New leader for SAGE

Carolynn Eipel, the host of the Glen Cove Senior Center’s podcast, “Glen Cove Spotlight,” and the former producer of the radio show “Senior Moments,” is a fixture in the city’s senior community. 

After being named the new president of SAGE — Senior Activity Generational Endowment — in January, Eipel has worked to raise the profile of the nonprofit, which is the fundraising arm of the senior center. 

Eipel said she has found that many people don’t even know about the senior center until they need it. She hopes to make residents aware that the center is a resource for those over 60. 

Nina Held, of Glen Cove, SAGE’s historian, said that Eipel has thrown herself into her new job, and added that because she is one of the younger board members, her fresh outlook will help the center with its fundraising efforts. “She comes from a different perspective than those of us who are older,” Held said. 

“She understands the senior population, and she has the heart for helping on whatever level they need,” said Christine Rice, the center’s executive director. “She is a pillar of society in Glen Cove.” 

The first large SAGE event that Eipel will oversee is its annual Golf Outing, a fundraiser that is returning after a two-year pandemic interruption. 

“Under her leadership, we will be very successful in fundraising,” Rice said, “which is a large part of what SAGE Foundation does for us in terms of helping us keep our programs and services going.”

Born and raised in Huntington, Eipel, 52, has dedicated her life to helping seniors, ever since her maternal grandmother had to be moved to a nursing home when Eipel was 18. Her heart broke, she recalled, when she visited her. “Every time I left her,” Eipel said, “I’d get through the first set of glass doors and I would just have tears running down my face.” 

Her compassion and empathy moved her to question whether there was a better way to taking care of seniors.  In 1997 she started working for Sunrise Senior Living as community relations director, and became executive director in 2005. Through the years she has worked at various senior care and assisted living centers. With a passion for learning about Alzheimer’s, oncology and end-of-life care, Eipel was certified as a dementia care specialist in 2013. 

“What I have learned in the day-to-day of it all — compassion, strategy, problem-solving — rivals any formal education that I received,” she said. “I learned so much just sitting with them, hearing about their experiences and listening to their incredible stories. I can’t imagine another line of work offering that.”  

A decade after starting her career in senior care, Eipel began working with the Glen Cove center, and became a SAGE board member in 2007. “Carolyn has been a longtime supporter of the senior center,” Rice said, “and has given a lot of her time and energy to helping our seniors with anything that they might possibly need.”

Eipel had to step away from the position in 2007, however, after being diagnosed with lymphoma, which necessitated aggressive chemotherapy. She was diagnosed a second time in 2011, but has since fully recovered. 

Two years ago, she rejoined SAGE as a board member, and has continued to volunteer at the center. “What I love about the Glen Cove Senior Center first and foremost are the people,” Eipel said. “The staff and members are the heartbeat of the center.” 

She first moved to Glen Cove in 1991, at age 21. After a few years she moved to Glen Head, but she made the decision to resettle in Glen Cove five years ago with her spouse, Jen Dubicki, who also works in senior care. 

In 2021, Eipel opened CareFirst Home Solutions in Glen Cove, to provide the community with in-home caregivers. Her 25-year-old daughter, Katherine Dubicki, works there as well, as the care coordinator. 

“You get to make a difference each day when you choose a career in senior care,” Eipel said. “It truly is one of the most rewarding professions out there, and you can profoundly impact so many people’s lives.”