Summary
On this episode, host Peter Murphy Lewis talks with Jessica Guerrero, Administrator of Emerald Nursing and Rehab Lakeview, whose journey from a teenage dietary aide to a respected health care leader is as inspiring as it is heartfelt. Jessica shares her path from working at Subway to building a culture of compassion and belonging within her facility. She opens up about overcoming fear and imposter syndrome, leading through vulnerability, and transforming a once-struggling workplace into a true home for residents and staff alike.
Key Takeaways:
(00:00) Introduction.
(01:24) A coworker’s encouragement sparked passion for a health care career path.
(03:01) Imposter syndrome nearly cost Jessica her administrator position twice.
(03:57) Perfectionism as a manager can scare employees away.
(05:08) Building a team with aligned values fills organizational gaps automatically.
(06:34) Creating a genuine culture can transform the workplace environment and satisfaction.
(10:32) Therapy can help leaders recognize their accomplishments and overcome self-doubt.
(12:52) Having amazing energy can bless other people in long-term care.
Resources Mentioned:
Emerald Nursing and Rehab Lakeview website
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Transcript
Jessica Guerrero: I have worked really, really hard to build a team that has ... I'm all about good vibes. I love just having people with good energy that treat people well. And as people have come out of their positions, I just worked really hard to find people that would fit into our team. And I feel like where I lack, my team just brings it all together.
Peter Murphy Lewis: The world does not run on headlines. It runs on people who care. I'm Peter Murphy Lewis, and this is People Worth Caring About. Alongside my co-host, Jalene Carpenter, we sit down with the unsung heroes, caregivers, healers, helpers, the ones doing the real work, even when no one is watching. These conversations are not polished, they're personal, because behind every act of care is a story worth hearing. New episodes drop regularly. Get updates at peopleworthcaringabout.com.
Jessica Guerrero: My name is Jessica Guerrero. I'm the administrator at Emerald Nursing and Rehab Lakeview out of Grand Island. I have been working in nursing homes since I was 15 years old, and I absolutely love it.
Peter Murphy Lewis: Fantastic. Thank you, Jessica. Welcome to the podcast. Your story's fascinating, and I want to start right away. How in the world did you climb up the ladder from Subway? You were slinging hoagies two decades ago.
Jessica Guerrero: Yes. Yes. Well, yeah, two decades ago, I guess it's been that long. I worked with a gal, her name is Mary Moon, and she worked at the local nursing home in Gothenburg. And she convinced me to come over and be a dietary aide. And I was really hesitant to go over, I was honestly afraid of nursing homes at that time, but eventually she convinced me to give it a try and I absolutely fell in love with it. And then I moved to Grand Island in 2010 and started as a cook for what was called Park Place, it's now closed now, but just became dietary manager and then transportation coordinator, activities director, business office manager, HR, business office and HR, and then in 2021, they asked me to take over as administrator. So I just love it.
Peter Murphy Lewis: Is there some point along that path that you realized that you would be an administrator in a couple of years?
Jessica Guerrero: Oh gosh. Well, in 2019, Emerald Healthcare purchased Lakeview and at that time, I was business office manager and HR director. And the owners actually were very ... I just really meshed with them well, especially Ira. And they had kind of coached me and just seen, I guess, my leadership abilities from early on when they purchased and started to coach me in that.
And so to go down that path, in 2020, I actually, at the peak of COVID, when it just came to Nebraska, Lakeview was actually one of the first buildings to be hit with COVID and we had a really big outbreak, and I was asked to take over the facility and I did for six weeks. Everything that could go wrong did. And I really doubted my abilities at that time. And I decided to step back and I said, "You guys need someone that's experienced and knows what they're doing. This building needs more than what I can give." And I decided to step back and stay as business office manager. We had a couple of administrators in that time that just didn't go well. And 2021, Mark Sroczynski was just like, "Jessica, you need to take over this building." And I'm like, "Okay, let's do it. " And ever since then, it's been great.
