Juniper Communities Celebrates 35 Years with Leadership Conference
June 5, 2023
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — To help kick off its 35th anniversary celebration, Juniper Communities recently assembled its leadership team for a three-day, offsite conference. Individual community celebrations will follow throughout the next months.
Since day one, Juniper founder and CEO Lynne S. Katzmann has championed the intention to provide older adults with the best life possible, which is reflected in the company’s mission: Nurturing the Spirit of Life; and in its tagline: Still Innovating for Good.
Juniper is known for its programming, use of technology, being an early adapter of EHRs, and an evidence-based integrated model of care. To reinforce this mindset while keeping its eye on the future, the company invited some leading industry voices to their conference to lead and join in the discussion about the future of senior living, wellness, trends on the horizon, and the role technology will play.
Leading off the conference, Katzmann reflected on the creation, growth, and development of Juniper as a catalyst in changing the face of aging and how older adults receive their care. She discussed Juniper’s high-tech/high-touch approach to delivering services — using technology to improve delivery and services and connecting that with an onsite medical/lifestyle concierge to ensure a human connection.
Colin Milner, founder and CEO of The International Council on Active Aging (ICAA), also addressed the group, touching on 10 factors driving wellness, and three very important words: living better longer. Living better longer is the great disrupter, according to Milner. It will create happy, healthier residents; influence occupancy rates; enhance resident engagement and satisfaction; increase length of stay; and reduce costs of healthcare, in addition to other positive outcomes.
Also speaking with the Juniper team was John Lariccia, founder and CEO of customer relationship management (CRM) platform WelcomeHome. Lariccia’s topic was “Future Forward,” and his panel featured Amy Lorek, Assistant Director for Engagement and Learning at Penn State College for Healthy Aging; Brian Geyser, Vice President Clinical Innovation and Population Health at Maplewood Senior Living; and Sherrie Bebell, Senior Living Asset Manager, Sales and Marketing for Columbia Pacific Advisors.
Juniper’s Katzmann spoke on “Technology: Our Foundation and Great Enabler,” and she was followed by Matt Smith and Jillian Guerra of Speak2, and Stefania Sharp from Amazon, whose panel was “Voice First/Alexa Technology for Older Adults: Current Results/Future State.” Speak2 is working with Juniper to refine the way Amazon Echos interface with residents and associates to enhance communication and provide services.
Jacqueline Kung, founder of Activated Insights, tackled “The Associate Experience: Workforce of the Future.” In her talk, Kung cautioned that the industry is currently experiencing an 85% employee turnover rate, a sharp increase from the pre-Covid rate of 65%. Key factors for successfully retaining employees, she said, are wages; distance between work and home; and engagement, trust, pride, and camaraderie.
Danny Southwick, a Research Consultant at the High Performance Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, motivated the Juniper team and its invited guests with a keynote speech based on Angela Duckworth’s book GRIT: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. SMASH — Senior Care Marketing & Sales Summit founder Bailey Beekan wrapped up the conference with an address to the team.
Throughout the conference Juniper team members shared internal perspectives on each topic.
“We want to thank all of our esteemed speakers,” said Katzmann. “I especially want to recognize the Juniper team who helped make this a successful learning experience. One of the most rewarding elements of the leadership meeting was our Hackathon. Working in small groups settings, our leaders worked with each other to identify and find solutions to today’s senior living challenges and find inspiration that will help shape Juniper for the future.”
Juniper Communities operates senior living communities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Colorado that emphasize residents’ well-being, interaction, and security. Its Connect4Life program improves residents’ care by decreasing hospitalizations, re-hospitalizations, and urgent care visits, while offering potential cost savings to public programs such as Medicare.
