Susan E. Lanza, LNHA, is a nursing home administrator, an author, a national and international speaker, activities consultant and dementia expert.

Licensed as an administrator for 22 years, Susan has been the Administrator of Llanfair House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Wayne, NJ for over 9 years.  In 2001, the Llanfair House team opened “The Front Porch™,” a 60-bed Dementia Special Care Unit.  This unit is the only one of its kind in Passaic County and the first within the Saint Barnabas Health Care System.  The Front Porch™ unit has received awards and recognition, including a feature story in Advance for LPN magazine,  The New Jersey Star Ledger and The Journal of Dementia Care (UK).

Prior to becoming a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, Ms. Lanza was an Activities Director for six years.  Her love of activities programming and writing led her to publish an activities textbook in 1996 through Delmar Press entitled, “Essentials for the Activity Professional in Long-Term Care.”  The textbook is still used in activities training courses around the country and may go into a second printing.  Ms. Lanza is an Activities Consultant Certified (ACC) through the National Certification Council for Activity Professionals.  She does consulting work in the field.

Susan has been a speaker at conferences including the Alzheimer’s Europe Conference in Paris, France (2006), Killarney, Ireland (2005), the National Alzheimer’s Association Conference (2004 & 2005) and the NJ Alzheimer’s Association Conference (2004, 2006 & 2008) as well as the National Activity Professional Association Conference (1997) and NJ Activities Professionals Association (2002, 2004, 2005 & 2006).

Susan launched her own publishing company, Buttonberry Books® in 2005.  The first two books, which are part of the Nurturing Nuggets® series followed:  Nurturing Nuggets® For Dementia Caregivers (2006, 2nd edition in 2008) and Nurturing Nuggets® For Nurses (2007).  Buttonberry Books is committed to producing books and products that have a cause.  A portion of the profits from the Nurturing Nuggets® books is donated to a related organization such as the Alzheimers' Association and Sigma Theta Tau-International Society of Nursing.

As a board member of the Activities, Adaptation & Aging Journal and committee member oon the Greater NJ Alzheimer's Association Programs & Services Committee and Public Policy Committee, Susan keeps up with industry trends.  Susan was honored by the New Jersey Activity Professionals Association in April 2008 with the Madison E. Weidner Lifetime Achievement Award.  Ms. Lanza graduated from Douglass College, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.