Jackie Barbarito, Assistant Administrator, Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads

I started my journey at GHI in 2016 when I began my Administrator-in-Training program under the leadership of Linda Lateana, Executive Director of Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads (GHBC) and Chief Operating Officer of GHI. I immediately felt like I was a part of the team. The GHI workforce is one big diverse, intergenerational family advancing a culture of innovation and inspiration. I was lucky enough to become an official GHBC employee June 2017. Shortly after my hiring, I had an idea to do a “Shark Tank”-style event as a way to promote cross-department collaboration, challenge the status quo, and bring forward fresh ideas to achieve our mission with even more success. Linda, of course, was open to the idea and she proceeded to support our first idea competition on July 14.  I don’t know of another long-term care organization that would welcome and encourage such innovation from such a new, young staff member and provide an opportunity to test it.  And I am thrilled to share that GHBC is already exploring ways to refine and implement some of the ideas pitched in the competition!