Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Home Care and McKnight’s Senior Living are profiling the McKnight’s 2024 Pinnacle Awards honorees daily in April and May. For additional McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards content, visit this page.

Perhaps Joan DiPaola’s most significant contribution to dementia care is the vital reminder to caregivers and their families that people living with dementia are people. As the senior dementia care specialist at Harmony Village at CareOne Paramus, a memory care assisted living community in New Jersey, DiPaola developed Food for Thought, an educational initiative that teaches how to communicate with people living with dementia without pharmaceutical interventions.

Recognizing that mundane activities can take on an outsized importance after a dementia diagnosis, DiPaola has partnered with Paramus-area restaurants for a monthly dinner program in which couples dine in with others experiencing the same challenges. She educates restaurants’ staff members on how to set a table to foster both comfort and meaningful connections. She provides opportunities for residents and their families to attend summer music concerts and other activities that encourage personal choice and independence. 

Importantly, DiPaola has eliminated negative language about dementia and is working to eliminate the stigmas associated with this diagnosis by reminding employees at CareOne communities to communicate with compassion. She provides flyers in English, Spanish and Tagalog with guidance on humanizing the condition and leads monthly training sessions that continuously refine the company’s approach to care. 

She also leads monthly virtual sessions with residents’ families to guide them through difficult topics such as dining with their loved ones and how to make visits, family gatherings and holidays more open to residents. Through those interventions and sessions, DiPaola, who has more than 20 years of experience, has helped improve patient dignity, morale and overall quality of life. 

  • DiPaola was a senior director for The Jewish Home Home Care Agency before joining CareOne. 
  • She earned her nursing degree from Englewood Hospital School of Nursing and Fairleigh Dickinson University. 
  • She was the nursing director at Gallen Adult Day Health Care Center at The Jewish Home at Rockleigh.

The McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. Honorees were recognized March 21 at a dinner and awards ceremony in Chicago. Omnicare was the Silver sponsor for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards program. Parker Health Group and Sentrics were event sponsors.