Employee serves as a Therapy Assistant aligned within Recreation Services located at the Veterans Healthcare System in Tomah, WI, working in recreation programs to include Long Term Care, Mental Health, Dementia, and throughout the facility.

Duties

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Duties will include, but may not be limited to the following: Provides services to outpatients involved in various clinics and programs and coordinates escort of patients to and from recreation therapy programs. Utilizes knowledge of various illness and disabilities to provide programming which is appropriate to the needs, interests, and abilities of the population being served. Assists Recreation Therapists (RT) to plan and implement a wide range of RT interventions to address treatment needs and plans. Evaluates patient response to treatment and other interventions and status and maintains documentation and reports to the RT on patient response and progress. Provides therapeutic programming in individual and group settings as well as planning and conducting special events, seasonal events, and holiday programs. Collaborates with RT in planning community-based programs to meet the treatment goals and objectives independently. Maintains workload records and submit data through entries within various computer databases. Completes patient care encounter reports timely, which documents clinical workload. Develops and submits requests for supplies, equipment, transportation, and other support essential to the development age of the patients and associated factors which impact programming. Assists local, civic, and community groups that provide recreation therapy program support and coordinates these programs in advance to assure they function without serious disruptions. Performs other duties, as necessary. Work Schedule: Full Time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm, may require 1-3 evenings a week and one weekend day a month Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Requires one full year of specialized experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-5) in the Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include 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. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include 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. Specialized experience includes applying knowledge of recreation therapy equipment and materials, recreation rules and regulations, and enrichment programs to plan and carry out direct patient care activities to provide therapeutic exercises and documenting and reporting on patient response and progress; and coordinating with community groups involved in recreation therapy programs and activities. OR SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Successfully completed Six months of Graduate education or an internship meets the specialized experience required only in those instances where it is directly related to the work of the position. OR COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Equivalent combinations of successfully completed directly related graduate education and specialized experience are also qualifying if directly related to the work of the position. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Interpersonal EffectivenessInterpersonal SkillsPlanning and EvaluatingTeamwork IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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; religious; 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. Physical Requirements: The position involves moderately heaving lifting of physically impaired residents/patients while assisting with ambulation duties. Requires employee to be physically able to work independently during on and off campus events, and able to push wheelchair bound non-ambulating patients to and from activities. 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

IMPORTANT: 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: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office (ed.gov).

Contacts

• Address Tomah VA Medical Center 500 East Veterans Street Tomah, WI 54660 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]