Bonnie Burman made a vow when she was 16, and the director of the Ohio Department of
Photo by Scott Cunningham
Aging and New Albany resident has been working toward it ever since.
When Burman’s father, Morris, died at age 57 of heart disease and diabetes, his sisters chose to keep their elderly mother in the dark.
“They thought that if she knew that he had died, it would kill her,” Burman says.
Burman’s grandmother did not die for another five years. But in that time, she questioned why Morris, her “Moishe,” stopped visiting her.
At the time, 16-year-old Burman promised that she would never let anyone make a decision for an older person without him or her being involved in the decision.
“It was the defining moment in my decision to say, ‘I’m going to devote my life to this not happening in another family,’” Burman says.
Burman has spent the rest of her career ensuring that elders’ voices are heard.
In the last four years, she says, there has been an increase in individuals opting for community-based care over the traditional nursing home. The change revolves around the idea of creating home wherever someone is and ensuring that all care is relationship-based and person-centered.
Burman points to Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices’ New Albany Skilled Nursing and Rehab Neighborhood as an example.
“They are a model of the kind of home of the future,” she says.
New Albany’s design as a walkable community also ensures that as people age, they are able to stay in their homes, and it’s what made Burman and her husband, Robert, move there in October.
“It’s just an exciting model for the rest of the state and the rest of the country,” Burman says.
While elder care has evolved, Burman and those she works with have also been working toward a change in the way people perceive the elders themselves. One of her proudest accomplishments since she was appointed as director in 2011, Burman says, is the work she’s done under Gov. John Kasich’s leadership to change the culture of aging in Ohio.
Instead of the declinist view of the aging as sick and frail, the department has worked to
Photo courtesy of the Ohio Department of Aging
Bonnie Burman (middle) discusses the state’s StartTalking! program with its director Sarah Smith (left)and Ohio Department of Aging Legislative Liaison Dana Dunlap (right).
focus on a definition that recognizes elders as people who still possess potential. These individuals can continue to thrive and contribute as a vibrant part of the community, Burman says.
One of the ways the department conveys this message is by fostering interaction between elders and students. Throughout the state, elders volunteer to assist with the Ohio Department of Education’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee, a program that helps identify students in kindergarten through grade 3 who need extra reading assistance. The volunteering helps students get a one-on-one relationship, while also breaking down negative stereotypes associated with the elderly.
“The only way you do that is through touch and by a personal interaction,” Burman says.
Throughout Burman’s career, she has worked to give elders a voice through a variety of programs and advocacy. From 1986 to 2007, Burman served in various positions at The Ohio State University, ending as director of the Office of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the university’s Health Sciences Center.
One of the programs she was most proud of while working at OSU gave medical students the ability to see through an elder’s eyes. From their first through fourth years in school, students would have a senior partner from a retirement community. The relationships helped the students understand the implications of the care they were going to be providing, Burman says. It taught them to look at what they were doing from the elder’s perspective.
Burman was with the Pioneer Network – a national organization focused on person-centered, long-term care – from 2007 to 2011. During this time, she was at the forefront of the elder care movement upon which Otterbein Senior Lifestyle Choices’ New Albany Skilled Nursing and Rehab Neighborhood was based. The goal was to ensure that as elders’ care needs change, they are respected and receiving relationship-based care.
“The person in charge is really the elder,” Burman says.
Even throughout her childhood, Burman was exposed to an evolution in elder care. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., Burman spent her childhood in Rochester, a city that, thanks to Dr. T. Franklin Williams, was at the forefront of geriatric care.
The youngest sister of two brothers, Burman attended Brighton High School. From there, she went on to State University of New York at Buffalo for her undergraduate degree with an emphasis in history. She attended graduate school at the University of Rochester, studying American history and the history of medicine. She earned her doctorate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with an emphasis in health care policy and management.
In her current role as director, Burman is dedicated to encouraging her office to view things from a variety of perspectives. To that end, she has a collection of hats she employs during meetings to encourage creative thinking. There’s the red-white-and-blue hat, representing taxpayers. There’s a hat for the media, a hat for a senior citizen, a sky’s-the-limit hat, a hat for challenging others’ ideas and a “stop” hat.
“It is very important that people are able to understand somebody else’s perspective," Burman says.
But the most important type of hat in her collection, Burman says, is her Sherlock Holmes hat. She’s given about six of them to her co-workers. She hands them out when she wants someone to ponder a problem a bit longer or focus harder. She’ll wear one herself, sometimes. Co-workers might also receive a Gumby character figurine, when Burman thinks they’re not being flexible enough.
“I do think you get more done when you’re having fun,” Burman says, “but this is really serious business.”
Much of Burman’s work focuses on prevention.
“There’s so much we can do to prevent some of the chronic diseases and decline,” she says.
To that end, Burman’s department is working with the Ohio Department of Health to launch a new program, Well Beyond 60!, that promotes planful and mindful thought and behaviors to encourage healthful aging.
“You can’t wait until you’re well beyond 60, or you’re not going to be well beyond 60,” Burman says.
Burman takes the idea of planning to heart. She and her husband are already developing plans for caring for each other. In the meantime, Burman stays active, both mentally and physically. An avid reader, Burman also enjoys walking her 14-year-old cockapoo, Lincoln.
Burman and her husband also enjoy spending time with their eight grandchildren. Together, they have four children. Nora and Marissa are from her first marriage, while Maxine and Sam are from her husband’s previous marriage.
A member at the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany’s fitness center, Burman attends the Aqua Boot Camp class and also joined the New Albany Walking Club.
Burman is also busy writing a book about aging.
“When you have the opportunity to be a public servant, and when you have the opportunity to be in a mission-driven organization, then there really is no separation between your work life and your home life,” Burman says. “Because all you want to do is help, and all you want to do is serve.”
Related Stories
CEO of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated Steve Steinour
CEO of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Dr. Steve Allen
New Albany-Plain Local Schools Superintendent April Domine
Sarah Sole is an editor. Feedback welcome at ssole@cityscenemediagroup.com.
