About Katie | Hand n' Hand

When my dad was diagnosed with dementia, I had no idea how much it would impact my life. He lived alone halfway across the country and was still driving. The "still driving" terrified me.

There was no guide to the uncharted territories of dementia and senior living. There were many challenges; geography, family dynamics, Veteran's Affairs, and the two-sided coin of finances and the disease progression.

Fast forward, I joined senior living in 2019. Now some would say that was a bad time to join the industry, the pandemic was on the horizon. I say it's exactly where I wanted to be...where I could make a difference in my community, with our seniors.

MA Counseling & MBA

Katie Cooney

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MEET KATIE

Katie Cooney has a career spanning from high-tech & start-ups to non-profits & senior living. Her skills as a professional senior placement advisor are enhanced by her background in counseling, communications, and project management.

Credentials

Master of Arts, Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling, Saint Mary’s College
Master of Business Administration, Global Business, Saint Mary’s College
BS Human Development, Minor in Psychology, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
Worked on-site in senior living communities before, during, and post-COVID-19 pandemic

Affiliations

Palo Alto/ University Rotary Club, President 2019-2020
Rotary District 5170 Vocational Chair, 2020-2021, 2024-2025
Peninsula Executives Association
Womans Club of Palo Alto

Associates
During her professional career, Katie Cooney developed a wide network of contacts and resources who specialize in homecare, Hospice, counseling, and senior support services, as well as, estate or trust attornies, fiduciaries, real estate services, organizers, and movers.

Her connections with reliable and competent professionals support her clients promptly and with results.

Volunteering and More

Katie Cooney has traveled to 94 countries, from backpacking solo to joining a group. She set off in 1989 to live in a Japanese orphanage and later taught English in a children’s hospital as part of her Cal Poly, SLO internship. In later years, she would teach at the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharmsala, India, and travel to Uganda and Rwanda on a project to protect the Silverback gorillas through eco-tourism measures. Katie finds joy in serving others, making life a little brighter.

Katie recently published a book on two-time World Rodeo Champion Jack Roddy called, Wrestling the World, the Life and Times of Rodeo Champion Jack Roddy.

Katie Cooney is an active participant in the Rotary Club of Palo Alto/ University and the Rotary 5170 District - Vocational Committee Chair 2024-2025. She traveled to El Salvador to have a first-hand look at the projects Rotary Clubs support. She served as President during the COVID-19 pandemic and took the club online when the shutdown canceled all in-person meetings. Katie has co-chaired many galas and fundraisers, all to support the work of Rotary both locally and globally. Serving others is her passion, both professionally and personally.

Katie lives with her husband and rescue pups, Ajax & Scout, in Silicon Valley. When she’s not working, she's volunteering, taking photos, swimming, doing yoga, gardening, or making new friends.

A Story of Love, Loss, & Survival
The COVID-19 Shutdown

Working in a senior living community during the pandemic was a combination of the TV shows MASH and The Office. Fortunately, our team was smart, funny, dedicated, and knew how to turn from humor to laser-focused attention on a dime.

Every morning, I'd check the Johns Hopkins website to see the pandemic's reach, how many cases? Where was it spreading? Do I know anyone infected? Probably so and there was nothing I could do about it. It took me a while, maybe when the entire globe was RED, that I finally stopped this daily ritual.

We heard the virus could be in your hair, so I bought a few caps and wore them. I looked a little ridiculous and felt a little silly, but it helped me feel less anxious. I read the virus could land on jewelry or get into your make-up, those two practices went out the window. Remember when you wiped down your groceries? Everything was a potential threat. I finally ditched the caps, wore my wedding ring, and put on some lipstick. If this was it, I wanted to at least have lipstick on.

We welcomed the last resident before the March 15th shutdown. I unpacked her belongings, as we didn't allow family or friends inside the community. I hung her shirts and slacks by color in the closet and placed her toiletries in the medicine cabinet. I hoped she'd like how I arranged the room. The only thing I had any control over, make it nice.

When she arrived, I pushed her wheelchair into the lobby. Behind masks, we communicated mostly through "smiling" eyes. She was gracious and exhausted. Our nurse then took over the intake.

For the next three months, I tried to make her life more than being isolated. We chatted about her life, surviving a Nazi-occupied European city, and the interests we shared. I was driven to make her life as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. I wanted her to feel she had a friend.

For all the residents, we engage them, support them, and encourage them from the doors of their apartments. They were also scared of being infected and didn't want us entering into their space.

I helped with window visits, IT support on phones and computers, connected TV boxes to cable services, and took orders for various sundries; toothpaste, snacks, and the like. Many residents didn't have families to order and ship items to the community, so we did that part.

As the months dragged on, residents who once sported red, brown, or black hair suddenly were crowned with roots of grey, white, and silver! One of my favorite residents wore her auburn-colored short wig over her silver locks that peeked out underneath. We finally convinced her to go with the natural and ditch the wig. She looked gorgeous!

We had fog machines to kill the virus in the air and spray bottles full of virus-killing solutions to clean, wipe, and sanitize all surfaces. Then repeat, hourly. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, and realized the greatest threat was not the virus, but isolation and loneliness.

Residents of senior living communities were declining from loneliness. Their physical and mental health suffered terribly. It was hard to reconcile that this was the final stage of many residents' journeys. Cut off from family, friends, and the community, I loved them and supported them until their passing. I often say I was their last friend.

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