Celebrate Little Things: December Events

This month is all about celebrations! Not only will we be celebrating holidays such as Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve, but we will also celebrate the little things that make life worthwhile. Little things such as the reassuring touch of a friend’s hand, a kind word from an acquaintance and a warm smile from a stranger.

In our all too busy lives we sometimes forget to honor the simple things in life that bring us peace and joy. Most experts recommend that we allow 10-20 minutes of relaxation and stress relief each day. Making time for that can even be a stressful experience! During this busy month of baking, shopping, visitors and juggling tasks take time to remember what is really important.

Here are some tips to keep holiday stress in check: Acknowledge your feelings - you are not alone as holiday stress is not uncommon. Be realistic with expectations - you can only do so much, learn to say no. Ask for help when needed - everyone wants to be needed and may feel more included by being able to contribute. Plan ahead to minimize unplanned expenses and tasks. Take a breather - take a walk at night and do some stargazing, listen to soothing music, or get a massage. Above all enjoy all the holidays have to offer by sharing time with others.

Our fabulous activity offerings this month include our Ugly Holiday Sweater Day because we love our staff, and they love not having to wear their uniforms, so what better way to let them do that by having an ugly holiday sweater day, every single Thursday throughout the month and feel free to join in the fun, since small awards will be given out every single Thursday to the ugliest sweater of the day; our Winter Festivus Holiday Open House where we celebrate the best winter traditions around while you stroll around our community caroling, enjoy our goodies galore, and be on the lookout as there’s even a chance that Santa will be there, or perhaps the infamous Grinch on December 11^th at 3:30 pm; or our Sugar Plum Fairy Ball where we will certainly have fairies who dance around, but on the ground, not in your head, so come dressed in your Holiday best as we celebrate Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite on December 19^th from 5:15 pm to 6:30 pm!

Look through our calendar and join us during the busy month of December for our annual cookie exchange and holiday celebrations. Take time to Celebrate Little Things with those you love!

Cherish the Journey: November Events

Life is a journey filled with lessons, celebrations and special moments that ultimately lead us to our destination, our purpose in life. The road will not always be smooth and we may encounter many challenges. Some of these will test our courage, strengths, weaknesses, and faith. Along the way, we may stumble upon obstacles that must be overcome. But, sometimes these obstacles are really blessings in disguise, although we may not realize it at the time. How we react to the situations we face will determine what the rest of our journey will be like.

This month Juniper Communities will honor our Families and cherish the journey we have taken together. November is all about celebrating the bonds we share and recognizing where we’ve been and where we’re going. We will do this through autobiographical journaling, reminiscing about family celebrations and breaking bread together in Thanksgiving. In order to support our families along this journey we will continue to develop our support groups and provide additional resources when needed. We will give back through our Annual Food Drive. From November 1 through November 30 all non-perishable food items collected will be donated to a local food bank.

Our fabulous activity offerings this month include our Annual Food Drive where you can drop off non-perishable food items for Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette anytime all month long; our You’re The Peanut Butter to My Jelly Day as we honor our staff members by breaking out PB&J sandwiches, buckeyes, peanut butter ice cream sandwiches, peanut butter silk pie, and whatever other appropriately themed treats we can think up on November 5^th all day; our Grandma’s Homemade Bread Day showcasing all sorts of starchy goodies including breakfast sandwiches, scones, muffins, even pie (the crust is kind of like bread) with fantastic giveaways on November 7^th from 9:00 am to 10:30 am; our Alzheimer’s Association Class about dementia care with Amelia from the Alzheimer’s Association on November 19^th from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm (please RSVP to 303-665-3722); our Thanksgiving Day Feast for our friends, families, and local community with turkey dinner and all the fixings complete with a sampling of desserts from our own families on November 22^nd from 12:00 pm until 1:30 pm.

Look through our calendar and plan to join us for family celebrations, Thanksgiving dinners and many events and activities allowing us all to reflect and Cherish the Journey!

2014 COHCA Administrator of the Year Joins Juniper Village at Louisville

Carmy Jerome has taken the helm of Juniper Village at Louisville as Executive Director. She becomes part of a fabulous assisted living team that provides person-centered care for memory impaired residents in the Louisville area.

“We are thrilled to have Carmy join the Juniper family.  Carmy is a strong demonstrated leader with a deep and unabiding passion for memory care.  Her efforts, which have received national recognition, will dovetail well with Juniper’s programs and new initiatives,” stated Lynne Katzmann, CEO and Founder of Juniper Communities.

Jerome was named the Colorado Healthcare Association 2014 COHCA Spotlight on Excellence Assisted Living Administrator of the Year. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Center for Assisted Living; and has been an active participant on the Quality Committee editing the “Guiding Principles of Assisted Living Care” and “Guiding Principles of Dementia Care.”

“I am excited to be part of a company that is at the leading edge of dementia care. From the building design to the extensive list of programs specifically prepared for people living with dementia, it is clear Juniper Communities has the resident top of mind,” expressed Jerome on her appointment. “I also appreciate that Juniper values educating the staff members, giving them the proper tools to successfully accomplish their respective duties and goals. It’s wonderful to know that at Juniper we “walk the talk” indeed.”

As an advocate of decreasing the off label use of psychotropic medications, she has presented at state and national conventions on a range of topics including Dementia Care, Staff Stability, and Reducing Psychotropic Medications through Person-Centered Care.

Carmy Jerome has worked in assisted living memory care communities for the past five years. Prior to that she was in the restaurant business; however she had much exposure to the industry through her mother who was a nursing home administrator. As a young child she volunteered at her mother’s facility and also worked as an aide during her teenage years.

