OT and Aging in Place - Live Webinar

Dawn Heiderscheidt, OTR/L, ECHM, CAPS, CHAMP

Live on 2026-09-15 18:30:00

1 Hour

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(Membership required to take quiz and earn CEUs.)

Choose a CEU plan to register for this live webinar & take the course quiz at the end!

Plans & Pricing

Course Quiz

Course quiz will be available soon!

Course Introduction

Healthcare has many challenges right now, but so many of them stem back to one looming global reality:

By 2050, the number of people on our planet over age 65 is projected to double. It’s almost hard to wrap your head around the financial impact, the caregiving demands, and just how profoundly this shift will alter society.

Luckily, the latest systematic research is crystal clear: to truly support aging in place, we need multidomain interventions that target the physical, cognitive, and social dimensions of healthy aging.

Even better? We already have a health workforce where multidomain care is our absolute specialty: hello, OT!

Unfortunately, we don't yet have widespread, turn-key business models to deliver this type of care at scale.

Today, we’re talking with Dawn Heiderscheidt, who is pioneering a career and a business in the aging-in-place arena. We’ll learn how she leverages her specialized OT skill set, makes the financials work, and provides much-needed care to her community.

Learning Objectives

You will be able to identify assessment options related to aging in place and home modification that can be utilized by therapists.
You will be able to recognize best practices for aging in place intervention based on the latest research.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Discussion (40 minutes)

Tell me about the needs you saw in your community and what inspired you to start Aurora Independence.
Tell me about Aurora Independence and the services you provide.
What has this venture helped you learn about the state of OT and aging in place overall?
What barriers are there to OT really meeting aging in place needs in traditional Medicare and other payer sources?
Let’s get specific! Tell me about the home assessment you provide.
In terms of intervention, what have you seen make the biggest impact with clients?
What technologies do you see people adopting and making a difference?
What did you take away from the latest research on effective aging in place interventions?
What gives you hope as you look out across the aging in place landscape?

Live Q&A (5-10 min)

Closing (5 min)

Supporting Research

Contact Hours (CEUs/PDUs)

1 Contact Hour. Released online from Aurora, NE.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed our courses to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the U.S.), check out OT Continuing Education Requirements. If you are outside of the United States and don't see requirements for your specific location on that page, please contact us.

OT Potential courses are presented as live webinars, then released on-demand video and audio via the OT Potential Podcast. Attendance in the live webinar will be indicated on your certificate. Learn more about how our courses help meet live webinar requirements, and OT CEU requirements overall.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

Instructional Methods, Registration, Special Needs Requests, Cancellation Policy

This course is an independent/self-study course delivered via podcast on one or more of the following platforms: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Google Play.

If you need accommodations to take this course, please contact us and we will address your needs on an individual basis.

If we cancel a promoted course, event, live stream, or any other paid CEU offering prior to release, and you subscribe explicitly for said offering, you are eligible for a full refund if you did not complete and earn any other CEU quizzes or certificates during your subscription.

If a live webinar is cancelled that you signed up for, our system will automatically generate an email to you and if possible, we will inform you of the rescheduled date. Our most current webinar schedule will be found here.

Audience / Education Level & Course Completion Requirements

Our target audience is therapy professionals who are looking to learn more about this topic. The educational level is introductory. In order to receive a certificate for this course, you must first participate in the podcast/webinar in its entirety. Then, you will need to take the quiz that will accompany the course and earn 75% or higher. If you pass, a PDF certificate will be made available to you via email and download. Quizzes for live (distance learning–interactive) webinars must be completed within 3 days of completing the webinar.

Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic.

Speakers

Dawn Heiderscheidt

OTR/L, ECHM, CAPS, CHAMP

Dawn Heiderscheidt is an occupational therapist and the founder of Aurora Independence, a home accessibility and safety consulting company serving the greater Philadelphia region. For nearly a decade, her work has centered on one question: where does a person's ability meet the limits of their home, and what can change so they can keep living there on their own terms?

Dawn has built her career where clinical training and construction meet. She previously served as program administrator and lead occupational therapist for a local CAPABLE program. She has been an adjunct professor, building on her life as A teacher before she became a therapist; Dawn still teaches. She's an instructor for the National Association of Home Builders' Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist program and a national continuing education instructor with PESI.

Her credentials combine clinical training with construction know-how, so every Aurora recommendation answers two questions: will this work for the person, and can it be built in this house?

Sarah Lyon

OTR/L

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L, is the CEO of OT Potential. Sarah earned her BA from St. Olaf College and her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University. Her diverse clinical background spans multiple settings, including critical access, acute trauma, and state inpatient psychiatric hospitals. In 2011, she founded OT Potential to fulfill the industry's need for reliable, high-quality occupational therapy resources and continuing education.

As a recognized content creator, Sarah has collaborated with top healthcare brands like VeryWell Health, WebPT, and MedBridge. She blends her clinical expertise with a talent for creating clear, action-oriented content that empowers practitioners to excel. Passionate about elevating the OT profession, she has been featured on numerous industry podcasts. Sarah ultimately returned to her roots, running OT Potential and raising her family in her hometown of Aurora, Nebraska.