Subscribe to our free  newsletter - Outcomes 
Enter Your Email

Search Site

RSS Feeds

  News

  Podcasts

I love my job.  I am a restorative aide and I help our Resident-Neighbors with ambulation, and range-of-motion. I have several years experience as a rehab and restorative aide before coming to work in the restorative program at Northeast Center for Special Care.  Prior to becoming a restorative aide I was a manager with Meals-on-Wheels for fifteen years.  I felt that I wanted to try something new and I saw an ad in the paper for classes to learn how to become a rehab aide. It sounded very interesting to me so I enrolled in the twelve-week course.  I liked it a lot and felt that I had found my niche.  Eventually I obtained my CNA certificate.

I came to Northeast Center almost two years ago.  I wanted a challenge and this was a really different kind of place.  As a restorative aide I work with a caseload of our Resident-Neighbors everyday and I am given specific programs to do with them by our therapists.  I just love helping people.  I love to see our Resident-Neighbors progress, and I love to see them get better.  They are very important people!

Jean Faichney, MS, OTR/L, with Mona Althieser, Restorative Aide.

Not long after I started working at Northeast Center I was assigned to work with a man who was emerging from a coma.  The man was non-verbal; he could not perform any movement by himself.  I talked to the man as I worked with him doing range-of-motion and over time he became more responsive.  He would react more with facial expressions, at times he would laugh and one day he said my name and that made me feel great because he wasn't yet verbal.  Working with someone emerging from a coma and seeing the changes made me feel like I contributed more than simply doing restorative therapy because I tried to interact with him everyday and respected him as a human being.  It's moments like that that make working at Northeast Center so special for me.

Northeast Center for Special Care is unique because everything here is geared to get our Resident-Neighbors better and back to their home communities.  There's teamwork here - the team spirit is an important part of what we do here, everyone works together and everyone has a role to play.  Working with our physical and occupational therapists is great.  Our therapists are very supportive and take the time to work with me and answer my questions.  They are always motivated to help our Resident-Neighbors get better.

Working at Northeast Center is really great.  There are a lot of avenues for people to use their expertise and really make a difference in people's lives.  I always tell people what a special program this is and how rewarding it is for me to be a part of the mission here.

Mona with Rosemary Castellano, rehabilitation department Office Manager.