July 28th, 2017
All summer long, our HR intern, Samantha, has been helping us with filing, creating emails, assisting with trainings, and even developing content for our website. She’s been so helpful and has learned so much about workplace etiquette in her time here. But we wanted to give her a truly WOW! Magic experience this summer, so we did a little digging to find out more about her interests.
As it turns out, Samantha, is considering a career in Occupational Therapy, so we set her up to shadow our OT Sharon Toomey. We asked her to document her experience and share it with us below.
What I felt
I was nervous going in to shadow Sharon in our Acquired Brain Injury program. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I wanted to show excitement when working with our Guests because I didn’t want them to sense I was nervous. I wanted them to feel comfortable with me.
What I liked most
I loved that even though the Guests had aides, they were still very independent. I was in a music class where each Guest chose a song to sing, in their own style, to exercise and activate certain parts of their brain. Other times they used instruments to move their fingers, activating different parts of the brain. You could see how happy everyone was to show their own unique music style.
What I learned
I learned that each person has different needs that you have to pay close attention to. I had the opportunity to watch as our Guests with dysphagia enjoyed lunch. I saw that OT’s use special adaptive tools to help Guests eat slower, swallow easier, and drink properly. To me, this is where I saw the WOW! Magic because even though Our Colleagues are helping our Guests eat, they utilize these special tools to allow our Guests to experience as much independence as possible, which is very empowering.
What I love about working at ATI
I love working here because there are so many opportunities to explore. Everyone is cheering you on and willing to help as you continue your journey. It is truly special to see Colleagues who care about each other like that. ATI’s Mission to Bring Out The Best In Everyone We Touch Because Every Life Matters is so fitting, because of the compassion and love that is spread around here every single day.
What’s next
This experience has opened my eyes to many possibilities that I want to try throughout the rest of my summer. I hope to learn more about OT and ways of caring for people. I am also looking to explore other fields as well and hoping that I can do some of that right here at ATI. My main take away from this experience so far, is that I can only hope to work with Colleagues and Guests just as great as the ones I’ve met here.
Samantha is a beautiful person inside and out. I hope this experience helps her decide what career path to choose. Any company would be lucky to have her.
Samantha,
Your beautiful smile, positive attitude and big heart will help you in this field.
You are truly amazing and we are so proud of you.
Love,
Aunty Súe
Sam,
Your beautiful smile and gentle soul light up everyone’s day.
Your appreciation for your work and colleagues is a true asset.
It is just wonderful how much you care and enjoy helping others. A gteat gift.
We love you and are so proud of all you do.
Caroline
Sam is a beautiful intelligent young woman, and one of my best friends! I am so happy she’s experiencing this great opportunity and I can’t wait to see where the future takes her!
This information has been very helpful thanks for sharing this post.