Speaker: Susan E. Lanza

Susan E. Lanza, LNHA, is a nursing home administrator, an author, a national and international speaker and activities consultant.

Licensed as an administrator for almost 20 years, Susan has been the Administrator of Llanfair House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Wayne, NJ for 7 years. In 2001, the Llanfair House team opened “The Front PorchSM,” a 60-bed Dementia Special Care Unit. This unit is the only one of its kind in Passaic County and the first within the Saint Barnabas Health Care System. The Front PorchSM unit has received awards and recognition, including a feature story in “Advance for LPN” magazine.

Prior to becoming a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, Ms. Lanza was an Activities Director for six years. Her love of activities programming and writing led her to publish activities textbook in 1996 through Delmar Press entitled, “Essentials for the Activity Professional in Long-Term Care.” The textbook is still used in activities training courses around the country and may go into a second printing. Ms. Lanza is an Activities Consultant Certified (ACC) through the National Certification Council for Activity Professionals. She does consulting work in the field.

Susan has been a speaker at conferences including the Alzheimer’s Europe Conference in Paris, France (2006) & Killarney, Ireland (2005), the National Alzheimer’s Association Conference (2004 & 2005) and the NJ Alzheimer’s Association Conference (2004 & 2006) as well as the National Activity Professional Association (1997) and NJ Activities Professional’s Association (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006.)

The latest project for Susan is her new book which was published in May 2006 entitled, “Nurturing Nuggets for Dementia Caregivers: 25 Supportive Strategies In Caring for Persons with Dementia.”

Ms. Lanza graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.