The week of Sept. 13 is “Direct Support Professional Appreciation Week.” It is no secret that DSP’s are Optimae LifeService’s life blood. They are incredibly crucial to not only ourselves but also to the individuals who have been placed in their care. Be it during a worldwide pandemic, or in the wake of a natural disaster, our DSP’s show up to face any challenge.
Today’s nominations come from our Great River region, as highlighted on our service map.
Des Moines and Louisa counties nominate Lucy Wyatt. Lucy has modeled her ability to be a good team player by offering to aid in filling open shifts at locations outside of her primary site home. Lucy will work any shift, day (including weekend), or any location to help out her team. Lucy has offered to aid in training needs and will step in during crisis situation to assist her teammates. Lucy has modeled her ability to take a home that had some areas of concern and address those timely and efficiently to help the home run smoother and has modeled a positive attitude.
Henry county nominates Eileen Dunnegan. Eileen hit her year mark in March 2020 and has always been flexible with the change of needs within her county. Eileen has assisted in CIP and picked up community hours/customers to aid when a teammate needed to suddenly be off. Eileen has shown her ability to advocate for her customers best interest by reaching out for support to aid in the customer not being taken advantage of.
Lee county nominates LaVola Hatton. LaVola has demonstrated great dependability and work ethic with helping to cover many open shifts, working outside of her primary shifts and working with other team members to help cover shifts. LaVola has taken more responsibilities at the site home as far as ordering needed supplies from pharmacy, speaking with doctors’ offices, Housing Authority, and guardians more with customer incidents and house needs. LaVola has also made it a point to maintain great communication with her supervisor on all things customer and site related. LaVola has minimal call ins and when she does, she works quickly with her supervisor to reschedule these hours.