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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Candrea Zujus says that, for her, nursing is about making sure everyone gets care &#8212; even people others might overlook.</p><p>Zujus, 49, is the RN chief nursing executive at Riverview Ridge Senior Living Community, a personal care home located at 300 Courtright Ave., Wilkes-Barre, and is part of the Genesis Healthcare system.</p><p>The Larksville woman has spent the past 28 years in nursing &#8212; the first half as an LPN, and the second half as an RN &#8212; but her love of helping people started long before that.</p><p>&#8220;It started out when I was 13 as a candy striper, in 1983,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I enjoyed taking care of people, helping people. It&#8217;s been my passion in life.&#8221;</p><p>And she&#8217;s been pursuing that passion ever since. Starting out as an LPN in the field of geriatrics in 1991, she eventually worked as both a medical-surgical nurse and in an emergency room.</p><p>&#8220;My goal as a nurse is that I wanted to experience a little bit of everything until I found what I wanted to do,&#8221; she said.</p><p>As such, Zujus saw numerous jobs, including a lengthy stint at Pocono Medical Center, located in East Stroudsburg, Monroe County, before eventually moving to the Wilkes-Barre facility to be closer to her Larksville home.</p><p>Working at the senior living center, most of Zujus&#8217; work these days is with the geriatric population, and it&#8217;s one she&#8217;s incredibly passionate about helping.</p><p>Zujus said that many of her patients are no longer able to speak for themselves, but that doesn&#8217;t mean they deserve any less quality of care.</p><p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t mean they&#8217;re not the same person,&#8221; she said. &#8220;A lot of people overlook them, but they&#8217;re the ones that need me the most. People forget that they were young once.&#8221;</p><p>For the past two and a half years or so, Zujus has been working in a more managerial role, which she says feels &#8220;different&#8221; from the more typically hands-on roles she worked up until this point. But she said she still does plenty of care herself.</p><p>Zujus said that she sees nursing as a &#8220;wonderful profession,&#8221; but she said those thinking about going into it should be sure they&#8217;re meant for it.</p><p>&#8220;It takes a special calling,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You have to have a destination for it. It&#8217;s not a profession you grow to like.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Candrea Zujus is a nurse at Riverview Ridge Senior Living Community in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_CandreaZujus1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Candrea Zujus is a nurse at Riverview Ridge Senior Living Community in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0>Butch Comegys | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>About the series</p><p>The Times Leader is honoring a different nurse each day during National Nurses Week. Saturday: Robin Santey, LeePark Elementary School</p><p>Sunday: Ashley Jacobs, Desk nurse, Wesley Village</p><p>Monday: Allison Brislin, Gesinger Wyoming Valley</p><p>Tuesday: Bernie McDonald, Fortis Institute Scranton</p><p>Wednesday: Noelle Glazenski, Riverstreet Manor</p><p>Thursday: John Birmer, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital</p><p>Tomorrow: Nataya Cottle, Allied SkilledNursing and Rehabilitation Center and St. Mary&#8217;s Villa</p><p>ONLINE </p><p>Read more at timesleader.com/tag/nurses_week</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Candrea Zujus says geriatric nursing is for the people who ‘need her the most’