Kay Paggi
Phone 972-839-0065 Fax: 972-907-3799
E-Mail:kay@kaypaggi.com
Care Manager, Certified (CMC)
National Certified Gerontological Counselor (NCGC)
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
Professional Geriatric Care Manager
Family Mediator
ElderCare Mediator
EDUCATION
ElderCare Mediation training June 2010
Family Mediation Training, May 1996
Dispute Mediation Service Training, May 1994
Nursing Home Activity Directors Course, 1992
Master of Education, December 1990, University of North Texas
-GPA 4.0/4.0
Bachelor of Music, August 1968, University of North Texas
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Kay has been a professional member of NAPGCM since 1994, serving as secretary for the South Central chapter from 1997-2001. Since 1995 Kay has been in private practice as a geriatric care manager. She also offers seminars on Caregiving, does sessions of Mental Aerobics at various facilities in Dallas, and facilitates support groups for caregivers.
1996 to present - Facilitator of monthly support group for caregivers, 'Caring for Aging Parents', a support group for caregivers that has met in the same location and the same time since 1989.
1993 - Creator of 'Mental Aerobics', a program designed to encourage self-esteem and renew confidence of older adults by demonstrating that they can continue to think creatively.
7-04 to 2006 – Advisor for Trinity Learning Center productions of educational videos for workers in Long Term Care settings
9-94 to 3-97 – Mental health therapist on the Generations unit (geriatric/psychiatric) at Columbia Medical Plaza Hospital, Sherman, TX.
9-92 to 11-95 - Counselor at the Maurice Barnett Geriatric Wellness Center in Plano.
8-90 to 11-92 - Pro Bono caseworker, internship at Dallas County MH/MR Geriatric Services.
Kay is married and lives in Richardson. She is a former church organist who keeps her keyboard and pedal board skills current by substituting for the organist at her church. She is an avid ‘scrapbooker’ who treasures the scrapbooks her mother made. She has 3 grown daughters, 4 grandsons, a Shih Tzu and a Golden Retreiver, and a cat who is a Katrina survivor.
PUBLISHED
Paggi, "The Maurice Barnett Geriatric Wellness Center", SWSA Journal, Vol.11 No.1/1995, p.57-61.
Paggi & Hayslip, “Mental Aerobics: Exercises for the mind in later life”, Educational Gerontology, spring 1999, p.1-12.
Paggi, "Mental Aerobics Session Guide”, 2nd edition 2010.
Hayslip, Paggi, Poole, “The Impact of Mental Aerobics Training on Memory Impaired Older Adults”, Clinical Gerontologist, 32:3890394, 2009.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
-Advisory Board of the Richland College Emeritus program, 1993-current
-Advisory Board for the Boomers Program and Richland College, 2008-current
-Dallas Area Gerontological Association (Board 1995-6, 2000-2004)
-National Association of Geriatric Care Managers, South Central chapter (secretary 1997-2001) -National Council on Aging, (Presenter, Apr’96 National Conference)
-American Society on Aging (Presenter ‘94 National Convention)
-Southwest Society on Aging (Presenter Oct '94, Nov '95, Nov '96)
She has been on the Advisory Board of the Emeritus program at Richland College since its beginning in 1993; the Emeritus program provides credit and non-credit courses for adults over age 55. She has been on the Advisory Board for the Boomers RE-Wired program at Richland since it began in 2007.
Kay is pleased to have been one of the surveyors for the Gilbert Guide and wrote many articles about caregiving and aging issues for their website. Kay has written and published a free online newsletter since 1997 that goes out to hundreds of caregivers and professionals every month.
Kay developed Mental Aerobics, a cognitive stimulation group program for older adults in 1993, and has participated in three acedemic studies of Mental Aerobics conducted by Bert Hayslip, Ph D at UNT. The statistics from the studies indicate that Mental Aerobics is helpful in maintaining cognitive function as well as increasing confidence and devloping social relationships.