Good News Friday!

Earlier this week, we received the exciting news that Linda Rogers, an Employment Specialist with Imagine!'s CORE/Labor Source department, was selected as the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) Direct Support Professional of the Year for the state of Colorado.

Linda has been an Employment Specialist with Imagine!’s supported employment program for 11 years. Most of the people Linda has worked with throughout her tenure require 24-hour supervision, have had infrequent opportunities to develop job skills, and have limited communication skills. All of the job sites where Linda supervises consumers are in the community, which adds an element of pressure to constantly meet the quality and time limit standards of our employers who often work right alongside or near the crew.

Linda’s calm, positive attitude makes her fun to work with, but she is not a pushover. Linda has high but reasonably achievable expectations of the people we serve. When Linda is required to express suggestions or constructive criticism to a consumer, she does so with empathy, exercising her position of authority with sincere compassion.

Linda is proactive and prepares consumers for those cold, dark, winter mornings when it’s easy to choose to stay in bed by reminding them about good things they can look forward to at work. She helps consumers learn the value of money, and has coordinated with consumers’ families or residential providers ways for a consumer to understand how long they have to work to purchase an item. She has helped some consumers learn to save money. One consumer saved money for years to afford a trip to Disneyland, his lifelong dream.

Linda truly enjoys teaching. She is always generous in sharing any recognition she receives with her coworkers and the people we serve. Linda is living proof that great things can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit, and she inspires her coworkers and the people we serve to have that same attitude about the value of teamwork.

At the beginning of this month, I made a blog post that featured some kudos from an Imagine! consumer who works with Linda, which you can see here. 

So today, I’d like to share a couple of quotes from Linda’s co-workers that demonstrate why she was selected for this prestigious award:

"Linda constantly professes her certainty that people with developmental disabilities have gifts and purpose in their lives, and that they are people of worth and stature. The high level of respect that Linda displays for the people we serve helps them to view themselves in a positive light which is reflected in their increased self-esteem. Linda helps the people we serve and her coworkers to understand that they are capable of being successful citizens who are contributing members of our community. We are lucky to have her as a role model."

"Linda is the paragon of an Employment Specialist, always looking for ways to enrich the lives of her coworkers and the people we serve. She is the epitome of a cheerful giver. She will spend time after work communicating and establishing relationships with consumers, their families, and residential providers so she can be more effective at her job."

Congratulations Linda, and thank you for your dedication.