Senior care leader Debora Rooney Okum is spotlighted for occupancy growth and family support

Influential Women is featuring Debora Rooney Okum, a Licensed Assisted Living Administrator and Director of Community Relations at Diamond Edgewater Assisted Living & Memory Care in Florida. The profile highlights her work helping families navigate elder care, driving occupancy growth, and building community partnerships in a strained senior care market.

Why it matters: - Debora Rooney Okum’s work sits at the center of a growing need: helping families make difficult senior care decisions while communities face pressure to keep occupancy stable. - Her approach blends sales, care navigation and benefits education, which can affect both family outcomes and facility performance.

What happened: - Influential Women featured Debora Rooney Okum, DP-NC, as a senior care leader advancing family support. - Rooney Okum is a Licensed Assisted Living Administrator with more than a decade of experience in assisted living, memory care and community relations. - Rooney Okum serves as Director of Community Relations at Diamond Edgewater Assisted Living & Memory Care in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. - The profile highlights her work driving occupancy growth and building trusted partnerships with families, referral sources and community stakeholders. - The profile also spotlights Rooney Okum’s focus on guiding families through long-term care planning, Medicaid assistance, home care services and assisted living placement. - A full profile is available here.

The details: - Rooney Okum has maintained high occupancy levels across multiple communities, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. - During the pandemic, she kept occupancy between 90% and 100% while many senior living communities saw sharp declines. - In one current role, she took over a property that had not exceeded 62% occupancy in five years and brought it to full capacity within three months. - Rooney Okum said her career shift into senior care began after she became the primary caregiver for her father during his illness. - That experience shaped her view of the gaps families face when navigating healthcare and support systems. - Her leadership style emphasizes relationship-building over transactional referrals. - She previously served as a regional director overseeing three senior living communities. - Rooney Okum credits her father for career advice centered on purpose, service, truth, loyalty and work ethic. - Her upbringing on a farm also shaped the values she brings to her work.

Between the lines: - The profile frames senior care success as more than occupancy numbers; it links strong business results to trust, empathy and practical guidance. - Rooney Okum’s emphasis on Medicaid, veterans’ benefits and state assistance programs points to a common gap in family awareness that can shape care decisions. - Her message suggests that smaller, relationship-based guidance can compete with larger systems when families need individualized support. - The feature also positions faith and personal discipline as part of her leadership identity, not just her biography.

What's next: - Rooney Okum says the field needs more education about benefits and better access to personalized, community-based guidance. - She expects the future of senior care to depend on accessibility, education and individualized support. - She also encourages younger women entering the field to become deeply knowledgeable about available resources so they can better serve families.

The bottom line: - Rooney Okum’s profile presents her as a senior care operator who pairs occupancy gains with hands-on family advocacy, and that combination is increasingly valuable in a complicated elder care landscape.