Mary Ordal

Two years ago Mary Ordal, a life coach with a nursing degree and a long career in pharmaceutical sales, was donating her  energies to a non-profit when a fellow volunteer told her about ReServe. The timing was perfect!  Thanks to a grant from the Altman Foundation, ReServe was looking for an experienced coordinator with a health care background to develop the Dementia Care Coach Program (DCC).

“I love everything about startups!” said Mary, a native of Buffalo, New York, with her characteristic enthusiasm, adding, “That includes the budgeting, marketing and strategic planning.” Although she had carved out a new career as a life coach after leaving fulltime employment in 2011, she couldn’t resist the draw of developing an innovative program with real impact at ReServe. 

With the help of ReServe staff, Mary reviewed dozens of ReServists’ resumes in search of a dream team of Dementia Care Coaches. Their role would be twofold: 1) to support caregivers and stave off burnout, and 2) to interact with the client in a meaningful, respectful; way. Mary identified a wonderful mix of ReServists from a wide variety of backgrounds including a lawyer, professor, engineer, educator, social worker and nurse.

“We wanted coaches from a range of careers to best match the coach to a client’s background,” she explained. “And we needed both males and females.”

The ReServe coaches then embarked on a rigorous training program. Subsequently, the coaches completed required reading, met with a geriatrician and participated in preceptorships, working with clients at a variety of community partner organizations. Training ended for most of the coaches with a four-hour online certification course. When all phases of training were complete coaches were assigned clients.

With the coaches now gainfully assigned, Mary began making plans for expansion. She has identified an array of NORCs—Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities—as the next horizon.  “By having our coaches embedded on the team, we hope to reduce the number of accidents and needless hospitalizations, and to educate families and caregivers on managing dementia. At the same time the coach can be ‘the eyes and ears in the home’,” she said. 

We offer a much needed layer of support in an area where it is sorely needed,” she said. If all goes according to plan, Mary will work with ReServe to expand the DCC model nationwide.   

Mary has had a productive and rewarding two years at ReServe, with no sign of slowing down. She views the position of Coordinator for the Dementia Care Coach Program as the happy culmination of her many careers: “At last I got my dream job – combining nursing, pharma and life coaching,” she said with a smile.