Words of gratitude to our staff from Latham Parents

In honor of Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week, parents were asked to send a little note thanking our staff. They sure did respond! “You save families. You save our students. You change lives, plain and simple.”

DIRECT CARE STAFF SHOUT-OUTS  from Parents

• Carlyn is an extraordinary clinician who goes above + beyond in not just caring for her student but the family as a whole unit. Her sense of caring and dignity for each student really shines through in her work! We appreciate so much this special direct care worker.

• Irina – Res staff who is so dedicated in learning about each of her students that she reads all about them and asks for input to help them in the best way possible!

• Carlyn – I don’t know how much more I can add about Carlyn, she is fantastic!!

• Danny has always been there for C and me, he goes the extra mile…loves his job!!!

• Laura is very personable, engaging and knowledgeable…always willing to help!

• Neomi and Cara (and actually Dominic) – all really helped keep H connected to Latham while he was home for so long during the initial invasion of Covid. They would FaceTime with him each week and helped him to also connect with Latham peers over the zoom/FaceTime.

• Danny has also really helped H transition back to school… We of course appreciate all of the direct care staff! They are truly loved by H and our family, thank you to all of you!! 

• Irina – kudos to a very special direct care staff!

• Tracy in Nursing and Bill!  

• Many thanks and gratitude for Neva. She has helped us walk our family through the loss of A’s grandpa with care and thoughtfulness.

• Patrice for putting up with my millions of questions.

• Carlyn for helping our family and A work through stuff. 

• Caitlin for helping A during tough moments and keeping her on track.

• Danny for all of his help keeping residence safe and making sure issues get resolved in a fair manner.

• Gerry for his immediate help when issues arise.

• Katrina, Brittany, + Ashley for the Zoom Story Time that makes the kids so happy.

• Bonnie for putting up with my health concerns and always responding quickly and going into action.

• Honestly, all of the staff at Latham are amazing. 

• Vikacha has always been timely in her responsiveness and understanding of our unique family situation… She jumped in as a backup Clinician multiple times… and we trust her.

• Bill Greenwood has been helpful to us for 5 years in helping us… He always has a calmness about him.

• Danny Anderson is the happiest person we know, and his positive attitude rubs off on the kids. 

• Patty Hynes-Morris has good ideas during IEP/Quarterly meetings and is willing to try new tactics…

• Sam Cronin has worked hard with C to help her…

• Brogan, first as res staff and then as teacher, has been good for C…

• Amy Schmalzer is helpful when we have questions about C’s account…

• Monique we are SO glad she is back! You can tell how much she loves helping these special kids and how dedicated she is to help them improve their health.  

• Tracy Lanouette and Kerstin Breitholtz hear a lot from us… I know I can ask for follow-up if we need help.  

• It would be remiss of me to name specific names, for fear I’d leave someone out, but words cannot express how wonderful staff at Latham are… being helpful in any and every way and really going above and beyond, is what makes the Latham direct care staff phenomenal. They may not know that someone sees the small little gestures they do for kiddos, but we parents see it and are beyond appreciative….

• I’m always in awe of individuals whose volunteer or paid job is to care for people with physical, emotional and behavioral challenges because they do so out of nothing more than pure, selfless love. It’s not the pay, we know that, but yet they themselves may claim the joy they receive is well more fulfilling than money. Direct Care Staff are pure angels on earth, and we hope that each and every one at Latham knows his or her worth. Words cannot express our gratitude and not tangible gift will ever be enough. We just hope that they know that we truly do see them, and WE THANK THEM!!!

• In the day and age of “everyone receives a participation trophy” truly, especially in the case of PWS parents, it takes a village!! We couldn’t do it without all of you working together as a team and with our children individually.

• We’d also like to recognize our nurses who have helped all the kids and families so much during this COVID period. We know they are really working overtime and extra hard to help keep everyone safe! Thanks to Bonnie for all of her leadership during COVID, for Kerstin, and all the nurses whom we love and appreciate so much! 

• We would like to give a shout out to Sarah because “she is fun, funny, and kind!” 

• Please thank Monique and Chris Howard for all of their incredible efforts in improving the menu, diet, and health of kids at school. They are doing an amazing job and we all appreciate it!

