Temple of Health Radio Show with Dr Susan Kolb and special guest Megan Carnarius, RN, MT, NHA

Megan Carnarius is a registered nurse (RN), a licensed nursing home administrator (NHA), and a licensed massage therapist (LMT) who has completed trainings in both Europe and the United States. In 1989, Megan managed the first skilled memory care nursing setting in Boulder County, and ran it, deficiency free, for 6-1/2 years. Megan served on the Alzheimer’s education committee for 15 years, and continues provide trainings and lectures on all topics related to memory care. She started consulting in memory care design in 1996, which resulted in an award-winning memory care facility, and she continues to assist owners with building designs as well as program and operational development. She served as an adjunct faculty member at Naropa University in their masters program in gerontology and healthcare administration. Certified by the Colorado Health Department to operate Assisted Living/Board and Care Homes for the elderly, Megan is the executive director for Balfour Cherrywood Village, a secure memory care, assisted living residence for 52 elders that also provides adult daycare to participants from the surrounding community. She has served in this position for 12 years.

The unconventional side of Megan’s education started after graduating from high school. She completed the certification program for Curative Educator, a Waldorf method training for teachers of children with disabilities in Camphill Special Schools, a worldwide network of Anthroposophical communities following the teaching of Rudolf Steiner. During the four years of that program, she lived and worked in Camphill communities in the United States, as well as Norway, Scotland, England, and Switzerland.

After completing nursing school in the United States, Megan returned to Europe and studied painting at the Assenza Malschule in Dornach, Switzerland, for two years. During this time, she also completed her studies in Rhythmical Massage and Hydrotherapy in the Margaretha Hauschka Schule in Bod Boll, Germany; she returned as a guest teacher there the following year. She was also able to secure an internship with The Lukas Klinik in the massage and hydrotherapy department in Arlesheim, Switzerland.

Returning to the United States, she completed the renowned 1,000-hour massage program at Boulder College of Massage. She was an adjunct faculty member at the massage school for five years and during that time, provided geriatric field placement supervision to students and hydrotherapy courses for the curriculum. She continues to provide training in massage and aromatherapy approaches for caregivers to draw upon in their care of individuals with dementia. Megan Carnarius lives in Boulder, Colorado.