Tag Archive for: Employee Spotlight

At Homeland, there are things that money can’t buy, such as the home-like atmosphere and attention from caring staff.

But money can buy little delights, such as lunch for a group of residents at Red Lobster or dipping into Homeland’s charitable funds to pay for an extra that brightens a day, such as an iPad stocked with a resident’s favorite songs.

“It takes a lot of facilitating to make sure there isn’t an interruption of what residents need just because there’s a financial aspect,” says Director of Financial Operations Evelyn Fry. “That shouldn’t be the driving force. The driving goal at Homeland is to make sure that residents get what they need.”

The six-person Finance Office efficiently shoulders many money management duties, so residents, staff, and family don’t have to.

Residents enjoy the office’s impact in big and small ways. When a resident needs a medical service or medication, the Finance Office works with nurses to obtain insurance coverage. If the insurer denies a claim, staffers will track down the problem or, if necessary, allocate payment from Homeland’s Benevolent and Charitable Care fund. In the past year, Homeland Center provided more than $3 million in charitable care.

Circumstances change daily, so the office works closely with Homeland department heads to pin down details and assure accuracy.

Over the years, the office’s functions have changed as regulatory oversight amplified and Homeland grew into today’s continuing care community offering personal, skilled, and dementia care.

“That’s what has kept me here,” says Evelyn, who celebrated her 35th anniversary with Homeland in 2019. “It has always been challenging and interesting.”

“We certainly want our residents to have the things they medically need, or that they need otherwise for their best quality of life,” Evelyn says.
Within the office, it’s all accomplished in an atmosphere of quiet professionalism, good cheer, and adherence to strict confidentiality standards. Each staffer – by coincidence, all women — brings a unique perspective to her role:

• Barbara Jones-White, Administrative Assistant, says the office supports the entire staff so “they can come to work and focus on the care that they give to residents.” She “absolutely loves” interacting with the residents and calls her coworkers “some of the brightest people I have ever met in my life.”

• Sonia Miralda, Administrative Assistant, joined Homeland in September 2019 and loves “the challenge every day.” She ensures residents receive personalized attention: “They come here, and they’re family.’’

• Lori McMichael, Assistant Director of Financial Operations, says she likes the challenge of staying abreast of changes in the industry: “You don’t get bored. You don’t get stagnant.” Lori is also the office decorator, hanging seasonal items such as a Halloween ghost.

• Lucinda Nemet, Accounts Receivable Clerk, has been with the office for 30 years and also helps tending to the birds in the Gathering Room as a way to interact more with residents “We’ve always been a close-knit community and family,” she says. “There are residents you get to know and have relationships with.”

• Cindy Zelko, Assistant Director of Financial Operations, is another long-time employee with 23 years of service. “We’ve been blessed with consistency, so we have the same people knowing what they need to do,” she says. “We’re able to get it right, and we can rely on each other.”

At heart, the office is dedicated to responsible stewardship of Homeland’s financial well-being.

“Whether it’s residents, family, or staff, the Finance Office is here when you need us,” Evelyn says. “We’re very dedicated to making sure that Homeland will exist well into the future.”

Homeland Center’s commitment to charitable, uncompensated care stands as a resource for the community. A nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, Homeland relies on the generous support of our friends and neighbors to continue helping the less fortunate. To find out how you can make a difference, call 717-221-7727 or go to www.homelandcenter.org/giving

New Purchasing and Emergency Preparedness Director, Jon Bogush

Before joining Homeland Center, Jonathan Bogush performed emergency-preparedness consultations with government agencies. But he rarely got to see the result of his work.

He found the closure he craved as Homeland’s new Director of Purchasing and Emergency Preparedness. At his interview for the job, Jonathan talked with President and CEO Barry Ramper II about Homeland’s culture, location and some longer-term strategic vision ideas.

“That’s really what sold me,” he says.

Meticulous planning and strict safety procedures have long been essential at Homeland, but today’s environment demands multifaceted, sophisticated scrutiny of risk prevention and management, says Ramper.

“Resident safety has never wavered as our number-one priority,” he says. “Security today requires a hyperawareness never known by previous generations. Jonathan offers a keen eye for detail and a strong background in preparedness – traits that assure the protection of residents, staff, and visitors.”

Jonathan joined Homeland in March 2019. At his previous post with a Mechanicsburg-based consultant, he concentrated on emergency management in collaboration with state and local governments and such federal agencies as the FBI, CDC, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition, he worked weekends as an emergency department technician. From his high school years until 2018, he also volunteered as an EMT with local companies, starting in his hometown of Duncannon.

Jonathan used his time as an EMT, including his college years at Slippery Rock University, to test whether he wanted to attend medical school. Eventually, he realized that he “could do more good” in public health, the field in which he earned his graduate degree from the University of New England’s Biddeford campus.

“You can change behaviors but changing the culture at a higher level is what I fell in love with,” he says.

As an EMT in rural areas, Jonathan appreciated the ambulance time he got to spend with elderly patients, hearing their stories.

“If you encounter an individual who’s 80, 90, or 100 years old, they have a lot of life experience,” he says. That made Homeland a natural fit, where “you never know what comes up” in conversations with residents.

He calls himself a lifelong learner and the opportunity to tackle a role with three components intrigued him. He is now responsible for emergency preparedness but also for purchasing and workers’ compensation. The issues intersect at the points of ensuring consistent procedures across departments and protecting the safety of staff as they provide care and train for emergencies.

