Recognition honors excellence in workforce providing long-term supports and services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – On June 3, 2021, the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) announced that Tamara Carter, a Direct Support Professional (DSP) at RHA Health Services in Augusta, Georgia, has been named the recipient of the 2021 Georgia DSP of the Year award. Carter joins 49 other recipients of ANCOR’s 2021 Direct Support Professional of the Year awards, chosen from a field of 350 outstanding nominees.

“RHA Health Services is overwhelmingly proud of Tamara, for her award recognition of course, but more importantly for her dedication and commitment to true community inclusion for the people we support,” said [spokesperson’s name and title]. “We cannot think of anyone who more clearly demonstrates the power of person-centered supports, and we’re so grateful that ANCOR has recognized Tamara with this high-profile honor.”

Since 2007, ANCOR’s annual DSP of the Year awards recognize outstanding professionals who deliver long-term supports and services to people with I/DD. The awards celebrate the important role DSPs play in ensuring individuals with I/DD are included and empowered in the community, and raise awareness about a direct support workforce in crisis. Inadequate investments in this essential workforce have led to turnover rates in excess of 40 percent and vacancy rates that average 18 to 20 percent nationally.

“ANCOR and our Diamond Partner, Relias, co-present the DSP of the Year awards program each year precisely because of people like Tamara. Her commitment to ensuring the inclusion of people supported by RHA Health Services enriches not only the lives of those individuals, but the broader Augusta community at large. Without committed direct support professionals like Tamara and all of this year’s outstanding award recipients, people with I/DD would have severely limited opportunities to be part of the community,” said ANCOR chief executive officer Barbara Merrill.

Heidi Mansir, president of the ANCOR Board of Directors and executive director for Uplift, Inc., in Gardiner, Maine, stated, “ANCOR presents the Direct Support Professional of the Year Awards annually precisely because of the important but often unrecognized work DSPs are doing to support people with disabilities to be included in the community. We are immensely proud of Tamara Carter for the work she is doing in her community. Tamara truly exemplifies excellence in the profession.”

The 2021 DSP of the Year awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony on Monday, June 14. Members of the press interested in viewing the awards presentation should contact Sean Luechtefeld, Senior Director of Communications for ANCOR, at sluechtefeld@ancor.org or 571.207.9108.

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About ANCOR

For more than 50 years, the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ancor.org) has been a leading advocate for the critical role service providers play in enriching the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). As a national nonprofit trade association, ANCOR represents 1,600+ organizations employing more than a half-million professionals who together serve more than a million individuals with I/DD. Our mission is to advance the ability of our members to support people with I/DD to fully participate in their communities.

About RHA Health Services

At RHA Health Services, the people we serve and support are at the very center of everything we do. Founded in 1989, RHA began as a small provider of support services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in North Carolina. Over the years, we have expanded to include a broad range of disability services and continue to add other types of services across multiple states to meet our communities’ needs. Today, RHA provides disability services in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. We have also added high-quality behavioral health services in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to support people with a wide variety of mental health and substance use needs as well as support services for those who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. RHA has been accredited with the Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL) since 2001 and has programs accredited with the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) International.

Celebrate the 2021 Winners!

Check out the Recognizing Excellence 2021 publication to view all 2021 DSP of the Year award recipients: https://www.ancor.org/recognizing-excellence-2021

Cheer on the winners! Attend the free virtual DSP of the Year award ceremony on Monday, June 14, live on Facebook at 12 p.m. EDT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1785931594927363

Rounding out our Nurses Month recognitions is Dalton McCrary. Dalton is a native North Carolinian who is proudly serving her community as a nurse with RHA’s Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Team in Asheville, NC. Dalton’s path to nursing was less direct than some, but she eventually found her passion for behavioral health nursing.

Dalton serves people who have severe and persistent mental illness and finds it rewarding helping them succeed and live more fulfilling lives. She feels that to be a good nurse you need to have compassion. She believes you also need to be open to new experiences and continued learning! Her advice for someone interested in becoming a nurse is to be open to various forms of nursing since there are so many fields of study.

When Dalton is not working, she loves getting out into the great outdoors by biking and taking her dog Albert for hikes. She also enjoys cooking and reading. Thank you, Dalton, for your dedication to the nursing field!

As we continue to recognize outstanding nurses during Nurses Month, we would like to shine a spotlight on Madison McKnight. Madison is a behavioral health registered nurse who, since 2019, has served individuals in our behavioral health program in Robeson County, NC, and our substance use programs in Bladen, Robeson and Scotland counties.

Madison has a passion for helping people in her community. Prior to joining RHA, she served her community as an emergency medical technician and registered nurse. Colleagues describe Madison as a team player — always willing to help. They also note that she is very organized and professional.

In her free time, Madison enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

Thank you, Madison!

The next outstanding RHA nurse we’d like to highlight during Nurses Month is Angie Norville. Angie is a career nurse who currently serves as behavioral health program manager at RHA’s Foothills Regional Treatment Center program in Lenoir, NC.

