Carrie Chiusano

Carrie has 30 plus years of long-term care experience with Presbyterian SeniorCare Network, 15 of which were spent helping to shape and implement the Woodside Place philosophy of specialty care for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias. Prior to being appointed Executive Director for the Presbyterian SeniorCare Network Dementia Care Center of Excellence in January 2016, Carrie served for five years as the Administrator for Woodside Place of Oakmont, which opened in 1991 and was one of the nation’s first dementia-specific residential community specifically designed to meet the holistic needs of older adults living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. She was instrumental in championing the Culture Change initiative for the Network, which led to us becoming CARF accredited in 2011 in Person Centered Care.

 As Executive Director, Carrie is responsible for the integration of dementia care services across the various settings that comprise the Network.  This includes spearheading dementia care program development in order to maintain state-of-the-art programming uniformly across campuses. It also includes planning and implementing ongoing educational programs that ensure that every team member at every level of the organization has the understanding and competencies to meet the holistic needs of persons living with Alzheimer’s and related dementia. Carrie is responsible for building and maintaining strategic partnerships that can support the Network in our goal of enhancing the quality of life both for the individuals impacted by the disease as well as the family caregivers coping with the disease.

 Carrie serves as the Champion for our Dementia Care Strategic Committee, spearheads the Network’s Dementia Coordinator Team, and lead the Network-wide effort to become CARF accredited in 2016 in Dementia Care. In addition to her service on numerous, industry association boards, Carrie is a certified trainer for the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners in dementia care.