Anam Memory Care Team
Anam Memory Care Team
Anam Team – Getting to Know Us
Since 2004, Anam has provided compassionate memory care to the Rockford area. Anam reflects the values of our founder, Bernice (Bernie) Marinelli, RN, BSN. Bernie was named 2019 Nurse of the Year by the Illinois Nurses Association, recognizing her extensive geriatric expertise. Nurturing the spirit as well as the body is what we do every day at Anam. To ensure quality, Anam has a highly skilled and loving team that shares Bernie’s commitment to providing meaningful lifestyles for seniors. Unlike other memory care organizations, the Anam team has been together many years and includes physicians, nurses, lifestyle specialists and resident advocates. Anam addresses not only complex care issues but can also help with financial and advocacy issues.
What we offer that others may not:
- We understand the prevalence of delusions, hallucinations, anger, aggressive behavior and personality changes associated with dementia.
- We work with challenging persons that do not fit into traditional memory programs. We work to find root causes of behavior and then address those underlying issues providing peace and comfort to our residents and their families.
- We are a team of specialists and work closely with medical experts who can address many of the complications that occur with specific types of dementia.
- We help families that don’t always agree on the best approach to caring for their loved one, so they understand the legal, financial and medical issues surrounding specific types of dementia.
Meet the Team of Experts
Our team offers a combined nine decades of hands-on nursing and financial management expertise in the field of behavioral health and long-term care.
Bernice Marinelli, 16 years, CEO and guiding spirit
Bernie Marinelli brings 30 years of dementia and behavioral nursing experience as an educator, clinician and administrator. Bernie has focused her attention on helping seniors remain in their communities when faced with health challenges. She is the founder of Anam Care, Inc., a residential care organization specializing in behavioral programming and late-stage dementia care. Bernie’s work focuses on clinical issues that challenge an organization’s ability to develop quality care. As a licensed nursing home administrator, she is also proficient at providing interim management services when a program turnaround may be required.
Bernie’s career includes staff positions at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Center in Illinois, where she acquired an in-depth knowledge of psychotropic medications and their application in dementia care. She also developed expertise in setting up protocols for patients with a variety of end-stage disease types, and has refined a variety of holistic approaches to effectively deal with difficult behaviors.
Stuart Gaines, 15 years, CFO
“As a teenager, I helped my mom care for my grandmother who had dementia with kindness and patience. Later, I saw the terrible treatment of persons with dementia, locked-up in nursing homes. I complained to a nursing home owner and he challenged me to do something about it and I did. I learned about dignity, love, and dementia. Great mentors, including Bernie Marinelli, helped guide me. I visited researchers at the National Institute of Health to learn from experts about Alzheimer’s disease. This was the beginning of my passion to help those that others ignore. Along the way, I became board chair of the Florida Alzheimer’s Association, board chair of the Illinois Alzheimer’s Association and was commissioned to write the State of Illinois dementia care regulations.”
Carol Hoover, 15 years, community liaison and case manager
Carol Hoover has more than 15 years of direct dementia care experience, holding such positions as Activity Director, House Manager, and Training Coordinator. She is gifted in her ability to assess situations that are complex, and to provide compassion and practical solutions to resolve difficult situations. Carol works closely with staff and families to implement new programming approaches.
email choover@anamcare.com
Erin Erickson, 10 years, executive director
Erin Erickson has more than 10 years of long-term care management experience. She received her initial training as a military hospital combat corpsman for advanced clinical care. She now focuses on regulatory compliance and staff development issues with a goal of creating resident and family satisfaction at all stages of medical or cognitive decline.
email eerickson@anamcare.com