Angie was born with a congenital birth defect and spent a lot of time in the hospital throughout her childhood. The care she received during that time inspired her to enter nursing.

Angie believes that passion is one of the most important qualities of a nurse. She says, “We can teach many things in life, but I do not believe passion is teachable. A good nurse must always be determined and tenacious as well.”

While working as a nurse in detox and crisis services can be challenging, Angie finds it very rewarding when the people she supports grow and change their lives for the better. To get them to the next level, Angie says, “you have to meet them where they are.” She also notes that it is important to understand what people need to improve and be an active listener.

Angie’s advice for someone entering nursing is, “have a calling for nursing and if you do, get ready to work!” Nursing can be demanding, but it is also a very diverse field that offers many different career paths.

During Angie’s free time she enjoys spending time with her family and traveling. She also has a huge heart when it comes to rescue animals. She is the loving “fur parent” of two dogs and three cats. Congratulations Angie and thank you!

As Nurses Month continues, we would like to recognize another of our wonderful nurses, Tiara Jordan. Tiara is an IDD facility nurse with RHA in Greenville, NC, who has been with RHA for eight years. Tiara began her passion for nursing at a young age following the footsteps of her mother. She volunteered at her local hospital and nursing home.

Tiara says that to be a good nurse, “communication is very important!” She also believes you need to have a good sense of humor while caring and advocating for your patients. Her relationships with the people she serves are immensely important to her — they become like family.

One aspect of nursing that Tiara finds rewarding is seeing people grow and being able to live independently. Her advice to someone thinking about entering nursing is, “You need to love nursing! You need to have a true passion for helping people.”

During Tiara’s free time she enjoys shopping, traveling and spending time with her family.

During this National Nurses Week (expanded to Nurses Month as of 2020), we’d like to recognize one of our excellent nurses, Astrid Hagopian. Astrid is an IDD nurse with RHA in Nashville, TN.

Astrid knew from a very young age that she wanted to dedicate her life to nursing. When she was a child, her younger brother, Robert, was admitted to the children’s hospital where Astrid was only able to visit him through a window. This was very hard on Robert because he wanted to play with his siblings and missed being at home. Astrid was inspired by the compassion of Robert’s nurses as they cared for him and calmed him down. Watching them inspired her to become a nurse.

Astrid believes that being a nurse is a calling. She says to be a good nurse you need to have “patience, gentleness, diligence and absolutely have a passion for the field.” The most rewarding aspect of nursing for Astrid is seeing a smile on the faces of the people she supports. She describes it as, “winning a gold medal” when you see them improving.

Her advice to someone entering the field is to be ready to work hard — “nursing can be grueling and emotional, but if you love it, it’s all worth it!”

During Astrid’s free time she loves to cook. She also enjoys spending time with her family, including her two dogs, Charlie and Belle, and her very large cat Tigger.

May 5, 2021

As we continue celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to honor another of RHA’s caring, compassionate teachers, Karen Hodges. Karen’s love for teaching runs so deep that in 2017 she came out of retirement to continue teaching, and she has been a special education teacher at RHA’s Walnut Creek facility for the last four years.

Karen began as a business major, but with her bubbly personality and creativity she quickly realized she was destined for a different path. Teaching gives Karen the ability to be her talkative self while helping students learn.

In the classroom, Karen says she is both a “cheerleader and an advocate.” She continues, “To help others, you need to believe in them to help facilitate their success” and “think outside of the box.” Recognizing “the small things” through her students’ smiles is very rewarding for Karen. To start everyone’s day off on the right foot, she often cheers, “There is no need to fear, your teacher is here!”

Karen’s advice to someone thinking about becoming a teacher is to think of the teacher that had the biggest impact on you. Whatever they did to make you a better person, you need to be willing to go a step further for your students. If that sounds like something you can do, she says, “come on in, the water is great!”

When Karen is not in the classroom bringing smiles to her students’ faces, she has a passion for volunteering, reading, and writing. In fact, she has written several plays that she also produces, directs and sometimes even stars in. Thank you, Karen, for all you do!

May 3, 2021

During Teacher Appreciation Week, we’d like to highlight one of our outstanding RHA teachers — Shannon Sutton. Shannon is a special education teacher at RHA’s Bear Creek facility and her dedication to her students is inspiring. She was born and raised in North Carolina, and from a young age Shannon knew that she wanted to dedicate her life to teaching just like her three sisters.

Teaching has given Shannon the opportunity to make individuals’ lives better. She believes that to be a good teacher you must be, “compassionate, open-minded and enthusiastic.” She also says that as a teacher you must understand that everyone is unique, and you may need to change your teaching style to help each individual learn.

As Shannon points out, her students are not the only ones learning when she enters a classroom: “I learn from every student I work with. I love watching them achieve their goals.” Her advice to someone thinking about entering teaching is to go into it knowing there will be challenges, but at the end of the day it will be worth it!

When Shannon is not in the classroom with working with her students, she loves spending time with her family and journaling.