For emergency preparedness, Jonathan works with department leaders on an Incident Management Team. He proposes scenarios, and the team “plays the what-if game,” making sure Homeland would be adequately staffed and supplied, has communications procedures in place, and can recover as quickly as possible.

Jonathan is leveraging Homeland’s strong relationships with Harrisburg police and emergency responders to plan trainings and drills in a way that won’t disrupt residents’ lives.

He also is reevaluating access to Homeland, reviewing entryways and surveillance schemes to assure that residents, staff, family, and visitors can come and go – without compromising security.

“This is the residents’ home,” he says. “We can’t go to the extreme, but we can look at multiple levels of security and surveillance. Our goal is to maintain regulatory compliance, but at the same time maintain that safe environment for all our residents.”

Outside of work, Jonathan works non-stop on many interests – fly fishing and making his own ties, hunting, butchering meat and tanning the hides, renovating his parents’ home or helping his girlfriend build hers. He and his family farm a quarter acre in Perry County and are buying a meat market.

Jonathan learned his work ethic from summers at his grandparents’ farms.

“We were at market three days a week, and we would get up at 3 a.m. to load the truck,” he recalls. “The other days, we got to sleep in and were in the fields by 6:30 or 7 o’clock. That was a lot of my childhood. I certainly do not shy away from work and long hours.”

At Homeland, Jonathan appreciates strong leadership support, backed by staff ready to streamline procedures for the sake of the residents.

“We have a great team here,” he says. “When you get folks up to speed on what’s expected of them and what’s expected of their teammates, there is no ambiguity. In my experience, people do best when they know what to expect. That’s where training comes into play. It really, truly is to maintain resident safety.”

Mother and daughter, Pam and Ashley.

Residents, staff, and family often say the same thing about Homeland Center: “Everyone here is like family.”

Homeland cultivates that atmosphere through its comfortable environment, high standards, and respect for every individual.

But there’s one thing more: Homeland welcomes actual family relationships on staff. Generations of mothers, fathers, children, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews have devoted themselves to the care of residents.

Today, they include the mother-daughter pairing of Assessment Coordinator Pamela Brown and Director of Social Services and Ellenberger Unit Coordinator Ashley Bryan. Each pursued a different professional discipline but contributes to the life of Homeland with shared joy and a commitment to excellence.

Pam was the first to join Homeland. As a girl, she knew she would be a nurse. She loved the series of books about sleuthing nurse Cherry Ames – a sort of white-capped Nancy Drew.

In her first job, she cared for cancer patients and accident victims. She saw motorcyclists who worked against all odds to recover from head injuries.

“A lot of times, they would walk out the door,” she says.

Her next job put her in a center for children with severe disabilities. Some endured seizures lacking outward manifestation, so Pam learned to watch for the signs in their eyes. Some days, she brought in Ashley to see where she worked.

“It taught me there are different people in the world,” Ashley says. “I learned about compassion.”

Pam’s work at a county nursing facility immersed her in an adventure that might have challenged even the indomitable Cherry Ames. For three of her 10 years there, she cared for men with histories of poor health and tough lives. She was “scared to death” at first but soon learned to see past their hard-bitten exteriors.

“They all just needed love and a soft touch,” she says. “You had to get beyond that initial harshness. When you learned how to work with them, they were all like little teddy bears.”

Pam joined Homeland in 2006 when she was asked to join the Data Set Documentation department responsible for insurance, billing, and the comprehensive resident assessments required by federal regulations.

“I loved what I saw,’’ she recalls of her first visit. “They had flowers everywhere and the residents’ rooms were so nice. It was a very homelike atmosphere. Everybody pulls together. Everybody truly cares about each other.”

Watching her mom at work, Ashley recognized her own desire to be “a helping professional.”

“She taught me to be caring,” Ashley says. “She taught me to be confident and go after what I wanted.”

Ashley discovered her proclivity for social work while working as a lifeguard in city housing complexes, where she might be a nurturing babysitter or the enforcer, depending on the circumstances.

While Ashley was working on her master’s degree in social work, Pam suggested that she perform her internship at Homeland. Arriving in 2011, Ashley learned how to manage caseloads in Homeland’s social services office. When Homeland offered her a full-time job, it came with the additional role of activities director. There, she strengthened fundraising capabilities, to finance an increasing array of engaging activities, and the database of community resources.

Homeland activities, she believes, have the power to enhance the quality of life, rounding out Homeland’s meticulous care that Medicare recognized with its highest rating as a CMS Five-Star Skilled Nursing Care Facility.

In July 2018, Ashley took on a new role as coordinator of Homeland’s Ellenberger Unit, for residents needing memory support.

“I love this unit,” she says. “Every single person is different; they’re unique. You can never really have a bad day on this unit.”

Pam spends her days meeting and carefully assessing new residents, catching every nuance to lay the groundwork for meeting their health needs as long as they’re at Homeland.

Ashley says her mom offers “compassion and thoroughness” to Homeland’s caring environment.

“Her job is very detail-oriented,” Ashley says. “She has to have conversations with the residents in such a way that they will give her the right information. She builds trust and compassion.”

Pam says that Ashley brings “determination.”

“She will not compromise when it comes to the well-being of the residents,” she says. “Being an advocate for residents, she will stand her ground.”

Both agree that they love working at Homeland.

“It’s been such a blessing,” says Pam, “to be able to see your child every day.”