This position serves under 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. This position is full-time, 40 hours per week.

Duties

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. Duties include but are 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; and other duties assigned. Promotion Potential: The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level. Work Schedule: Tuesday-Saturday 8am-4:30pm; Thursday 11am-7:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Therapy Assistant/PD00247A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Notifications: This position is in the Competitive Service. Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. 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. Veteran's preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Interchange Agreements with Other Merit System: Employees who occupy medical or medical-related positions and were appointed under 38 U.S.C. 4701(1) or (3) [formerly 38 U.S.C. 4104 (1) and (3)] must be serving in a full-time position without time limit and have served continuously for at least one year in this other merit system to be eligible to convert to the Title 5 System. Some exceptions to this rule may apply if you have previously acquired tenure under a Title 5 appointment.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/20/2024. 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.You may qualify based on your experience as described below: You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-5 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: Successfully completed at least one-half year of graduate level education (9 semester hours above a Bachelor's degree) or an internship in course matter that must include courses directly related to the work of the Therapy Assistant position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR Internship Work must have been directly related to this position and must be documented in your resume. Combination: Equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience, as described above, which meet the total experience requirements for this grade level. The education portion must include graduate courses directly related to the work of the Therapy Assistant position. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. 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: CommunicationCreative ThinkingOrganizational AwarenessPlanning and Evaluating Preferred Experience: Experience running Recreation therapy style programming. Basic computer skills. 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: Work involves a good deal of standing, bending, kneeling, and walking. Moderate lifting is required for positioning patients, assisting with transfers, moving activity equipment and procuring supplies. 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]