About Us
We are taking a population health approach to supporting positive aging.
We begin at publicly assisted housing and then expand into the surrounding communities. We listen to how seniors describe healthy aging – and that becomes their individual plan and our collective plan. Aging and end of life does not need to mean challenges navigating the system and ultimately institutionalization. Our mission is to empower people to age well. But first we must understand the elderly populations needs as they see it and build a system that meets those needs.
National Well Home Network incorporated in Vermont in June 2017
Some would say that the National Well Home Network was in an incubation period from 2015 – 2017 when Nancy Rockett Eldridge was Executive Director of the National Center for Healthy Housing. Others would say the Network has been in incubation since Eldridge served as Director of Housing for the State of Vermont in the 1980s. Eldridge has been calling for the integration of social services, housing and health for decades. In 2018 this is a well-accepted concept. It is time to bring it to scale!
Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the National Well Home Network represent experts in health care, public & private health insurance, aging, housing and fundraising. The Board of Directors is responsible for the financial health of this Vermont based national nonprofit and its governance. The Board provides leadership in the innovative strategic thinking necessary to successfully achieve the goal of replicating Well Home service models in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
KAREN NYSTROM MEYER, NWHN PRESIDENT
Karen Nystrom Meyer has a life-long interest in governance, health and housing policy, environmental and cultural preservation and management. She has applied this interest and experience as an executive leader with substantial expertise in organizational strategic planning and positioning, policy development and implementation, governmental and external relations. Her career includes work as a Congressional aid, serving as Vermont’s Commissioner of Housing and Community Affairs, leading the Vermont Medical Society, and service to the University of Vermont as Vice President of Federal, State and Community Relations. Karen has provided leadership to multiple governmental and non-profit boards and now serves as a consultant to public and private organizations in a wide variety of policy issues and projects.
JOHN KASSEL, NWHN SECRETARY
John Kassel is managing partner of Dunkiel Saunders Elliott Raubvogal and Hand, a mission-driven private law firm based in Burlington, Vermont. In his career he has advanced the public good in legal and management positions in the public and private sectors, and with for-profit and not-for-profit ventures. He launched the renewable energy practice at Dunkiel Saunders and has helped develop the exempt organizations practice, which enables charitable organizations – like the National Well Home Network – make the world a better place. He studied Russian at Middlebury College during the Cold War and has a law degree from Cornell Law School.
ROBERT JENKENS, NWHN TREASURER
Robert Jenkens is Director of Social Impact Initiatives at the National Cooperative Bank
(NCB). At NCB, Robert works to develop financing approaches to facilitate the
replication of new models of health care, long-term care, and community development.
Prior to NCB, Robert directed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded Coming
Home and Green House Projects. Robert’s career has focused on policy and practice
innovations supporting the development and rapid replication of institutional alternatives
for people with low-incomes. Robert is a graduate of The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and Cornell University. Robert serves on the board of The Center for
Excellence in Assisted Living and Southern Harbor Eldercare Services.
Get Involved
If you are committed to putting seniors in the driver’s seat and integrating where people live and their health care, please join the movement!