Women of Distinction

Jessica Garvin began her work in long-term care in 2005 as a public relations / marketing intern at PharmcareUSA in Oklahoma.

Katie Smith Sloan discovered her career path while working for former Sen. Tom Eagleton (D-MO), then the chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.

At Touchmark, Dick oversees 215 residents and 150 staff members. She also developed plans to keep residents safe during the floods of 2010, 2011 and 2013. The college professor who advised her to pursue senior living now lives at Touchmark, as does her preschool teacher.

Tammy Jo Painter grew up around long-term care. Her mother, Joan K. Todd, worked for 30 years as a long-term care professional and owned several facilities.

When she was growing up in Bowling Green, OH, Erin Donaldson had a close relationship with her grandparents, which ultimately influenced her decision to go into senior living.

Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Alla Onitskansky moved to the United States and earned her undergraduate degree in physical therapy at Cleveland State University and then her master’s degree in business administration from Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, OH.

Jolene Roberts was a 28-year-old social worker when she bought a nursing home from a retiring owner. That facility became one of the largest in Nebraska and one of the first to provide post-acute rehab in the mid-1990s.

Bishop Gadsden’s Katie Jayne started in 2005 as an assistant to the director of marketing at the South Carolina community. Through hard work, she’s advanced and was promoted last year to become the director of community life and compliance.