Experience
I'm an advocate for improving quality and culture in healthcare. My career has been focused on improving patient care while still growing revenue through creative management tactics. Under my leadership, my facility avoided a COVID19 outbreak in both Burbank CA campuses and received zero substantiated allegations from California Care Licensing Division. My management style is servant leadership with a foundation in balancing clinical, cultural and administrative health in the organizations I have overseen.
My passion in Alzheimer’s advocacy has stretched a decade long with collaboration in non-profit as well as private sector work. I am a past chair of the Young Professionals Committee for Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles and a current advocate for the local organization. I have been featured in Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix special Patriot Act, The Today Show, and Univision for Alzheimer’s advocacy regarding my late grandmother Mariam Blushtein (@hipsterbabushka).I speak on a variety of healthcare advocacy issues and have been a guest speaker for USC’s Roybal Institutes Many Faces of Dementia
I received my Bachelors in Business Administration from California Lutheran University and my Master’s in Health Administration from West Coast University. When not at work, I enjoy reading, sailing, and spending time with my wife in Los Angeles.
Brookdale Assisted Living
Executive Director
2021 – Present
Ensign Services
Multi-campus Executive director
2017 – 2019
Le Bleu chateau AL, IL, MC facilities
Multi-Campus Executive Director
2019 – 2021
My Spoken Story
Personal Historian
2015 – Present
“Mike is a great Executive Director. He has a deep passion for building, not only his team but, his communities into fiscally strong facilities”
/ Ruby Ramirez - Regional health services director oakmont senior living /
Using the word “healthcare” in terms of professionally defining oneself is as clear as working in “tech”, “education”, or “operations”. It is a broad paintbrush that does little to explain a career, passion, or specific duties. Because healthcare stretches over everything from pharmaceuticals to physical therapy, hospitals to hospice companies - the word does little more than provide assumptions into a career with little clarity. For that reason, I narrow down my professional background to Assisted Living Care within California, with a passion for those the industry serves - both residents and the associates who serve them. My life’s goal is to better the way we interact with those who need our care and more importantly, to train our front line associates in being leaders themselves.
How Did I Get Here
In 2006 my grandfather passed away. Though it was painful to have him go, he gifted my family with a rich legacy. He left his home littered with stories and photos so we never forgot our history. My grandfather made sure we would keep him in our memory, but no one had ever heard my grandmother’s story.
Gratefully, my grandmother was still alive at the time and was mentally sharp. Armed with a camera, tripod, and list of questions, I began listening to Babushka's [grandma’s] Spoken Story. World War II, Nazis, and the Soviet Union were just a few of the details she spoke to me about. After an hour of intensive interviewing, I had my babushka's story. Cutting it together with all the photos I had of her allowed for me to create a digital diary. I possessed a visual autobiography, one that would never fade, rip, or tarnish like every other medium. My babushka's story was now immortal in digital form.
This was the beginning of My Spoken Story and my introduction into aging in America. From this small act of love toward my grandmother, my professional aspirations shifted to aging care, dementia awareness, healthcare management, and proper leadership in healthcare systems.
