By Rita Altman, R.N.,
Rita Altman Memory Care Consulting LLC and AVO
In 1998, as the newly hired corporate director of memory care for Country Meadows in Hershey, PA, I was privileged to meet Naomi Feil who presented workshops at several of their communities. At the completion of her workshops, I was in awe and knew that Validation was something that needed to continue in a formalized way and Michael Leader, CEO signed on to make Country Meadows the first Authorized Validation Organization (AVO) in America. Vicki de-Klerk regularly traveled across the pond from Europe and taught Validation courses in Hershey, PA. Over the years, I became a Certified Validation Worker, Certified Validation Group Worker, Presenter, Teacher and eventually became the first Certified Validation Master in America.
Years later, in 2007 I joined Sunrise Senior Living in McLean VA, where I headed up memory care and included basic Validation principles and empathetic approaches in their evidence-based orientation and training materials. Sunrise became an AVO in 2010 and since then they have certified hundreds of Validation Workers and many Level Two Group Workers and Certified Validation Teachers.
In 2021, upon semi-retiring, I transitioned from my role of SVP of Memory Care at Sunrise to become Sunrise’s memory care advisor and also started my own consulting company.
On December 18, 2024 Rita Altman Memory Care Consulting LLC became an official AVO under VTI. As an AVO, one of my main goals is to continue Naomi Feil’s legacy by offering Validation certification courses and through supporting new AVOs, presenters and Validation Teachers.
In 2025, under my new AVO, I co-taught a Level 1 Validation Certification Course at Crosslands in Kennet Square, PA with Jeri Iacono, Validation Presenter. Jeri is now a Certified Validation Teacher and will continue to offer certification courses at Crosslands. In October, I offered a Validation presentation for residents and family members at Crosslands as well as at their sister organization, Kendal. One of my goals was to peak the interest of families and independent living residents in hopes of them wanting to learn more so that they could have more meaningful visits and improved communication. There was a lot of interest and now Jeri will be offering workshops for families and residents.
I recently reviewed and approved a Validation Level One course for Sunrise that Lori Aldridge, CVT and Traci Wagner, CVT will co-teach in Chicago beginning in January of 2026.
In November, I spoke about Validation at Strategies: Educational Excellence for Health Care Providers and Educators conference at Penn State University and was pleased to hear that the topic of Validation was well received by those professionals.
Second Wind Dreams is sponsoring a Validation workshop that I will teach with Michelle Minor, CVT on March 18, 2026 in Roswell, Georgia. If there is interest in learning more, my AVO will offer an online Level 1 Validation Certification course in 2026 where three Certified Validation Presenters will co-teach with me to become certified as Validation Teachers.
As my Validation journey continues, I live in anticipation of more people learning and becoming certified in Validation and more organizations becoming Authorized Validation Organizations.