23-Year-Old Climbs Assisted Living Ladder

Samantha Johnson’s journey into the world of assisted living started through her grandmother, who was a resident at Chelsea Assisted Living in Warren, New Jersey for almost seven years, until her passing in January of 2018. Her death and Johnson’s sudden change of study occurred at relatively the same time, and now at 23-years-old, Johnson holds the title of Business Office Manager for the Chelsea at Clifton, New Jersey. She never expected to move up to a department head so quickly, especially in a building that has been impacted by the pandemic.

For most of her time in college at Montclair State University, Johnson, known as SJ to friends and co-workers, was on track to receive a degree in Family Science and Human development with a concentration in education. She took the necessary tests and would have been certified to teach kindergarten up to sixth grade for both general and special education. While her overall degree remained the same, Johnson decided to concentrate on the study of aging, instead of teaching.

How did you go from wanting to teach very young children to working with the elderly?

I can’t explain it. It was kind of a calling to me, and I see it as a sign from my grandmother. I never wanted to work with the elderly before, but I couldn’t see myself pursuing education after that day.

Your grandmother was a huge influence on the position you have now. How did your employment journey with Chelsea start?

Since I changed my concentration, I needed to do an internship. I challenged myself to find an internship that fit the study of aging, I wanted to work in the senior living industry, to experience it, I did not want to just take an internship to get by. My grandmother was a resident at the Chelsea at Warren, New Jersey which is where I live and my dad said, ‘why don’t you reach out to Ashley, the executive director, and see if she has a need for you.’ I sent her an email, she responded to me saying she could use the help and not long after that I started as an intern at Warren where I basically ended up shadowing all the different positions in the building.

It seems that you are on the younger end of the employees, what is it like for you in your 20s working with the elderly?

Honestly, it's amazing. I have to be honest when I came in as an intern, I thought, oh, these people are going to eat me alive, they are either going to love me or hate me. They see me, and I come down the hallway dancing, I know them by name we call them out, we sit, we have tea. I dedicate some time with them, they compliment my outfit, but they live vicariously through me and they love it. You have to build a rapport with them.

It’s been two years since you had the internship and now, you’re the Business Office Manager, which is one of the three department heads, how did you come to this point?

I interned for about six months which was my last semester of college. A couple of weeks before it ended, I had a conversation with our operations director at the time, and there really was no job for me. She ultimately created a position for me. I was a traveling employee doing PR and marketing work at our Corporate office, the Warren office, and the office in Tinton Falls. I had relationships with so many of the staff because I knew them when my grandmother was a resident, so I didn’t have to start from scratch in that regard and I’m really grateful for that.

After a couple months, I was kind of floating between these buildings until I was approached by the vice president of sales who offered me the move-in coordinator position at the Chelsea in Shrewsbury. I was there for about eight months, but I never really felt like part of the team there, and that’s not what you want in a job. I left Shrewsbury in January of 2020 after getting a call from Lisa, the executive director at the Chelsea in Clifton, who told me she wanted me to be their move-in coordinator.

How did you climb the ladder so fast?

I’ve been at Clifton now for over a year and we didn’t even have a building when I started there. There were three of us and we were all working out of a sales trailer. On top of that, Chelsea was switching its digital marketing database and I was learning how to use that. I started doing these trainings on the new software, and it turned into a large-scale operation where everyone had to be trained on this database. That opened a lot of doors for me. So, I was doing all these trainings, still doing move-ins for new residents when the building officially opens, and this January, Lisa got a phone call from one of the regional vice presidents and I had heard my name on the phone call. I told Lisa she couldn’t leave me in the lurch after hearing that and Lisa told me they wanted to offer me the BOM (business office manager) position.

Has COVID affected the number of people moving in?

There's definitely a COVID impact, 100%. But there's also these family members that unfortunately don't have a choice. So, is it sitting at home by yourself and not getting the care and support and socialization that you need? Or should you just move into a community? It has not only affected the number of people, but it has also affected how long-term care centers are portrayed by the media. People think that these places are epicenters for COVID. We’re reinventing the nursing home, and I think in a perfect world with no pandemic, we definitely could have more people moving in.

You mention ‘reinventing the nursing home,’ what do people misunderstand about these places?

The philosophy of Chelsea Senior Living is caring, compassion, commitment, and consistency. We provide them the tools to be successful, to grow friendships, it’s about how the residents feel. For a lot of them, it’s the last place they are going to live before they die, so how we function as an assisted living isn’t for what we sell or how we show it, it’s making these experiences meaningful for the residents and their families.