Peter Murphy Lewis: Were you intimidated? Were you afraid to do it a second time?
Jessica Guerrero: Oh, absolutely. Well, I tried being dietary manager, I was dietary manager for a while. I don't know what year it was after I was cook, so probably 2011 I was dietary manager and I was young, I was 23 at that time. And I was a micromanager. I just wanted everything to be perfect. I was very obsessed with having a perfect survey and all of those things, that I ran people off because I just wanted it to be so perfect.
And so that really stuck in the back of my mind that, can you do this? Is that going to be a repeat? And then failing or choosing not to pursue it in 2020, I was very, very afraid. And I think imposter syndrome for many years, I just didn't feel like, am I doing what's right? But after so many years, not so many years, four years, but I feel a lot more comfortable in the position and just feel like you crawl, you walk, you run, and I feel like finally we're getting to a point in my building where we're walking or, my boss says, "a good clip of a jog" that we're going at now, and that just continuing to excel. So I feel like it's where I need to be.
Peter Murphy Lewis: What do you feel like you still need to learn or improve upon or at least hire somebody who picks up where it's not your strength?
Jessica Guerrero: Honestly, that's a really good question. I don't know that ... I have worked really, really hard to build a team that has ... I'm all about good vibes. I love just having people with good energy that treat people well. And as people have come out of their positions, I just worked really hard to find people that would fit into our team. And I feel like where I lack, my team just brings it all together. So I don't feel like we need to even hire anyone, I just feel like we have people in the right place already that we all just work together and meet the needs that we need to, that we're not really missing out on anything. So I'm very thankful for the team that I have.
Peter Murphy Lewis: As an outsider looking in, what would be something that I would notice from your team that you all do amazingly well? Are you great at hiring? Are you great at retention? Are you great at maybe some type of net promoter score? What are you all great at that I could notice in a day or two?
Jessica Guerrero: I don't know. I would think that the culture or the environment at Lakeview, it's noticeable the second you walk in. Honestly, when I worked for Park Place, which was a sister facility of Lakeview, I referred to Lakeview as the black hole. I never wanted to go there, it had really bad vibes to me and I just didn't like the environment. And in 2017, when they asked me to come over, I was really hesitant.
And then just taking over the culture in the building and just the environment. We are just really welcoming and we have just great ... People are smiling, they're welcoming. We take care of a challenging group of people, but we just make people feel very at home. And when they come, I know that for a fact because people go to the hospital and they want to come back to Lakeview. And staff may leave, but they come back like, "I just miss home." And that's what I think we do really, really well. Aside from all the clinical great things that we do, I think our environment and just the culture that we have there has really come a long way and I'm most proud of.
Peter Murphy Lewis: This show is powered by AAG Health, the team behind the teams. If you are building a care team that actually cares, nurses, doctors, techs, admin pros, AAG doesn't just fill jobs, they find people who show up and stay. Visit aag.health and see how fast the right people can make all the difference.
Is there something that you do in your day-to-day as administrator that actually is part of one of your previous jobs? I feel like you've done 13 different jobs before you came in administrator that you do just because you love it.
Jessica Guerrero: Oh gosh, yes. I still cook. Oh yes, I absolutely love to cook. I learned so much. Back when Golden Living was one of the owners, when I first took over in 2010, they actually set us up to work with their chefs for Golden Living. And I learned so much and I can make gluten-free gravy from scratch and do all of the things I love to cook, so I really enjoy getting back in and still cooking for the residents.
Just last week I was being the transportation driver because my transportation driver was on vacation, so I was driving the van and doing those things. I just recently gave up the nursing schedule, actually, I did that full-time for two years while being administrator. I love to just work and help out my team and see where I can ... Because I don't have day-to-day tasks that I have to get done other than a couple of reports and some meetings, but really I'm there to support my team and be where I can help. And so yeah, I love to go back and do everything that I've done. It's very enjoyable. I'm not a good CNA, so please don't ask me to be a CNA, but I do have my CNA, but I'm not a good one, that's not my strength. But I love all things about the nursing home.