• Please also thank the kitchen staff members…

• BIG Shout Out to Beth Conway for hosting Music Bingo with H! Thanks for taking H on many a musical adventure…from Jimmy Buffett to John Denver to Bottlecaps and Beyond! 

• We have other direct care staff that we would love to thank – Tina and Jaclyn who have helped us day after day… They are always so pleasant and helpful, always making us feel like it’s no problem, even though we know how busy they are!!

• Amanda has also been incredibly helpful!

• Thank you also to Amanda, Marissa, Kaitlyn, and Scott for keeping H happy in res and helping him make music bingo cards and iPad playlists. If we can still thank Orione for the same, we definitely want to do that!!!

• If Brandt is still working overnights, we’d love to thank him for tucking H in at night. H loves that! 

• Eileen is wonderful with O and very patient!

• Aki tia is tremendous, too! 

• Amanda is so kind to O also! 

• Danny always goes above and beyond to help us and O.

• Bill Greenwood has hung in there with O through thick and thin. 

• We are grateful for all you do! 

• Teachers, teacher aides, overnight staff and our clinical case aide, really, each and EVERY staff member at Latham goes above and beyond. Any and every person I have been in contact with, by phone, email, Zoom or otherwise has always been conscientious, nurturing, supportive and collaborative. Latham is a wonderful network of people and a wonderful “family”, you treat our kids as your own. Suffice it to say, you guys leave BIG shoes to fill when our kids transition out of there.

• A huge shout out to Ron, he is kind and considerate, thank you!

• I’d like to acknowledge Reggie’s thoughtful art piece for A in honor of her Grandpa. She couldn’t wait to show us! Thank you for your kind, thoughtful nature.

• For appreciation week I would like to make a shout out to Chelsea Crowe for helping me with solving some of L’s issues that arrive and listening to me when I need to vent.

• Chris Fitzpatrick Res and Matt behaviorist for being L’s main guys who he just loves!!! And misses so much since his move. They just really get him and he feels his best when they are around!

• Catherine, L’s teacher! She is amazing! Always keeps me posted and answers an email faster than anyone I know!!!  

• I have to say so many staff are amazing and we couldn’t manage without them! So kudos to all!!! 

• Huge thank you to everyone who works with C.

• Jacqueline has been very kind to O also.  And while Allison was her one to one she did a great job as well. 

• Please tell C’s caregivers thank you!! They have done what I wasn’t able to and that is worth mentioning.  I know C enjoys them as well! 

• A shout out to Shauni. I know you have played a big part in A’s life. A always spoke highly of you!   

• A big hug and thanks to Danny. Always committed and engaged. And thanks so much for getting A packed and ready for this family time. We have had everything we needed! Not an easy endeavor! He is always so welcoming, fun and easy to be around. 

• A big thank you to Katie for her dedication to the virtual learning! She has created a great series of lessons with the right amount of variety. A has been engaged and working hard. The end of the day Zoom call really helps solidify the learning and creates accountability for A. It has been a big help to us to create structure and routine while A is with us. Thank you Katie! 

• Dear Extended Family,  Our family would like to thank you:

Thank you for coming in every day-we are very tired.

Thank you for giving hugs and smiles-we are far away.

Thank you for being patient with ‘I’-we all needed a break.

Thank you for encouraging good behavior-you’re helping us raise our daughter.

Thank you your kindness and laughter-‘I’ will share that with others.

Thank you for re-enforcing the rules no matter how small or silly-you’re teaching ‘I’ life skills to help her be independent.

Thank you for thinking of new ways to teach ‘I’-we appreciate you showing her how smart she is.

Thank you for enduring evil glares, loud headache inducing meltdowns-because you come back, ‘I’ knows trust and dedication.

Thank you for fixing boo boos-real and fake – your extra attention teaches ‘I’ compassion.

Thank you for making tough decisions -your good judgement shows ‘I’ you put her first…

Sending our daughter to a residential school was the hardest decision we have ever made-we had to admit PWS had taken over our family, we couldn’t cope and needed help, we needed to acknowledge our daughter needed other people to prepare her for adulthood, and we had to trust strangers to help educate, empower, temper our child, and keep her safe. Over the past 18 months through your tireless efforts, your positive attitudes, and your understanding and compassion, you have become the family we rely on. Thank you seems small compared to everything you do every day but it’s heart felt and is attached to the most valuable thing to us-‘I’.   Much love…