With both sadness and much gratitude and admiration for her life and accomplishments, the National PACE Association honors the passing of Marie-Louise Ansak on April 10 in her beloved Hawaii.
Marie-Louise was the co-founder and first executive director of On Lok Senior Health Services, the model program for what has become the Program of All-inclusive Care the Elderly (PACE). Marie-Louise will be remembered as a key leader in efforts to expand PACE nationally so that the model of care developed by On Lok in San Francisco would be available to older adults throughout the United States. Her vision was realized with passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which established PACE as a permanent Medicare provider and state option under Medicaid. Today, 150 PACE organizations operate in 32 states and the District of Columbia, serving more than 60,000 older adults. Her work established the highest standard of care for older adults with long-term care needs.
Marie-Louise was a visionary, an innovator and a pioneer in the field of senior care. Trained as a social worker, she dedicated her life to ensuring that frail older adults could live with dignity and independence in their homes and communities. Her contributions to On Lok and PACE are immeasurable. Her dedicated service to On Lok and PACE cemented a legacy that will continue to grow as more people with long-term care needs have access to PACE, enabling them to live independently in their communities with PACE interdisciplinary teams of care providers supporting both them and their caregivers.
After more than two decades with On Lok, Marie-Louise retired in August 1993. An avid sailor, she set out on her treasured sailboat “Dessert First,” cruising up and down the East Coast, in the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and west to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. In her retirement she worked with friends and colleagues in Singapore to launch a community-based program like On Lok – just one example of how her work extended beyond the United States.
On behalf of the PACE community in the past, present and future, thank you, Marie-Louise! Your vision and dedication to improving the lives of older adults has had a profound impact on countless lives and will continue to do so for generations to come.
If you wish to send condolences, write to MLA@onlok.org or On Lok, Attn: Grace Li, 1333 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94109.