Colorado Guardianship Association

Ms. O’Hara will be speaking on the prevalence of young onset dementia, lifestyle choices to slow the progression of the disease, supports families need when faced with this diagnosis, and why pre-planning is vital.

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Contact
Support
support@coloradoguardianshipassociation.org

When
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

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Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

An overview of how the program works and when to contact us.

When someone contacts the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for help, our first question is always the same: What does the resident want us to do? We work at the direction of residents.

Our program, which is authorized by the federal Older Americans Act is charged with performing advocacy work on behalf of older adults and adults with disabilities who live in nursing homes and assisted living residences. Work includes serving as an advocate for and protecting the rights of residents of nursing home and assisted living communities, which involves receiving, investigating and resolving complaints made by and on behalf of residents living in nursing homes and assisted living residences.

Shannon Gimbal, Ombudsman Manager, Denver Regional Council of Governments. Shannon joined the Area Agency on Aging staff at DRCOG as an Ombudsman in 2002. Shannon worked to empower and educate residents about their rights within Long Term Care communities and how to resolve concerns that may arise. Shannon became the DRCOG Ombudsman Manager in 2010 and is responsible for overseeing both the Long-Term Care Ombudsman and PACE Ombudsman teams. Most of Shannon’s time is spent advocating at a macro systems level, providing larger agencies, and departments a resident/participant perspective when making decisions regarding the future of Long-Term Care as well as Programs of all-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.

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Contact
Support
support@coloradoguardianshipassociation.org

When
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

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Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

Kris Zumalt will address House Bill 21-1123 CAPS Checks for Substantiated Mistreatment of At-Risk Adult and the implications of the newly enacted reporting requirements on professional fiduciaries. Effective January 1, 2022, this bill now requires new substantiated findings of mistreatment against a professional fiduciary to be reported to employers, the courts, and DORA.  Furthermore, the court is now required to request a CAPS check on every petition for the appointment of a guardian or conservator.  The presentation will also address the APS investigation process, definitions of the various forms of mistreatment (abuse, exploitation, caretaker neglect, and other proscribed acts or omissions), tips for fiduciaries to avoid a substantiated finding, and a high level overview of the appeal process.

Kris A. Zumalt, Esq., is the owner of Zumalt Law LLC. She practices in the areas of contested and uncontested guardianships and conservatorships, probate litigation, fiduciary representation (both civil and criminal), estate administration, estate planning, and CAPS appeals. Kris previously served as a deputy district attorney for Jefferson and Gilpin Counties where she prosecuted all levels of crimes involving the abuse and exploitation of at-risk adults. She is a member of the Elder Law, Trust and Estate, and Criminal Law sections of the Colorado Bar Association, and is a fellow of the Colorado Bar Foundation. Kris is the current Chair of the Elder Law Section and has served as a legislative liaison to the CBA’s Legislative Policy Committee for the Elder Law Section regarding legislation impacting elder law practitioners and their clients. She has volunteered and presented at the Jefferson County Senior Law Days and has presented at continuing legal education programs on elder law topics.

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Contact
Support
support@coloradoguardianshipassociation.org

When
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

Add to Calendar

Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

Erin Forinash, MA Occupational Therapy, CMC will present on Cognitive Tests and describe:

• What they are
• What they will tell you
• How to use this information to support your clients

Erin joined Human Network Systems in 2019 after over 10 years’ experience in skilled nursing facilities as a lead Occupational Therapist (OT) with the latter 6 of those years as Director of Rehabilitation Services. As Director, she oversaw all therapies (PT, OT, ST), treatments provided and coordinated with multiple disciplines to ensure a continuum of care. Erin has also worked as an OT for home health agencies in Colorado.

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Contact
Support
support@coloradoguardianshipassociation.org

When
Tuesday, January 11, 2020
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

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Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

Inroduction

We are all facing so much trauma and grief during this time.  Join Chaya Parkoff and Jamie Sarche for their discussion on how to navigate the difficulties and create resilience to move forward!

Jamie Sarche’s calling is helping people be less afraid of death. By helping them to provide their loved ones with a planned and funded funeral or memorial service, they create a path for bereavement, long before it’s needed. A seasoned speaker, Jamie brings deep experience in death care to a broad range of audiences around the country, sharing insights and approaches on how to have those difficult conversations and how to address sensitive issues. Extending well beyond death and dying, her message resonates across industries and individuals, bridging her passion to demystify death while enlightening communicators on overcoming challenging conversations.

Chaya (pronounced “Hi-ya”) Parkoff, LCSW is the Founder and CEO of First Class Aging Counseling & Consulting, a unique practice that focuses on making the aging journey more comfortable and meaningful for older adults as well as their families. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a specialization in older adulthood and expertise in hospice and palliative care, Chaya is passionate about enhancing the physical and emotional well-being of her clients so they can live life to the fullest. Chaya is also a Medical Social Worker at Elevation Hospice of Colorado where she cares for patients and their families from wherever they call home, and mentors and supervises MSW interns. Chaya is wife to Seth and the mother of five children ranging in ages from 15-26.

