Rachel Kail

Dementia Care Specialist

Rachel joined our team as a Dementia Care Specialist in 2023 after recently graduating from the University of Central Missouri with her Master of Science in Social Gerontology. She earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of South Florida.

Though her expertise has broadened within the field of aging, Rachel’s heart is deeply tied to the subject of improving care for those living with dementia. For more than a decade, she partnered with her mother and stepfather as The Edcon Group, offering educational seminars to train health care professionals and family caregivers around the world in best dementia care practices. Their work resonated throughout the United States, Canada, Fiji, Scotland, and Ireland, in great part, because they approached the topic from a family perspective with real life experience, offering practical advice. Rachel credits her maternal grandmother, Mildred Schaedler (born in 1918 and diagnosed with vascular dementia in later life), as being the greatest teacher on the subject, preparing her granddaughter to find her passion and help others in truly meaningful ways.

Currently, Rachel is pursuing avenues to assist older adults in the capturing of their life stories through sound or writing. Autobiographical life review has long been an interest (resulting in her creating a short guidebook in 2005 titled, In Living Memory), and Rachel hopes to now explore how this work might bridge generational gaps in her local community.

When she is not thinking about gerontology, Rachel delights in the company of her husband (of twenty years), two sons, and sweet dog, Ruby Bell. She adores reading, playing pickleball, gardening, going for long walks, and having long, fabulous conversations with positive, wise people!