Peter Murphy Lewis: Do you have any surprising and positive feedback that you've received either from a resident or a resident's family member? And the reason I put in surprising is you didn't think that they were happy or you didn't think that they understood how hard you work as well, and then kind of sticks with you.
Jessica Guerrero: Yeah. I have a really good team that is all about showing each other love. And my social services director, she actually came back to me in December. We worked together when I first started at Park Place in 2010 when I was in dietary, she was a social services director. She's gone to a couple of different facilities, but I recruited her back in December and she came to me one day and she said, "You know what you really do well as an administrator? You understand that this is a business and you're really supportive of both the admissions side of things to get people in the building, but you also understand how it is in the building and what's going on. So you do really well meshing those two together to get the team to come together and meet our goals for census, but also support when we don't want to move forward or you just balance both sides really well." And I thought that was very kind of her to see that.
Peter Murphy Lewis: Why did that compliment stand out? Why did that come to your mind? Did you not know that you were great at those two things?
Jessica Guerrero: Yeah, I think up until recently I've had what my therapist, I see a therapist, I am very open about that, four years ago, that was the best thing I ever did for myself was to go see a therapist. I see her every week. And she says, I suffer from low pride. So your keynote was very like, "Do you think your life is ordinary?" And I'm like, "Well, yeah, really nothing to brag about."
But just lately, I would say in the last six months, just really seeing what I've done and where I've come from, starting as a sandwich artist and a cook and now becoming the administrator, I'm starting to come around to the idea of like, man, Jessica, you do do a really good job at this. So to hear it come from my peers that I have a lot of respect for just meant a lot to me. And she's been in the business for 30 years now and she shared, "I've never worked with an administrator like you," and it gives me goosebumps now, just saying that.
Peter Murphy Lewis: I love it. Back to what you said, like pride in the inside and then there'll be belief on the outside. There was people believed on you in the outside before you believed in the inside.
Jessica Guerrero: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Yes. Actually, Sherry was the social services director when I attempted to be administrator in 2020, and she was very adamant that I take the job. And I felt very bad when I decided not to take the job. I felt like I was letting a lot of people down, but I just felt it was the right thing for the building to have an experienced seasoned administrator. And so to have her tell me that, after failing the first time and then coming back and doing it again and recruiting her back to be my social services director and her to tell me those things, I was just like, wow, thank you. I couldn't say enough. Just thank you, and this is not enough.
Peter Murphy Lewis: Jessica, as we wrap up, I want to ask you what advice you would give to somebody who's listening to this, and they have an amazing person, an amazing sandwich artist at their local Subway in town, wherever it is, and there's a Jessica that waits on them when they go there on Tuesdays for the six-inch special? What would you tell them to talk to Jessica and bring them over to this beautiful world?
Jessica Guerrero: Oh, I would just tell them, "You have such an amazing energy about you, that you need to be in long-term care. The people need to be blessed by your energy, because so many of our residents have no family or especially the residents I care for, there's not a lot of resident involvement, so having someone with that kind of energy and just good vibes that we need you. So come to us."
Peter Murphy Lewis: Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
Jessica Guerrero: Yes, thank you so much.
Peter Murphy Lewis: I appreciate it.
Jessica Guerrero: Thank you.
Peter Murphy Lewis: That's a wrap on "People Worth Caring About," born from the documentary, built to keep the stories going. Shout out to Nebraska Healthcare Association and Jalene Carpenter for helping launch it and to Ohio and New Mexico for making future seasons real. Watch the docuseries online or at peopleworthcaringabout.com. And if this episode meant something to you, leave a review. It matters. Take care of yourself and the people worth caring about.
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