February 1st: Liz Good, Juniper Village

For our February meeting, we were given the privilege to hear from a recent Penn State graduate, Liz Good. Liz is a 2019 Health Policy and Administration graduate of Penn State University. She is currently the Executive Assistant at Juniper in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Liz interned at Foxdale Village and talked about how she worked towards her 1,000-hour training through the university to obtain her Nursing Home Administrative license. Although she never obtained her license, she is currently seeking a Personal Home Administrative license instead. Originally, Liz was hired as a hospitality concierge at Juniper in Brookline. Once COVID-19 hit, Liz told us her amazing story of how she lived inside Juniper at Brookline for

2 months during the pandemic. She mentions how this stay was very difficult, there was a lot of work that went into caring for the residents, and it required a lot of paperwork. But she emphasized that she does not regret it. Later on, Liz was given the opportunity to move to the Bucks County location and started working there on June 1st, 2020, as their Executive Assistant. At the Bucks County location, a lot of technological advancements are being put in place due to the urgency of the pandemic. All residents were given and Amazon Echo Dot, so they are able to talk to it and communicate with it during the hard times of the pandemic. There are also tablets that can read people’s temperatures. Liz mentioned that as a recent college graduate, it is easy for her to help the residents with technology as it has become the new normal. Juniper was able to get all of their residents vaccinated and requires their staff to be vaccinated as well. Liz defined a Nursing Home Administrator as the one who “puts out the fires” and solves the problems. That sounds like a hero to me. Thank you again, Liz, for talking to us during our February meeting!