A great conference entails great speakers. The Forum flight is booked with award-winning clinicians from around the nation. Take a peak into the minds of Joyce Simard and Cortnie Simmons as they take you on a journey to elevate clinical and nonclinical practices. 

Joyce Simard

Not only is Joyce a Geriatric Consultant, but she is an Alzheimer’s Expert at Caring.com, and an Alzheimer’s Consultant at EPOCH Senior Living located in Waltham, MA.

She is the author of “The End-of-Life Namaste Care Program for People with Dementia“, which has been awarded the Book of the Year by the American Journal of Nursing. 

Joyce will be speaking about how to close the gap between the expectations of what one imagines his and/or her end-of-life will be like versus the reality of it.

As a keynote speaker for Forum, Joyce’s inspiration for her session, “Making the Sunset as Good as the Sunrise“, originates from her research project on Namaste Care with St. Christopher’s Hospice in the UK.

Joyce states, “Hospice does whatever it can to make the sunsets free of pain, and as peaceful as possible.”

Cortnie Simmons

Cortnie is a graduate from Florida A&M University’s Health Information Management program. She holds a Masters in Health Administration from the University of Maryland University College. 

Cortnie began her career as a coding consultant in a large consultant firm where she perfected her skills in ICD-9 CM and CPT coding as a coding auditor and CDI specialist.

As an HIM and coding specialist, she held various roles with both hospital systems and healthcare vendors.

Currently, Cortnie is a member of AHIMA Clinical Terminology and Classification Practice Council. 

As an adjunct instructor for the Coding and Healthcare Informatics program, Cortnie actively continues to speak to students and classes about the HIM profession. She is also a FHIMA mentor.

Follow Cortnie as she discusses what hospice providers should know in her session.

Strap on your seat belt and get ready to takeoff for Forum!