RN leader Ashleigh Lugar (Merrill Gardens) shares how “not matching energy,”
empowering staff, and early hospice education turn high-emotion moments into better
outcomes for residents and families plus the top 5 signs it’s time to consider hospice in
assisted living.
Today’s guest is Ashleigh Lugar, RN, Regional Director of Health Services at Merrill
Gardens. With 20 years in senior living and hospice, Ashleigh breaks down
compassionate leadership, the difference between delegating and empowering, and
how to reframe hospice as a layer of support, not a last resort. We cover simple
language families understand, what makes a hospice a great partner to assisted
living/memory care, and the top 5 indicators it’s time to talk hospice.
Resources mentioned
- Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
- Merrill Gardens (senior living; Ashleigh supports TX, MS, AL regions)
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Leading with Compassion: Reframing Hospice as a Layer of Support (w/ Ashleigh
Lugar, RN – Merrill Gardens)
Regional nursing leader Ashleigh Lugar shares how emotionally intelligent leadership,
early hospice education, and true partnership with assisted living teams improve
outcomes for residents and families. Learn the language, the timing, and the plays that
turn crisis into care.
Key takeaways
- Hospice ≠ “dying tomorrow.” In senior living, it’s a layer of support for symptom management, family education, and honoring wishes.
- Don’t match energy. Slow the room, acknowledge emotion, find the need behind the reaction, then offer options.
- Delegate tasks, empower people. Empowerment = ownership + safety nets (SOPs, check-ins, debriefs).
- Educate staff first. Caregivers are the backbone; if they don’t understand hospice, families won’t either.
- Top 5 indicators in assisted living: appetite loss, weight loss, cognitive change, increased sleep/withdrawal, unexplained falls plus unmanaged pain.
- Pull quotes (for design or callouts)
- “Seek to understand before you seek to be understood.”
- “I’ve never had great success when I matched someone’s energy.”
- “When head knowledge meets heart knowledge, you get the light-bulb moment.”
- Ashleigh’s career arc and what COVID changed in her leadership
- How assisted living teams spot decline earlier than home settings
- A simple script when families ask, “So when do we start morphine?”
- Building emotionally intelligent teams (why Ashleigh gifts Emotional Intelligence 2.0)
- Empowerment systems: 1:1s, peer-led micro-trainings, guardrails
- Community vs. home hospice: strengths and gaps
- Checklist: Appetite ↓, Weight ↓, Cognition ↓, Energy ↓ (more sleep/withdrawal),
- Falls ↑, Uncontrolled pain → Start the conversation
Guest bio (short)
Ashleigh Lugar, RN is Regional Director of Health Services at Merrill Gardens,
supporting assisted living and memory care communities across Texas, Mississippi, and
Alabama. She’s spent 20 years in senior living and hospice with a passion for
leadership, education, and family support.
Want to build a hospice partnership that actually supports your communities?
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