The Corporate Award in Aging is given to organizations and agencies that have demonstrated a strong commitment to helping Colorado’s senior population continue to live independently and healthily. In their leadership, community service, and work to improve the quality of life for older adults through their agency mission, recipients of the Corporate Award in Aging represent the passion and caring that aging requires. Past recipients have included GlaxoSmithKline (2007), the Denver Department of Human Services (2008), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (2009), the Rose Community Foundation (2010), jointly to the Denver Regional Council of Governments and Charles Schwab (2011), jointly to Hearing Rehab Center & the Senior Beacon (2012), KUVO Jazz89.3 (2013), 50+ Marketplace News (2014), Rocky Mountain Health Plans (2015), Advanced Audiology (2016), Optum (2017), Denver Regional Council of Governments, Area Agency on Aging, the Latino Community Foundation of Colorado, Latino Age Wave (2018) and RPM Parking Companies (2019) ,Golden Eye Optical (2020). Hearing Associates (2021), Prime Time News (2021), Four Corners Dental and Dentures (2021) and Trade Shows by west Wind (2021).l
The Awards Committee of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Gerontological Society is pleased to present the 2022 Corporate Award in Aging jointly to Comfort dental West Grand Junction, Chambers Court Dentistry, Jana Rausa, DDS,, Comfort Dental Oral Surgery, Mark’s Optical, Heather Grove and Temenos, Jacob J and Anne B Memorial Assisted Living Center.
Corporate Award
The Colorado Gerontological Society recognizes agencies and organizations who partner with us by providing services and supports to older adults. Organizations provide discounted services, support our activities, sponsor programming, and help to improve the lives of older Coloradoans.
Previous winners include: Denver Regional Council of Governments, Latino Community Foundation, RPM Parking Companies,, Golden Eye Optical, 50+ Marketplace News, Prime Time for Seniors, Senior Connections sponsored by WestWind, Four Corners Dental and Hearing Associates, among others.
The 2022 winners of the Corporate Award in Aging were:
Comfort Dental West Grand Junction
Comfort Dental West Grand Junction was one of the very first dental practices to sign on to work with older adults in the dental program when The Society expanded our services to start serving low income older adult patients on the Western Slope.
The office has been serving the community since 2011 with three dentists: Dr. Joshua Hollingshead, Dr. Jared Chisholm, Dr. Jason Noah. The office has 22 employees including office staff and dental assistants. The practice offers general dental services and accepts people both with and without insurance.
The practice serves as a testimonial to the importance of partnerships.
According to the dentists “Through this organization we have been able to provide many patients with complete dental care. We know as patient’s age there are a lot of parts that may not work the way they use to or were designed to. Far too many elderly patients have become accustomed to crisis management when it comes to medical and dental care. Working with CGS has provided some very unexpected help for many patients. Instead of dealing with one tooth because it is hurting, patients have been provided the opportunity to address their complete treatment to get them out of pain and to a stable and healthy mouth. Many times for elderly patients this involves removal of teeth and denture placement. For many patients this is the first time in years that they have had a healthy mouth free of infections and pain. This allows the patients to chew food which in turn helps with their nutritional value of their meals. New teeth for many patients also provide a boost to their self-esteem and self-confidence. It is only through the CGS grants that many patients have increased their physical, mental and emotional health.”
The Society is grateful for the ongoing partnership with Comfort Dental West Grand Junction. Thank you, Nicole and Doctors Hollingshead, Chisholm and Noah.
Chambers Court Dentistry, Jana Rausa, DDS
Having graduated from the University of Iowa School of Dentistry in 1994, Jana is proud to provide gentle, family-oriented dental care for the adults and children in the Aurora area for the past 20+ years. Her office uses state of the art equipment and sterilization techniques to provide general dentistry, cosmetic and reconstructive dentistry. Her office believes in providing a stress free, comfortable, warm, and friendly atmosphere to make sure patients feel relaxed, secure and at ease.
