HJAR Mar/Apr 2026

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS I  MAR / APR 2026 27 Beverly Gianna holds a master’s of theological studies from Spring Hill College, a master’s of liberal arts from Tulane University, and a master’s of arts in gerontology from the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She also earned the USC Executive Certificate in Home Modifications. Gianna serves as a long-term care ombudsman in Louisiana, advocating for residents in care facilities, and is a National Center on Elder Abuse Elder Justice Champion board member. She is an active voice for positive aging and community-based solutions and is currently involved in a grassroots effort to make her neighborhood in Uptown New Orleans an All-Age-Friendly Village where “neighbors help neighbors.” Beverly Gianna, MA, MAG Gerontologist, Long-Term Care Ombudsman COMING UP IN THE SERIES From Rights to Reality: Law, Advocacy, and the Aging Experience The third part of our series will explore how law and policy shape the care landscape — and why advocacy isn’t extra but essential to protecting and empowering older adults. From Crisis to Ecosystem: Building the Circle of Care The CNAshortage is real, but the deeper problem is assuming one group can carry the entire weight. Instead, we must build a Circle of Care with CNAs at the core, families and volunteers trained and supported, nurses and therapists collaborating, and neighborhoods strengthening the foundation of care. Care must be both professional and personal: grounded in dignity, humor, and human connection. What We Can Do — Starting Now • Invest in CNAs: fair pay, benefits, mentoring, recognition. • Support new roles: community health workers, care naviga- tors, restorative aides. • Expand evidence-based programs: pilot CAPABLE locally. • Adopt technology: scale telehealth, fall sensors, medication supports. • Strengthen volunteer pipelines: ombudsman programs, villages, intergenerational service. • Promote universal design: housing that works for all ages, small-home models, adult day centers. • Fund and support neighborhoods: age-friendly initiatives and home modification programs. Each step is realistic and achievable. Together, they create a work- force that is stronger, more resilient, and more humane. The workforce of care is not just CNAs, not just nurses, not just families — it is all of us. A Circle of Care built on professionalism and compassion. A future we can — and must — choose, together. n REFERENCES 1 “2025–2026 Nursing Home Salary & Benefits Report,” American Health Care Association, https://www.ahcancal.org ; Josh Moore, “Nursing Home Turnover Rates Decline in 2025,” LeadingAge, August 5, 2025, https:// leadingage.org/nursing-home-turnover-declines-2025/. 2 “Direct Care Workers in the United States: Key Facts 2024,” PHI, https:// www.phinational.org/resource/direct-care-workers-in-the-united-states- key-facts-2024/. 3 Jonathan Vespa, David M. Armstrong, and Lauren Medina, “Demographic Turning Points for the United States: Population Projections for 2020 to 2060,” U.S. Census Bureau, February 2020, https://www.census.gov/library/ publications/2020/demo/p25-1144.html. 4 Susan Reinhard, et al., “Valuing the Invaluable: 2023 Update,” AARP, March 2023, https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/valuing-the- invaluable-2015-update/. 5 “State Profiles: Arkansas,” Family Caregiver Alliance, 2023, https://www. caregiver.org/state/arkansas/. 6 “NAHCA Programs and Resources,” National Association of Health Care Assistants, n.d., https://www.nahcacares.org . 7 “Rules for the Long Term Care Facility Nursing Assistaint Training Program,” Arkansas Department of Human Services, 2024, https://humanservices. arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Rules-for-the-AR-LTCF-NA-Training- Program-07012024.pdf; “Arkansas CNA Requirements,” NursingHome411, n.d., https://nursinghome411.org/cna-reqs/reqs-ar/. 8 Shengzhi Wang, et al., “Technology to Support Aging in Place: Older Adults’ Perspectives,” Healthcare (Basel) 7, no. 2 (2019): 60, https://doi.org/10.3390/ healthcare7020060. 9 “Community Health Workers,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d., https://www.cdc.gov/chws. 10 “The Health Benefits of Volunteering,” Mayo Clinic, n.d., https://www. mayoclinic.org . 11 “CAPABLE (Community Aging in Place — Advancing Better Living for Elders),” Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, n.d., https://nursing.jhu.edu/ faculty-research/research/projects/capable/. 12 Andrew Scharlach and Carrie Graham, “Creating Age-Friendly Communities Through the Expansion of Villages,” Journal of Aging & Social Policy 29, no. 3 (2017): 238–255.