Show Your Colors: October Events

October brings forth vibrant color in our foliage as well as our sports teams. Our high school football teams will be in full swing and hockey season will prepare to fill the stands with team colors and spirit. Juniper Communities will also be honoring our colors with many sports-themed activities and events. We will be enjoying the changing colors of the season as we transition from summer to fall and the crazy costumes of our annual Halloween celebrations.

While showing our colors we not only focus on our team colors, but also showing our true colors. We recognize that working together as a team, results in better coordination of care, better quality of care and as a result better lives for our residents. This is evidenced by our excellent clinical outcomes data. We are happy to see the results of collaboration resulting in decreased re-hospitalizations and better quality of life for our residents.

Our fabulous activity offerings this month include our 4^th Annual Chili Cook-Off Competition in Louisville with our annual chili giveaway of a fantastic basket filled with goodies, along with famous people per request of the fire department who will be on hand to judge which chili is the best on October 24^th from noon to 1:30 pm; or our Halloween Monster Bash where Monarch Elementary school ghosts, goblins, and ghouls will be trick-or-treating down our halls and we will be celebrating in our costumes on October 31^st starting at 10:30 am!

Please look through our calendar to celebrate the spirit of autumn with us and Show Your Colors!

Spread Your Joy: September Events

September signifies the end of summer with Labor Day celebrations and the Autumnal Equinox on the 23^rd. In this last month of our “Stay Connected” series we aspire to connect with our friends and embrace the theme of Spread Your Joy.

The Mayo Clinic tells us that friends are good for your health. They can help you celebrate good times, provide support during bad times, prevent loneliness and give you a chance to offer needed companionship, too. Friends increase your sense of belonging and purpose, boost happiness, reduce stress, and improve your self-confidence and self-worth. Friends can also encourage you to increase healthy habits – it’s always better to walk, run, swim or exercise with a friend. And friends don’t always have to be of the human kind either! Several studies have shown that heart attack patients who have pets survive longer than those without.

Our fabulous activity offerings this month include our Alzheimer’s Association Class for those who have a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia or those who simply want to learn more about the devastating consequences of this disease on September 9^th at 1:00 pm; our Walk to End Alzheimer’s team participation (we’ll be the ones with the Juniper green shirts) on September 20^th at 9:00 am; or our Roald Dahl Fancy Fictional Friends celebration featuring whimsical costumes and creative refreshments on September 25^th at 1:30 pm.

Please look through our calendar and join us for any events that can help you stay connected, cultivate friendships and Spread Your Joy!

Breathe in Life: August Events

Our Alive in All Seasons’ theme for August is The Environment. Our communities will focus their efforts on maintaining healthy environments through environmentally conscious activities. Our “Green Canopy” program emphasizes designing and operating buildings that meet new standards of environmental sustainability. We are proud to be the first long-term care company with a building in the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.

According to research by Go Green, Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour; 25 billion Styrofoam cups and 40 billion soft drink bottles and cans each year. Eighty-four percent of the average American’s household trash can be recycled. If we recycled just 1/10 of our newspapers 25 million trees could be saved. Are we all doing our part?

Join us this month as we learn more about the environment, expand our wide-scale recycling program, learn more about environmental sustainability programs and work with our community Green Teams to promote our “Green Canopy” initiative. We encourage you to accompany us on this environmental journey so that we can all continue to Breathe in Life!

Our fabulous activity offerings this month include our 14^th Anniversary Party as we celebrate 14 years of changing the face of aging by having a fiesta where you can kick back, have a margarita then enjoy a quality Mexican feast, and wear your sombrero or poncho as we listen to Mariachi music while watching the sun set on August 14^th from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm; or our Time to Get Batty event where we will dress up and get batty to learn about the many ways that bats are helpful for the environment then have a workshop to build bat houses in our makeshift bat cave on August 25^th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Take a look at our calendar and join us for any and all activities that will help you make the most of these last few weeks of summer.

Jennifer Harris of Juniper Village at Aurora Promoted to Regional Director of Operations

Juniper Communities, one of the largest owner-operators of assisting living properties with revenues at $62 million, has named Jennifer Harris Director of Operations for the Colorado region.  Previously she was the Executive Director of Juniper Village at Aurora, recruited there in May, 2008 as the Wellness Director. She was promoted after one year to Executive Director.

In her new position, Harris will oversee the operations of three of Juniper’s Denver metro properties – Aurora, Louisville, and The Spearly Center – and expects to take on more as Juniper continues its expansion in this marketplace.

Lynne Katzmann, Founder and CEO of Juniper spoke about Harris’s abilities, “Jennifer has been a strong leader at Juniper for many years.  She proved her abilities not only in two different positions at Aurora but also in special project work throughout our portfolio.  At Juniper, our mission and culture drive our success so promoting from within makes a lot of sense as our new leaders not only have proven skills but also understand and believe in our mission!”

In her role as Executive Director of Juniper Village at Aurora, Harris led the Aurora team to be recognized by the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America with its ‘Excellence in Care, Dementia Care Program of Distinction’ designation in 2009-11, 2011-13 and 2014-16; also, the Alzheimer’s Association’s Leader in Dementia Care for 2012 and 2013. Under her leadership, Juniper Village at Aurora was the first community to fully implement an electronic heath record system and received numerous corporate awards for customer satisfaction.

“It has been my great pleasure to work with Jennifer in multiple roles and projects over the years.  She brings an incredible level of operational strength and wisdom to her work with our Colorado communities.  I have no doubt that she will continue to foster our Juniper mission and community success in her new role as regional director,” said Cindy Longfellow, National Director of Sales and Marketing.

Jennifer Harris started her career in healthcare 21 years ago as a Certified Nursing Assistant. She went on to nursing school and has been a licensed nurse for 16 years.

“I have loved working with elders and especially with the Dementia population. My journey in healthcare has been so much more rewarding than I ever thought it would be,” Jennifer said.