Dr. Merle Griff

An internationally renowned gerontologist and leading expert in the process of aging, Dr. Merle Griff understands not everyone wants to climb the same ladder in life.

As CEO and founder of SarahCare Adult Day Services in Canton, Griff has not only earned the respect from those in the health-care field for her elderly care program, but also from those who work alongside her at the center, as well as local, state and national organizations. Her notoriety and the success of the program has led to the development of the franchise of SarahCare, which now has more than 25 locations across the country.

"There are young women who join the company that have grown up with us. We help them assess where they are, where they want to be in terms of their next step and what they need to get them there," says Griff, who founded the patient-driven adult day care model in 1985. "That may mean allowing time for them to go to school, mentoring and helping them find the right program and the right university."

Griff strives to lead by example. As national chairman of the board of trustees for the National Adult Day Services Association, Griff is active on many professional and community boards, in addition to running the 30-employee care center. Her employees are also given time — and encouraged — to serve on professional and community boards and committees.

"It takes that kind of outreach in saying to young people, 'Here's an opening for you if you're interested, and here's how you do it,'" she says.
At SarahCare, Griff makes sure her employees — 95 percent of whom are women — have opportunities to move both horizontally and vertically within their positions.

"Some women want to move up a ladder and I believe it's important to mentor them and help them visualize where they want to go and to help them see what they need in order to get them there," says Griff. "It's a matter of getting people into positions where they feel productive and satisfied with what they are doing — not necessarily that they've been promoted three times in the last five years."

Griff is using her expertise to change aging policies in Congress as part of the Ohio delegation to the White House Conference on Aging. She has conducted extensive research on aging, the benefits of intergenerational programs and the importance of adult day services in society. She has developed two therapeutic techniques that involve multigenerational play, which have been well published and are used in several counties.