Behind Caring Connections
Caring Connections of New Jersey & Pennsylvania is led by an executive board, which is at this time, made up of the county facilitators.
Sheli Monacchio
Sheli founded Caring Connections of New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 2011 with just two people and a vision. Caring Connections of New Jersey now has a network of over 600 qualified healthcare professionals throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Sheli's 19 year experience in the senior care industry has lead her on a journey to help hundreds of families through her extensive experience in Assisted Living, Hospice, Home Care, Skilled Nursing and Senior Living Placement. She will educate families and help them sort through the confusion when it's time for them to make some very important decisions for those who are planning ahead or those who are in mid-crisis
Her compassionate client-centric approach allows her to personally get to know her clients so she can put together the best options for the family caregivers or the isolated senior. Sheli is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and can assist families who are struggling to manage the behaviors of their loved one suffering from dementia.
Sheli credits the success of Caring Connections of New Jersey to the members who have supported this organization and give their best to serve the seniors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania on a daily basis.
COUNTY FACILITATORS
The following indispensable individuals are facilitators in our county groups.
Cris Brown
@ cris.brown16@gmail.com
Cris Brown has been in the healthcare profession for over 23 years. She has been the Director of Community Outreach and Education for Imperial Healthcare in Neptune for the last 14 years. Cris received her undergraduate degree from Monmouth University. Cris maintains a strong relationship with the senior community by providing education on the latest healthcare trends while also planning events that improve quality of life. She very much looks forward to being an integral part of Caring Connections and bringing valued resources to patients and their care givers.
Cathy Chabala
@ cchabala@theclareestate.com
Cathy is the Marketing Director for The Clare Estate Assisted Living in Bordentown, NJ. Cathy lives in Hightstown, NJ, and was born and raised in Woodbridge Township. Cathy has had the opportunity to working in long term care, residential home care and assisted living throughout NJ as Admission and Marketing Directors. She excels at offering healthcare information and education to the seniors in the community. She believes the best way to help families is to "listen" with compassion. Families feel most vulnerable when their loved one is sick or in a crisis situation. Helping those families is so rewarding. Cathy loves to sew and to paint, especially children's furniture. Cathy has two sons and three grandchildren that keep her busy.
Katie Chambers
@ kchambers@holisticarehospice.org
Katie Chambers, End of Life Doula of Holisticare Hospice comes to Caring Connections with over 20 years progressive health care experience. Katie was drawn to hospice as a result of her own firsthand experience with family members receiving the benefits of the services offered at end of life. Her goal was to find a career path that allowed her the privilege to be a part of a patient’s final journey. While this work can be difficult, Katie finds great peace in being a part of the last chapter of someone’s story. She has helped fulfill end of life wishes as well as worked on Legacy Projects to ensure a peaceful transition for patients and their loved ones.
Katie also serves Holisticare as the Community Liaison, which puts her directly in contact with physicians, referral sources, families and patients. Katie is an active member of the Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce, serves on both Northern and Southern Ocean Ethics Committees, and is a volunteer for Caregiver Volunteers of Central Jersey.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends. Her greatest accomplishment is being the mother to her children as they have provided her with endless amounts of joy.
Christina Fleming
@ CFleming@windsorhc.com
Christina Fleming has been in healthcare marketing for over 10 years. She is currently the Vice President of Marketing for Windsor Healthcare, and serves as the organizations lead for corporate strategy and marketing initiatives, as well as oversees the internal and external sales teams. Christina has a passion for bringing people together and is excited to be facilitating the Union County committee for Caring Connections.
Christina Forte
@ cforte2@seniorbridge.com
Christina Forte has worked in senior healthcare since 2010, where she began as a Social Services Coordinator in a Skilled Nursing Facility. She found her passion working with seniors and their families, and transitioned to working with Humana at Home/SeniorBridge in 2014. She continues in this role coordinating safe home care services for SeniorBridge clients and their loved ones.
Janet Kuebler
@ janetk@rah-wcnj.com
Janet Kuebler has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida and a MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. janet and her husband purchased the Right at Home franchise covering Hunterdon and Somerset Counties in 2007 and have been providing care to the senior community and disabled adults after personal experience caring for her in-laws. She is a Certified Senior Advisor, a Certified Dementia Practitioner and we are facilitators of the Virtual Dementia Tour, which is a hands-on sensory training tool for those providing care to dementia patients. Janet is also trained as a Mental Health First Responder. In addition to her professional experience supporting seniors in their homes, Janet has years of family caregiving experience over her lifetime caring for various family members.
Julie Lehrman
@ jlehrman@homecare.com
Julie Lehrman, MSW, has been working in the home care sector for close to 10 years as a business development specialist. She has been in the role of VP of Business Development with Homecare.com since December of 2017. Prior to that she worked as a business coach for Hurricane Marketing Enterprises, assisting home care company owners and marketers to grow their census and increase revenues. Julie began her home care career with SeniorBridge, a geriatric care management, home care and private duty nursing company in 2009 and worked for SeniorBridge/Humana at Home until 2016. She enjoys using her Social Work background to educate and support families and seniors who are in transition. Julie helps these families to understand what private duty home care is as well as the costs associated with it. Currently, Julie is facilitating the Caring Connections meetings in PA on a quarterly basis. She looks forward to expanding the PA meetings to several additional counties.
Linda Mundie
@ linda.mundie526@gmail.com
As the Director of Business Development at The Gardens at Monroe, a 5-Star subacute rehab and long-term care facility in Middlesex County, Linda Mundie has had many opportunities to help families as they navigate the journey of care for their parents and loved ones. She has more than 25 years’ experience in healthcare. Linda has previously held the position of Admissions Director at The Gardens, and, before that was employed for 8 years with Compassionate Care Hospice as a Community Liaison and Educator.
Creating strong relationships and partnerships has been Linda’s longtime approach to business success and she has built a large community of like-minded professionals to support the senior population that she serves. Her involvement with Caring Connections has given her many opportunities to further that objective.
Linda lives at the Jersey Shore with her husband, Mike, and enjoys summer at the “Shore” and beautiful sunsets.