MEET AUSTIN CHAPTER AMBASSADOR

AMY CHIDESTER

Amy is a graduate of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s Center for Gerontology, also known as Virginia Tech. Amy is a Fellow Alumni of the LeadingAge Leadership Academy (Class of 2015), an original member/founder of the Geriatric Mental Health Partnership of Virginia and a former Adjunct Professor of Long-Term Care Management for South University.

As a Licensed Nursing Home/Assisted Living Administrator and Preceptor, Amy spent the last 20 plus years as a respected senior living executive managing many different levels of senior living to include skilled nursing, assisted living, memory support, CCRC’s and independent living. Some of her specialty experiences include management of organizations focusing on behavioral units, in-house dialysis, secured Dementia care, and Ventilator services. Her passion and expertise are in improving quality of care and life for older adults that were in the care of senior services by improving financial and clinical operations.

Amy’s contributions to the field of senior services are vast and diverse as a published researcher and journal reviewer for the Gerontological Society’s Journal of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, a coauthor of NADONA’s Incontinence Training Toolkit, a seasoned educational/informational presenter, and publisher of the GAIL’s Addressing The Void series on raising awareness for Incontinence within senior services as well as The Pulse, a routine newsletter focused on Agetech strategy. Her former speaking experience has been among some of the leading senior services organizations dedicated to transforming and improving the industry to include the AAIC, LeadingAge, AHCA/NCAL, NADONA, VHCA , AAPACN , and TALA.

Today, Amy owns and operates RA Chidester Consulting, LLC and provides consulting to technology companies and senior living service providers in an array of topics/projects/initiatives to better the lives of older adults and those with disabilities through technology. As a subject matter expert, Amy leads the Global Agetech Innovations Laboratory that provides virtual membership to over 100 members among 6 countries that facilitates collaboration among researchers, entrepreneurs, governmental agencies, senior service providers, caregivers and any other entity seeking collaboration opportunities to bring services and/or products to older adults.