Meet June
Executive Director
The executive director, along with our friendly and professional staff, strives to create positive, stimulating ways for residents to continue living life with meaning and purpose. We are a friendly family where we treat residents like real people with real life stories.
Our community is a great story that includes heartwarming chapters and incredibly unique characters all in a wonderful setting. Here is the executive director’s story:
How long have you worked in the retirement industry?
Eighteen years as Executive Director with Merdian/Horizon Bay Retirement Community – preceded by a career in the hotel industry ending with a General Manager position with Embassy Suites Hotels.
In what ways do your residents inspire you? They have an innate ability to cut through the nonsense and get to what is real and important in very short order. Though so many have suffered great loss and tragedy in their lives, most residents continue to engage in life with a positive attitude. I have been a support for residents through some terrible life events during their residency with us. Their concerns are most often for others first, and that in their grief, they not be a burden to their family. I like myself better because of the accountability expected of me from my residents. I often think of the honor behind “business deals were made on a handshake,” and being “true to your word.” I think twice before I leave the community at night, to be sure there was no promise I made that day that I did not follow through on. They make it mandatory that I be impeccable with my word, and I like that.
Do you have any memorable experiences with a particular resident you would like to share? After 18 years as an Executive Director, there are endless remarkable stories that I and other long time employees make reference to and smile about every day. The gentleman who was 102 and dressed in a coat, tie and hat every day of his 14 years of residency with us. His wife would write beautiful, flowing poetry, singing the praises of the staff’s talents. The wife, who knew moving to our community was the right thing to do, but her husband refused to come in for a tour. I took lemonade and cookies out to the passenger side of their car and told him all about our wonderful community inside. They moved in shortly thereafter, and the story became known as the “Lemonade Stand-Off.”
Tell us about a resident with a remarkable life story. I believe every resident has a remarkable life story. The excitement for me is to uncover that story (or stories) in each resident’s life and to experience the excitement with the resident when they remember and tell a story that sometimes was all but forgotten. There are times when there is a story they have never told before. I have had the privilege of knowing a Radio City Music Hall Rockette, a Secret Service Agent for FDR and countless heroes of World War II, who either served overseas or sacrificed on the home front. It is every one of those remarkable life stories that have given us the lives full of choices and freedom we all enjoy today.
What do you like best about your job? The opportunity to contribute to people’s quality of life on so many levels, every day. In addition to the residents who have chosen our community for their home, there are the guests who come to look at our community for future residency. The sons and daughters who know full well that life in our community would bring so much back into their parent’s life, but need us as a coach, counselor and confidante to bring their parent to that realization. Being a role model and mentor for my employees by creating the passion and love for what we do every day. Knowing that in some small way, I am setting the example for future leaders in our industry.
What do you like to do in your free time and why? While at times I feel like my free time is spent with my residents, I also enjoy spending time with my husband and my young adult children, who our residents have watched grow up since my son was 3 and my daughter was 6 months old.
I also like to bike, hike, sew, bake, read and write. I am always looking for the next great article or book that will provide me with new information to stimulate and educate our residents. As evidenced in “Letters from the Executive Director” in the Horizon Bay
LiveWell! Newsletter, my topics can be controversial, educational and entertaining.
If you could meet one person – past or present, who would it be and why? This is such an impossible question to choose only one. Perhaps one in a few different categories … like a grandfather I never met, who I tend to take after in some ways more than family members still living …President Reagan served when I was at an impressionable age, therefore, I took an interest in questioning, understanding and appreciating the governmental process. He would be the president I would love to have met. Perhaps my greatest curiosity would be in meeting Oscar Schindler. In a time of absolute chaos and horror in this world, a man of position, wealth and power who had no need to risk anything in his life, risked everything. While there are many people better noted for their humanitarian efforts, he was such a complicated and unlikely hero. He and his wife, Emile, saved over 1,200 Jews from certain death. Today there are 7,000 living descendants as a direct result of Schindler’s heroic efforts. Today his name is known as a household word for courage, in a world of brutality. Schindler died penniless, but will be honored throughout history.
What’s your favorite movie and why? As a young girl it was “The Sword in the Stone,” and as an adult, “Camelot.” It is such a beautiful romance. It is the story of a man who never wavered from doing what was right for the greater good. A king who devoted his life to his people being treated rightly and equally. A king who was always listening and learning, who gave up his own happiness for his people and their well-being. A king who consistently did what was right, not what was easy.
What’s your favorite dish or dessert and why? Hands down, crème brulee with raspberries and real whipped cream. I think vanilla is such a soothing, comforting flavor and fragrance. I liken it to the vanilla pudding that was such a treat in childhood. Besides, when made correctly, crème brulee is the work of a talented chef, and is such a rich indulgence. It is also a wonderful dessert to share at the end of a romantic dinner!
In what ways do your employees inspire you? The excitement they have when they contribute in a positive way to a resident’s day. When they have a friend who tries to recruit them to another community with a better paying position in another industry and they choose not to leave because they would miss the community too much. When an employee has to leave to attend school and they ask for the privilege to come back and volunteer. When they come back and ask permission to do something special for a resident or they volunteer to adopt a resident’s pet when the resident can no longer care for it. When an employee’s career path changes to one involving seniors because of their experience at my community. When a young person starts with us as a first job, any job for money, and stays for years.
How do you create a family-like atmosphere at your community? By knowing all the resident’s and their family member’s names and going out of my way to greet them and make them feel welcome. Encouraging residents to invite family and friends to dining experiences, educational programs and entertainment that they can enjoy together. To be available to family. If there are weekend and evening events, be there during those evenings and weekends. Have stories to share and laugh together.
Tell us about an employee who embodies one of our core values – integrity, respect, responsibility, professionalism or teamwork. So many times over the years, I have heard residents and their family members say, “I don’t know where you find these employees!” “They are all SO wonderful!!” My response is “I can teach most anyone to carry a tray, clean a room or answer the telephone.” I can’t teach employees to have the passion, respect and priority to always put our residents first. I have a responsibility as a senior employee of the Meridians to be sure all our teammates are amazing! A famous trapeze coach once said, “Throw your heart over the bar, and your body will follow!” Your entire personality will follow where your heart leads. If you do not, you will be exhausted, and you will fail your customers. So throw your heart over the bar, and your life will be something amazing!
How do you honor your residents at your community? By developing relationships based on trust, respect and interest in each resident as a unique individual. I can’t tell you how many programs, and program changes have taken place as a result of resident input. For every employee to conduct themselves in such a way that the resident is our priority in every situation. Be available. Listen. If at all possible, don’t ask a resident to make an appointment to see you. If something is weighing on their mind, help lift that burden right away. If it is not possible for one employee to follow through on a resident’s request, another employee should take over that responsibility. By knowing not only every resident’s proper name, but also what they wish to be called. By knowing their family members and friends by name. By referring to, and remembering what they told you about their childhood, the old neighborhood, their profession and their favorite color. Honor them by making what they tell you important enough to listen to and remember. Dress professionally and conservatively. Be well groomed and proud of your appearance. The residents will not only appreciate it, but it will contribute to them being proud of their home, and proud to introduce you to others. Leave all the community room doors open and welcoming. Allow residents to feel comfortable making the entire community their home.