Team

Monday, August 10, 2015

Ashley Zeck, MSW

Ashley Zeck, MSW, CMC

Geriatric Care Manager & Care Manager Certified

Ashley Zeck, originally a native of the Chicagoland area, joined Aging Care Advocates as a Geriatric Care Manager in 2019 after moving to the Tampa area. Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. While in her undergrad studies, Ashley worked for the Arlington Police Department’s Victim Services Unit, where she primarily assisted victims of domestic violence. This experience helped teach her how to empathize and assist people from a variety of different backgrounds, while also challenging her to adapt to a wide array of complex situations.

Ashley returned to Illinois upon graduating and went on to earn her Master’s degree in Social Work at Aurora University in Aurora, IL. Ashley completed dual specialization in gerontology and healthcare, while also serving as an intern with Elmhurst Hospital's case management department. This experience exposed Ashley to the process of discharging patients, setting up home care services, and working on a personal level with patients and their families.

Ashley used that experience to go on to work in-house at a skilled nursing facility as the Director of Social Work. Her primary duties included managing a team of master-level social workers and interns, who helped ensure patients were receiving specialized plans of care that were appropriate on a patient-by-patient basis. She also worked as part of the interdisciplinary team, which required her to communicate regularly with doctors, nurses, and therapists throughout the course of a patient’s care. Everything a patient needed, Ashley was there to assist with, so that patients and families could focus on their healing and rehabilitation.

Ashley is thrilled to now be advocating for the care of the geriatric population in the Tampa Bay Area. Ashley is a Care Manager Certified (CMC).

Lauren Griffin, RN, BSN, BA

Registered Nurse & Geriatric Care Manager

Lauren is a Registered Nurse, who obtained her Bachelor's degree from Loyola Marymount and BSN from Rasmussen. Her past experience working as a service representative for a medical company lead Lauren to pursue a career in nursing. While pursing her BSN, Lauren became an EMT which gave her a unique perspective of the patient experience from home to hospital. After obtaining her BSN and becoming a Registered Nurse, Lauren's experience at a local hospital’s OBS unit has been invaluable in her knowledge of medically complex cases and patient care.

Lauren is passionate about making lives better through patient advocacy. That coupled with her wonderful ability to build rapport quickly with the clients and their families makes Lauren a true asset for all she serves.

Ramey Sola, MSW

Geriatric Care Manager

Ramey Sola joined Aging Care Advocates in 2021 after moving to Tampa from Southern Indiana. She is originally from Illinois, where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Millikin University and her Master’s of Social Work degree from the University of Illinois. Her coursework throughout higher education focused on the health care system and older adult population. In 2016 she received a Behavioral Sciences Award and Social Work Merit Scholarship.

While at the University of Illinois, Ramey was chosen as a participant in Health Education and Leadership Scholarship program. During this program she helped to organize a health care policy event and attended a summit in Washington, D.C. to meet with state representatives regarding medical social work legislation.

In Ramey’s younger years, she helped her grandparents lead church service and exercise classes in nursing facilities. As she continued into her adult years, she enjoyed volunteering at a Senior Grocery Program and interning at retirement communities to assist with social activities for the residents.

Since beginning her social work career, Ramey has been successful in catering to the social, emotional, and medical care needs of patients and their families across the continuum of health care. This has included work in outpatient doctors’ offices, inpatient hospitals, and home health/hospice. Ramey is greatly looking forward to building relationships with the clients she serves as a Geriatric Care Manager with Aging Care Advocates!

Alli Maginot, MA, CMC

Geriatric Care Manager & Care Manager Certified

Alli Maginot joined Aging Care Advocates in 2021. She received Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Spanish from Miami University in Oxford, OH. Her interest in working with older adults began in undergrad when she had the opportunity to participate in a weekly program that assisted residents with dementia to complete art projects at a local long-term care facility. This peaked her interest on the subject and she went on to take electives in Gerontology to broaden her knowledge on the population. She ultimately decided to pursue a Master’s degree in Gerontology from the University of South Florida.

During her graduate program, she was able to complete an internship and later work part-time for Aging Care Advocates. She also completed an internship at a local skilled nursing facility, where she was able to gain experience in both rehab and long-term care settings. After graduation, she began working as the Social Services Assistant at another local skilled nursing facility. Within a few months of working at that facility, Alli was promoted to Social Services Director. In that role, she played an integral role in assisting the interdisciplinary team with the plan of care for each resident. During her time as the Social Services Director and in the same position elsewhere, she assisted residents from admission to discharge and worked to connect them with resources to ensure that their transition back to the community would be successful.

Alli is happy to be a part of the Aging Care Advocates team and serve the aging population.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Kelly Hvizdzak, BA

On Call Geriatric Care Manager

Kelly Hvizdzak began her career working in a skilled nursing facility as a receptionist, shortly after taking this position she was promoted to Director of Social Services. Through this role, she realized her passion for working with the elderly population. Kelly, therefore, went on to obtain her Associates Degree in Social Work in 2009 and her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in 2011. Today, Kelly remains in the role of Social Services Director at a local skilled nursing facility, which has provided her with extensive experience working with patients who suffer from memory impairment, as well as, psychiatric diagnoses.

Kelly has a passion for her path working with the vulnerable older adult population by meeting their needs and being the advocate most may not have. Kelly is currently working towards becoming a Care Manager Certified (CMC).

Marsha Northrop

Director of Operations

Marsha Northrop is a 3rd generation native of Tampa and joined Aging Care Advocates, as our Director of Operations in January, 2021. In her role, Marsha serves as the point person between our geriatric care managers, clients, families and business partners in the community. When a prospective family is needing assistance with their loved one, Marsha steps in to discover what the physical, emotional, medical and financial needs are present, then works closely with our Owner/CEO to best match one of our geriatric care managers to deliver the unique needs for their situation.

Prior to joining our team, Marsha had a successful financial services career, held numerous leadership & operational roles, for Barnett Bank, SunTrust and Regions Wealth Management, which spanned over 25 years, in West Florida. Beyond Marsha’s professional experience, is her valuable first-hand insight as a caregiver for her mother, with Alzheimer’s disease, where she had to navigate the caregiving journey alone for over 7 years.

Marsha has served on the Finance Committee for United Way and several religious organizations, volunteered with Metropolitan Ministries, Habitat for Humanity, Hillsborough County Schools, and is an active volunteer with the Alzheimer’s Association.

Marsha is married, with a daughter & twin boys in college and if you ask her about her role, she would share “it is a blessing”, to help families navigate what she walked through and more importantly, offer them reassurance, that they are not alone and we will be right by their side.

Jennifer Chucran

Jennifer Chucran, B.S.

Staff Accountant

Jennifer Chucran has been the Staff Accountant for Aging Care Advocates since 2014. She is involved in all areas of the billing cycle and helps make behind-the-scenes processes run smoothly, to maximize the efficiency of each geriatric care manager. Her mission to serve every family through accurate and timely billing is a priority at Aging Care Advocates.

Jennifer earned Bachelor's degrees in Accounting and Marketing from the University of South Florida in 1997. She is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in California and is currently working on transferring her license to Florida.

As a Navy spouse, she has lived and worked in many states as well as overseas. She is thrilled to be a part of the Aging Care Advocates family.