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 15-Year Anniversary Luau featuring delicious Hawaiian cuisine in a festive atmosphere complete with traditional music and floral decorations on September 4^th from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm; our Concert in the Village end-of-summer musical performance on September 11^th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm; our Walk to End Alzheimer’s team participation in City Park (we’ll be the ones with the Juniper green shirts) on September 20^th; or our Plant a Juniper event as our residents and associates help beautify our environment on September 22^nd.

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

Best Friends Gift Wrapping

Giving back is something that makes people feel good! It isn't any different for our residents at Juniper Village at Aurora. One of our "Giving Back Socials" was to solicit donations of children's toys and then our residents, along with their best friends, wrapped the toys and then brought them to Children's Hospital in Denver. Christmas came early for some of the patients at Children's Hospital!

Rummage Sale at Juniper Village at Aurora

"Another person's trash is another person's treasure" and so it was at our annual rummage sale at Juniper Village! Staff, family and the community were able to benefit from our rummage sale and all proceeds raised will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's!

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 Rummage Sale as well as hot dogs, chips and sodas for lunch on August 8^th and 9^th from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm; our Concert in the Village the second of three summer music performances in our lovely courtyard on August 14^th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm; or our La Dolce Vita Spaghetti Dinner and Auction where you can enjoy a delicious meal then bid on crafts or art made by our residents with proceeds benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association on August 21^st from 4:30 pm to 6:00 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.

First Concert in the Village

We had our first of three Concerts in the Village on July 10^th.  We had wonderful music in our fabulous courtyard and our residents and staff had a very enjoyable evening!

John Austin Reed played some rock and roll favorites and we also sold hotdogs, chips and soda as a fund raiser for the Alzheimer’s Association.

It doesn’t get much better than being outdoors on a summer evening in Colorado with music and friends!

Dementia Whisperer

Laura Wayman, an internationally renowned Dementia Expert, came to Juniper Village at Aurora help to families and professionals who work on a daily basis with residents/loved ones with this disease. Ms. Wayman an accomplished keynote speaker, dedicated Gerontologist endorsed by Johns Hopkins University Press, and published author of, “A Loving Approach to Dementia Care”.

5.4 million Americans are caring for a loved one with some form of dementia-without any formal support, education or resources.  Even more frightening, 68% of these family caregivers will get sick or pass away before the loved one presenting the dementia symptoms that they are caring for.  Laura uses and teaches techniques that can arm families and caregivers with practical solutions to care for someone with dementia providing the caregiver with more moments of meaning and purpose.

Families were invited to attend her event and staff at JVA were able to meet with her after her presentation and ask questions.  We will be bringing Laura Wayman back in October for another event for families and a refresher with staff as part of our on-going training at JVA to ensure our staff is some of the most highly trained in dementia care. 

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.