Navigating the Home & Community Based Waiver Enrollment Process (2023 Estate and Elder Law Symposium Session)

Ms. Walz is a Supervising Attorney at the Health and Independence Unit at Community Legal Services (CLS) in Philadelphia, where she represents low-income older adults and individuals with disabilities in matters involving nursing home and personal care home residents’ rights, access to home and community based long term services and supports, public benefits and guardianship. In addition to representing clients, Ms. Walz engages in administrative and legislative policy advocacy and provides community education on elder law issues. She is an appointed member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Elder Justice in the Courts. She also serves as a consumer advocate on the Long Term Services and Supports Subcommittee of the Department of Human Services’ Medical Assistance Advisory Committee. Ms. Walz is the immediate past Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Elder Law Section. She received her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989 and graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1986 with a degree in English Literature.

Ms. Kreisher is a Partner at Kreisher Marshall & Associates, LLC in Bloomsburg, where she practices in the areas of elder law, estate planning and administration, guardianship, supplemental needs planning and estate litigation. She earned her B.A. from Penn State University in 1993 and graduated cum laude from Widener Law School in Harrisburg in 1996. Following law school, Ms. Kreisher worked in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office for eight years as a deputy attorney general handling criminal appeals, grand jury investigations and criminal prosecutions. Ms. Kreisher is a certified elder law attorney (CELA) by the National Elder Law Foundation as well as a National Certified Guardian (NCG) by the Center for Guardianship Certification. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the National Guardianship Association, the Pennsylvania Guardianship Network, the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association, and she is the Past-Chair of the Elder Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. In addition to her legal practice, Ms. Kreisher has served as an adjunct professor at Central Penn College and is a frequent lecturer for Pennsylvania Bar Institute continuing legal education programs. She is also deeply engaged in community leadership serving on the Bloomsburg Area School Board for 14 years – 4 years as President, and as Past President of both the Bloomsburg Kiwanis Club and the Columbia/Montour County Bar Association.