but most of all—with love. They are truly motivated to make the world a better place for those in their care.

We congratulate Alex Miller of The Landing of Collegeville on being the winner of the 2021 Rothkoff Caregiver Award.

The Caregiver Award semifinalists were:

  • Dominique Edwards, Bayada Home Health Care
  • Madelyne Groves, Artz Philadelphia
  • Alex Miller, the Landing of Collegeville

Because the pandemic required us to meet virtually, each award winner received their awards at an earlier date from Kathleen Magee, Director of Care Coordination. A video of those presentations can be seen here.

The afternoon presentations began with three breakout sessions. Pain Management in the Elderly: Opioid Prescribing, Managing, and Tapering was presented by Richard T. Jermyn, D.O., Professor/Chair of Rehabilitation Medicine, Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine-NeuroMusculoskeletal Institute.

The Use of Virtual Reality with Seniors During the Pandemic and Beyond was presented by Kyle Rand, Co-founder & CEO, Rendever, Inc.

The Future of Long-Term Care: Community Building with the Be Advice Paradigm was presented by Eloy van Hal, MSc, Senior Managing Advisor & Founder, Be Advice – part of Vivium Zorggroep in the Netherlands.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Senior Care: Challenges and Solutions

In this panel, led by Rothkoff Law partner Bryan J. Adler, was Jenice Baker, M.D., FACEP, Director and Chair of Emergency Medicine, Chestnut Hill Hospital, Ann Marie Garran, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Connecticut School of Social Work, and Kenneth Yang, Executive/Managing Director, PASSi (Penn Asian Senior Services).

The panel discussed how research has shown people of color face disparities in diagnosis and treatment of disease. They also face a lower standard of care than their Caucasian counterparts. The panel discussed the reasons for these circumstances and determined how they can be improved. The panel was quite diverse, consisting of three professionals, an African American physician, an Asian American nonprofit executive, and a Latinx social worker. They reviewed examples of disparate care and treatment faced in their respective communities and shared statistics and case studies that highlighted these issues.

Rothkoff Law Group thanks all of our attendees, presenters, exhibitors, and our generous sponsors. Your participation makes the Rothkoff Law Group Elder Care Symposium possible and successful. We look forward to working together to advance access to quality health care for seniors and further exploration together at next year’s Symposium (hopefully in person again)! Stay tuned for next year’s official Symposium date.