Please join us for this informative presentation!

Register
Links are TBD (please check back soon)

When
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

You are invited to our ONLINE Colorado Guardianship Association event on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 9:00 am.

Do you have questions about what work is being done to combat the problem of homelessness in Denver?

Join us for this useful and timely presentation by Megan Brand and Crystal Porter.

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I will attend
More Info

When
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

You are invited to our ONLINE Colorado Guardianship Association event on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at
9:00 am.

We welcome Marilyn Halpern and Vanessa Johnston, End-of-Life Doulas, to present how End-of-Life Doulas serve our community.

A Doula is a trained companion who supports an individual through a significant health-related experience. Many are familiar with how Doulas assist during childbirth, but did you know there are Doulas who offer special support and compassion at end-of-life? On November 10 we will hear from two Denver-based Doulas on the following topics:

– Creating a peaceful environment
– Life reviews
– Death vigils
– Green burials
– Home funerals

Please join us for this sensitive and informative presentation!

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I will attend
More Info

When
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

Now that the Colorado OPG is up and running, Ms. Alvarez will update our members on:
– Staffing
– Types of referrals OPG is accepting
– Review of the referral process
– Streamlined referral process for Non-Denver County
– Obstacles OPG is facing
– Emergency referrals

Ms. Alvarez is a licensed attorney and served as a guardian and Legal Counsel at the Nebraska Office of Public Guardian since 2016.  Ms. Alvarez has spent her professional and personal life as a public servant and advocating for vulnerable populations.  Most recently, she has taken on the role of Director of the Colorado Office of Public Guardianship.

Send your name and company name (optional) via email to register for this event.

Contact
Sylvia Luyten
syluyten@gmail.com

When
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
from 9:00 AM to 10:15 AM MDT

Add to Calendar

Where
On-line ZOOM meeting.  ZOOM details included with Registration confirmation email.

Hillary Lum, M.D., Ph.D. and Jean Abbott, M.D., Ph.D. will address numerous practical and ethical issues regarding how the use of advance directives impacts their medical treatment of patients, including:

• How they assist, as well as limit, medical providers
• Issues surrounding withdrawal of life support and artificial nutrition and hydration
• How they affect decision-making authority
• The use of MOST, MAID, and the physician proxy law
• How they interact with palliative care and hospice
• When ethics committees can be helpful
• The challenges of cognitive impairment, competence, and decisional capacity
• A guardian’s involvement in Medical Aid in Dying

And more!

About the Speakers:

Hillary Lum, MD

Hillary is an Associate Professor, Medicine-Geriatrics at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine.  She practices at the UCH-Seniors Clinic, as well as the Anschutz Outpatient Pavilion. She has completed Board Certifications in Geriatric Medicine, Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and is a Health and Aging Policy Fellow.

Hillary graduated from the University of Wisconsin, School of Medicine and Public Health, after receiving a PhD from the University of Wisconsin.  She is a member of the Public Policy Committee of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and holds a membership with the American Geriatrics Society.

It is Hillary’s passion to help older adults and their families be able to express, with confidence, their preferences for future care.  She developed a website which guides this process: Advance Care Planning.  She completed this important work through a grant from the National Palliative Care Research Center.

Jean Abbott, MD

Jean is a Professor Emerita in Emergency Medicine and has been at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine, and Anschutz Medical Center as an EM Attending for 34 years. She retired several years ago from clinical work in the Emergency Department. For 15 years, she was the lead for the ethics consultation service at University of Colorado Hospital.  She is nationally certified in hospital ethics consultation and remains a member of the UCH Ethics Committee. Now she is working primarily at the Center for Bioethics and with Palliative Care colleagues for a 2-year on-line Master in Palliative Care degree program at CU!

Jean graduated from Bryn Mawr College, University of Pennsylvania SOM, practiced community Emergency Medicine in multiple places around the country, and joined the EM faculty here in Colorado in 1985. She received a Masters in Humanities from the CU Denver campus 15 years ago, and now is on the faculty at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities on the Anschutz Campus.

Currently, Jean speaks extensively on Advance Care Planning, The Conversation Project, and topics around end-of-life in her community and to physician groups.  She is a co-writer of the 2016 amendment to the Colorado proxy law, HB 16-1101, to allow physicians to be a proxy of last resort for people in acute care hospitals who are “unrepresented.”  In 2019, as a follow-up, she worked on passage of the pared-down pilot guardianship law, HB 19-1045 – hoping to develop more nimble and effective guardianship for vulnerable patients in Colorado.

More Information

Members attend CGA meetings at no additional cost, as a benefit of their membership.

For 2020: Non-members can attend for free!

We look forward to “seeing” you at the event!

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the recommendation to maintain social distancing, the CGA Meeting scheduled for May 10, 2020 has been cancelled.