Jacqueline Friedman Kreinik, RN, MS
Executive Director / Director of Client Services

Jacqueline is a gerontologist and specialist in aging. She is Associate Graduate Faculty at Towson University in the Department of Health Sciences, Gerontology Division. She is a non-officio member for the Baltimore County Commission on Aging and a Member of the Chronic Care Advisory Board for the Baltimore County Department of Aging. Jacqueline has extensive background in marketing, strategic planning and business development. She was Founding Member and President of Healthy Options Network, an organization for Complementary & Alternative ("Integrative") Healthcare Professionals, and worked as Senior Healthcare Advisor for PinnacleCare International, a concierge advocacy firm, involved in healthcare management. Jacqueline earned a B.S. in Nursing and Health Care from City College of New York and worked as a Registered Nurse in various clinical, community-based and consultative arenas and earned a Master's degree in Gerontology and Health Policy at the University of California, San Francisco.

Ruth Farrago, CMC
Vice President of Regional Operations

Ruth Farrago has over 20 years of experience in health care administration. She was the Administrator of an inpatient and outpatient comprehensive Rehabilitation and Orthopedic Division at Downstate Medical Centers in Brooklyn. She has an extensive background in home care marketing and management having worked for St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers as the Director of Intake and was then the Branch Manager/Administrator at New York Health Care. Ruth was also the Executive Director of Sunrise Assisted Living of East Meadow where she was responsible for the daily operations of the facility, client and family satisfaction, management of the sales and marketing team and coordinated community outreach and events. Ruth has a Bachelors of Science from SUNY College of Oneonta where she majored in Business Economics and she is currently completing a Masters Degree at Long Island University specializing in Gerontology. Ruth has received her certification in Geriatric Care Management (CMC).

Dianna Cotterell, RN, MEd
Care Manager

Dianna has been a nurse for 32 years and has a broad background in chronic disease management. Before joining Senior Bridge she worked with WellDoc Inc., where she consulted in the development of a web/phone-based application to help people manage their diabetes. Dianna worked at the Joslin Diabetes Center Affiliate at the University of Maryland Medical Center, teaching classes in diabetes education and insulin pump management. She implemented an inpatient management of diabetes program for bedside nurses to improve inpatient diabetes care. Earlier, Dianna was a Hospital Liaison Nurse at Sinai Homecare/Hospice and worked in homecare for 15 years for StaffBuilders, HomeCall, Kimberly Quality Care, Johns Hopkins Homecare and the Visiting Nurse Association. Dianna earned a BS in Nursing and Masters in Liberal Arts from the College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, and a Masters in Distance Education from the University of Phoenix Online, and she is a Certified Diabetes Educator.

Marilyn Goldman, LCSW-C
Social Worker Care Manager

Marilyn Goldman has over a decade of experience as a clinical social worker and therapist and is an experienced case manager. She holds the credential from the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners to supervise social workers preparing for licensure. Before coming to SeniorBridge she worked as a Clinical Psychiatric Social Worker with chronically mentally ill and geriatric clients in a variety of settings, including mental health clinics, hospital-based psychiatric programs, substance abuse programs, and in a private psychotherapy practice. Marilyn has a BA in English from Harpur College, State University of NY and an MSW from Syracuse University, School of Social Work. Her graduate education was in clinical social work, with a specialization in family systems theory. She also received post-graduate supervision in the practice of psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Mary Ellen Koontz, RN, BS
Care Manager

Mary Ellen Koontz has almost 15 years of experience as a home health provider and case manager in hospital and eldercare environments. She comes to SeniorBridge with experience dedicated to the older adults in her community. She served as Case Manager at the Erickson Retirement Communities and United Health Care's Evercare. She spent eight years working with Medicare Demonstration Projects focused on improving benefits for seniors. Mary Ellen is a registered nurse who also has B.S. in Health Care Administration from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park. She also has her Graduate Certificate, Parish Nursing from St. Mary's Seminary and University.

Mary Ellen Koontz recently completed The 2008 Baron Scholar Program. This is a 40-hour training certification course offered by The Copper Ridge Institute. Copper Ridge and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine collaborated to create one of the only "teaching long term care facilities" in the world. Attendees of the program collaborated with a network of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia care-specific professionals and learned state-of-the-art education taught by nationally acclaimed experts.

Lorraine Dee Scherlis, RN
Care Manager

Lorraine is a seasoned professional with 25 years' experience in nursing management and clinical care. Until recently, she was Director of Professional Services for Community Home Health of Maryland, providing clinical and fiscal management of all patient care services and staff. She had previously served as Clinical Care Supervisor for Community Home Health of Maryland and Health Director at Almost Family Adult Day Care. Lorraine has also been Charge Nurse for Business Health Services and Charge Nurse and Staff Nurse on an addiction and a medical surgical unit at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. For a time, she also worked as a Medical/Surgical Nurse for an oral surgeon. Lorraine's Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing is from the University of Delaware College of Nursing, and she is a licensed Registered Nurse and certified Medical Surgical Nurse and Nurse Preceptor.