The Therapy Assistant is assigned to the Recreation Therapy Section within the Sensory and Physical Rehabilitation Service at the VA Bedford Healthcare System. The Recreation Assistant organizes, coordinates, schedules and implements a program of therapeutic and free-choice recreation activities for designated patient groups that consist of young adults to geriatric patients with simple to complex psychiatric and/or physical disabilities. This position is full-time, 40 hours per week.

Duties

The Recreation Therapy Assistant works with a high degree of independence in planning and carrying out highly specialized and complex treatment. Employee serves as the full-time Recreation Therapy Assistant planning, developing, providing, and/or coordinating both individual and group activities for both ambulatory and non-ambulatory inpatients, outpatients, Hospice, Geriatric Short Stays, Mental Health programming, and Long Term Care residents under the guidance of a Therapeutic Recreation Therapist. The duties included and not limited to: Works with a high degree of independence in planning and carrying out highly specialized and complex treatment. Serves as the full-time Recreation Therapy Assistant planning, developing, providing, and/or coordinating both individual and group activities for both ambulatory and non-ambulatory inpatients, outpatients, Hospice, Geriatric Short Stays, Mental Health programming, and Long Term Care residents under the guidance of a Therapeutic Recreation Therapist. As a member of the interdisciplinary treatment team, consults with a broad spectrum of professional, technical, and lay personnel to ensure that patient activities are diverse, highly specialized to meet individual needs, and is consistent with the objectives of the interdisciplinary treatment plan. Provides activities varied in nature, vigor and complexity; are designed to address the physical, intellectual, educational, social, creative, spiritual, and recreational needs of the veterans served. Collaborates with other Recreation and Sensory & Physical Rehabilitation Service (SPRS) staff coordinating and carrying out facility-wide activities and special events. Serves as a backup for established activities for other facility inpatient groups. Drives and/or escorts patients to community activities Work Schedule: Sunday-Thursday; 8:00am-4:30pm with one late night 11:00am to 7:30pm Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Therapy Assistant/PD002470 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required NOTIFICATIONS: This position is in the Competitive Service. Veterans preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. This is a NAGE Bargaining Unit position. This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. The incumbent may be required to travel by government vehicle. Valid, active driver's license is required. First consideration is given to current permanent Bedford VHA employees.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/12/2024. You may qualify based on your experience as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: work as an assistant to one of the specialized therapies such as occupational, physical, manual arts, corrective, or educational therapy; or 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. OR Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required above GS-5 only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position per OPMs guidance on Technical and Medical Support Assistants. Combination: I have an appropriate combination of specialized experience and education. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation.) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to DetailCommunicationsVeteran and Customer Focus 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: In some assignments the work involves regular and recurring physical exertion such as prolonged walking or standing, bending, moderately heavy lifting or moving of equipment, positioning severely disabled patients and assisting patients in ambulation and with wheelchair mobility. The work requires specific, common physical characteristics and abilities, maneuvering wheelchairs and driving wheelchair accessible vehicles. The work is primarily very active in nature with some sedentary work involved when performing administrative tasks. The work involves irregular tours of duty. 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

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address VA Bedford Healthcare System 200 Springs Road Bedford, MA 01730 US
• Name: Elizabeth Nowak
• Phone: 401-273-7100 X14335
• Email: [email protected]