Her practice revolves around her patients. She accepts most insurance plans, with the added bonus of filing the insurance claims for patients.
Chambers Court Dentistry has participated as a provider in the dental program for probably most of the years they have been in practice. Providers agree to accept discounted fees that are approved by the state for services provided in the dental program. We gratefully appreciate this partnership.
Comfort Dental Oral Surgery
Many of the older adults who receive dental care from our dental program need the services of an oral surgeon. Oral Surgery is a dental specialty which includes diagnosis, surgical, and related treatment of diseases, injuries, and oral defects. We want to honor our partnership with Comfort Dental Oral Surgery because many of our clients, whether they are Comfort Dental clients or not, are referred to this practice. They are one of the very few oral surgery practices that accepts the state’s fees as payment in full. The dentists in this practice are: Trevor Johnson, DMD; Bridger Jensen, DDS; David Whiting, DDS. But this practice would not work without their amazing staff.
It is the leadership of the staff who brought to our attention a recent addition to the dental procedure codes that added a new code to cover the first 15 minutes of anesthesia. The additional minutes of anesthesia were covered by the procedure code already approved by the state. With the expertise of Comfort Dental Oral Surgery, we gained approval from the state Medical Services Board to add the new code to the approved fee schedule for the dental program. This new code has saved our low income older adults from having to pay that fee out-of-pocket.
Again, thank you so much for your partnership in helping to bring specialty dental services to our clients.
Mark’s Optical
Located in Cherry Creek, Mark’s Optical has been an important provider for those seeking vision services through the Society. Individuals who use this practice can get their eye exam from another provider and then purchase glasses from Mark’s Optical. Mark’s Optical has been involved with the vision program almost from the beginning when we started to offer these services. They serve a very niche population group in that their staff are fluent in Russian, allowing us to better serve the Russian speaking population.
Gennady Drake, the son of the original owner Mark Drake, now owns the business. We are grateful that Gennady has continued to provide glasses at reduced prices to our clients and accept the discounted fees that we are able to pay with state dollars.
Heather Grove and Temenos
Victorina Supit, or Rina, is administrator for two assisted livings in Colorado, Heather Grove and Temenos. Originally from Manado, Indonesia, she self-funded her bachelor’s degree. With her degree she sought a life of serving others. In 1989, she emigrated to the United States where she got married and raised two children. Rina began working as a nursing assistant in a nursing home soon after she moved to the states. After three years she did private duty nursing aid services.
In 1998, Rina and her family moved to Michigan. There, she began her journey in leadership, working at an assisted living and eventually serving as the administrator there.
In 2005, Rina decided to uproot her family to move to Colorado where she has since served as an administrator for facilities in Wheat Ridge, Arvada, Greeley, Aurora, and Denver. Today, she is the administrator of Temenos in Arvada and Heather Grove in Denver. She provides leadership and care for older adults with a special focus on some of the hardest to care for and place in our community, the chronically mentally ill older adult.
We are recognizing Victorina for her long journey in working with older adults, especially her work at Heather Grove and Temenos.
Jacob J and Anne B Memorial Assisted Living Center
Located near the Kansas and Nebraska border, the Jacob J and Anne B Memorial Assisted Living Center is located in Julesburg, a small community nestled in Sedgwick County. With limited services in the area, the hospital, nursing home and assisted living residence, are all owned by Sedgwick County, is the major employers and partners in the town. The assisted living center is licensed for 26 beds.
Shortly before the pandemic, the current administrator, Lynne Kizer, enrolled in the assisted living administrator course. Eager to figure out how to make a gold star facility in a very rural town in Colorado, Lynne’s skills as a nurse were quickly needed. In consultation with our staff, Lynne set out to use best practices in meeting the needs of the residents. She managed to guide the assisted living residence through the pandemic amid several outbreaks. In small towns, where staff are family, and family are staff, Lynne has compliance and licensure surveys with the state that have been outstanding.
The Society is pleased to provide this corporate award as we recognize Lynne and her team.