When compassion is your passion

If you read our CHIRPs blog regularly, you know that we typically choose to write about an employee who exhibits one of our Core Values on a daily basis. This week, we wanted to highlight an employee who portrayed all five of our Core Values. This is about someone who lived and breathed for his job and his calling…Justin Lott.

Justin Lott was born into healthcare. He grew up accompanying his Mom to work, who worked as a Director of Nursing. Years later, he not only followed in his mother’s footsteps, but he truly found his passion working in a senior living community. Fast forward twenty years, Justin was the Executive Director for Rosewood Health and Rehabilitation Center, in Orlando, FL.

Although Justin had years of experience and hard work under his belt, that is not why he was able to become an Executive Director at such a young age (Justin was 28 when hired at Rosewood). He was able to attain that level in his career because of his drive to help those in need. He genuinely loved his residents, loved his work, and would do anything to make those around him feel good. He embodied all of Consulate’s Core Values in every way.

Sadly, Justin’s life was tragically taken from him in June of this year. But, what he left behind was a plethora of memories and an exemplary model of what an Executive Director is, and more. When we met with his co-workers to find out more about who Justin was, they all had the same thing to say about him…that he was passionate about the care center and everyone around him. He lived for his residents and he was happy every single day.

Justin was a mentor to one of his fellow co–workers, JeanCarlo. We spoke with JeanCarlo to find out what it was like to work with Justin. He struggled to really put in a nutshell who Justin was because there were so many great things to say. JeanCarlo did say, “He (Justin) was bred to do this. He was so passionate about making the center great. He wanted everyone involved, and he was just not your typical boss. He made you feel like you could tell him everything and anything”.

Justin took an interest in JeanCarlo as his Admissions Coordinator and wanted to help him grow and succeed in his career. Justin made a point though, not to just take JeanCarlo under his wing, but to be his friend. Because of this, JeanCarlo learned a tremendous amount and had a great deal of respect for Justin. He was such a caring and giving administrator, and it made his team grow and want to work hard.

When we spoke with Diane, who also worked closely with Justin, she had tremendous things to say about him as well. From his sense of humor, to his sincere desire to better the lives of his residents, he was an all around compassionate and driven individual. Diane said that Justin would joke and say, “Whenever I see you, I see money”. He jokingly knew that when Diane came to his office, she needed to do something that would cost money. But, he would always follow up with “Is it something that will make the residents’ lives better?” and found a way to fit whatever it was into the budget.

Both JeanCarlo and Diane had similar things to say about Justin; he was enthusiastic, compassionate, and always put his residents first. He never sat at his desk, because he was always walking around talking to the residents and the staff. He knew everyone by name and had a dream of renovating and making changes at Rosewood to enrich the lives of his residents.

There are so many great things that Justin did, and lives that he touched. It saddens everyone at Consulate Health Care that he was taken from us when he had so much left to give. He was a model employee and an incredible person. We cherish the time that we had with him and we are so thankful for his hard work and dedication to Rosewood. Our condolences go out to Justin’s family, friends, and everyone who was fortunate enough to know him.