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Mona
Althiser, Restorative Aide
"I
Just Love Helping People."
Meet
Mona Althiser, a member of our
rehabilitation team. Mona brings her wonderful
spirit and dedication to Northeast Center for
Special Care every day. Here is Mona in her
own words:
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!
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.
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Thank
you Mona for being another shining example of staff
who put their personal best in everything they do
and strive for excellence.
© 2000-2007 Northeast Center for Special Care All Rights Reserved
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