The Recreational Therapist Assistant (RTA) will be assigned to a patient care program and/or location within the Rehabilitation Section. He/she will be responsible for assisting the Certified Therapeutic Recreational Therapist (CTRS) in the developing, organizing, administering, assessing, and documenting therapeutic treatment interventions and responses to Recreational Therapy programs.

Duties

Responsible for working/coordinating with various community agencies such as Veteran's Service Organizations, to obtain services, donations, and other beneficial resources. Treat patients who have multiple diagnosis and/or severe medical complications which require unconventional, creative, and flexible approaches to treatment which may require modification or substantial adapting of procedures and modalities to more fully engage the patient in treatment. Strive to retard mental and physical deterioration, maintaining the highest degree of self-­help and independence within limitations of the patient's disability. Observe, assesses, and reports to the treatment team reactions of the patient to treatment. Drives and supervises patients to off-station community activities, gives instructions on expectations and observes patients for unpredictable behavior patterns. Communicates with the Recreational and Creative Arts Therapist and documents observations to include both verbal and written documentation of the patient's performance, physical and mental/cognitive status and response to treatment/activity. Work Schedule: Various schedules available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Recreational Therapy Assistant/PD675-07266-O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/27/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-06 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) Work as an assistant to one of the specialized therapies such as occupational, physical, manual arts, corrective, or educational therapy; Must have experience gained as an assistant or aid in patient care, social work, or psychology where the duties involved actual participation in physical medicine and activities of a hospital or clinic. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized experience: Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: assist in designing, planning and implementing routines to maintain or improve the patient's health; determine the patient's level of functioning to intervention including physical, emotional, mental, social limitations, needs, skills, aptitudes, and interests; drive and supervise patients to off-station community activities; document the patient's performance, physical and mental/cognitive status and response to treatment/activity. OR, Education: One half year of graduate education meets the requirements for GS-6 where it is directly related to the work of the position. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR, Combination of Experience & Education: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate-level education. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. Creative ThinkingCustomer ServiceTherapy and Counseling Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work involves regular and recurring physical exertion such as prolonged walking or standing, bending; moderately heavy lifting or moving of equipment, positioning of severely disabled patients and/or loading and unloading of wheelchairs on transportation vehicles; and assisting patients in ambulation and/or activities of daily living. The work requires driving a variety of motor vehicles (car/van/bus) and incumbent must possess physical characteristics to attain a CDL license. Requirements include above average agility and dexterity, the ability to work both in and out of doors, and irregular hours. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Orlando VA Medical Center 13800 Veterans Way Orlando, FL 32827 US
• Name: Rhett Hartgrove
• Phone: 5207921450 15343
• Email: [email protected]