Dr. Terry Hamlin (The Center for Discovery)
Sullivan 180 Presents…
TAKE FIVE!
September 01, 2020
This week for Sullivan 180 Presents…Take Five! we spoke with Dr. Terry Hamlin, the Associate Executive Director at The Center For Discovery. Dr. Hamlin talks about how The Center was impacted by the pandemic, how they’ve adapted to accommodate the safety of their staff, and employment opportunities being offered by The Center.
Sullivan 180 Presents…
TAKE FIVE!
September 01, 2020
This week for Sullivan 180 Presents…Take Five! we spoke with Dr. Terry Hamlin, the Associate Executive Director at The Center For Discovery. Dr. Hamlin talks about how The Center was impacted by the pandemic, how they’ve adapted to accommodate the safety of their staff, and employment opportunities being offered by The Center.
Dr. Terry Hamlin (The Center for Discovery)
Transcript of Interview with Dr. Terry Hamlin
September 01, 2020
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Hello, I’m Meaghan Mullally-Gorr. Welcome to “Sullivan 180 Presents… Take Five!” Our guest today is Dr. Teresa Hamlin, the associate executive director at the Center for Discovery. Welcome Terry, thank you for joining us today!
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Thank you for having me. I think these are fabulous little webinars for people, and I’m glad to be here!
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Great. Thank you. Can you please tell us about the Center for Discovery’s ‘model of care’?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Sure. Our model of care really is a very different model than what typically you see in schools like ours or in residential programs. It’s very much a comprehensive, holistic model and we call it a ‘lifestyle medicine approach’. So we think a lot about the intersection of biology: how the individual feels, how their body systems function, how their brain is functioning and how that relates to sort of their lifestyle behavior. What do they eat? How much do they exercise? How do they sleep? Who their friends are.. How much they engage with people. So we look at biology, we look at behavior and then we think about the environment. So what impact does ‘the environment’ have on the person, and how does that influence how they’re learning, and how do all of those things come together to create a complex person, and how do we tease all of those apart and really support the person so that they can advance in their learning? I think we’re really fortunate here because we have a whole host of medical doctors here from all the different subspecialties that relate to body systems. And we have expert clinicians and master-levelspecial educators and researchers, and.. We all are under one roof and we can talk about each individual child, and start to really understand how to help that individual. So I think we’re very fortunate to have a really dynamic team here, and there aren’t too many places that can bring together what we’ve brought together here. So it’s really a great model and probably the ‘Gold Standard’ of what needs to happen when you’re taking care of kids with complex problems like autism or other medical conditions.
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
We’re currently in the reopening stages of the COVID-19 crisis. What initiatives have you implemented for staff during this time?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Oh my goodness. We can’t support our staff enough! We have remarkable staff here. I have to say. They have been here every day. Some of them working seven days a week to ensure the life safety of everybody here, and we’ve done really well. When you look at some of the data being presented through OPWD and DOH, the system has had many, many deaths and just tragic situations. We haven’t had any of that here. We’ve done really, really well. But we’ve had to support our staff tremendously. And so just some of the highlights: right from the get go made sure that we had the face mask and the PPE that people talk about that was such a shortage. We have had a pandemic plan since 2009. And so we had a stock pile of that. So we were able to immediately give our staff everything that they needed to feel like they were protected. We also created an emergency drop-in school age and daycare program for our staff because schools were starting to close down and parents didn’t have a place for their children. So we were authorized to provide that level of service. And then we opened up our own staff store here, a market. And we’re still doing that: groceries at cost, so that they don’t necessarily have to go into the local supermarkets and further be exposed. One staff said that they were really concerned that they had to go to the laundromat. So we immediately bought 15 heavy duty washers and dryers and installed our own laundromat here. And the other issue has been the financial hardship because staff’s spouses or parts of their families have lost their jobs during this pandemic. So we set up financial literacy class to really help people figure out how to work through that crisis. So there is not enough that we can do to support our staff. And so when I said to staff, and we communicate with them practically every day, they know that if they have an idea, they can pick up the phone and they can call Patrick, or they can call me and say, “look, this is really bothering me”. Or, “if we could do this, this would be very helpful”. And we’re going to do that for them: whatever, helps them will ultimately help all of us, and help our children and our adults. So we’ve gone above and beyond, but it’s well worth it.
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Can you tell us about some of the opportunities you have for new people to come on board? What hiring opportunities you have?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Sure. I mean, despite the pandemic, we’re still in an expansion phase here, we’re getting ready to open our children’s hospital. We had purchased the Frontier, building the old frontier building in Rock Hill and we expect to bring onboard 300 more staff. So we’re looking for all positions: professional and nonprofessional positions, but, all clinical staff, PT, OT speech, nurse practitioners, and then entry level staff, especially entry-level staff who want to grow. So we provide continuing education for our staff, we’ll support college degrees for our staff. So, I would say that in every discipline, there will be jobs that will be opening for people, but I’d rather get them in sooner rather than later, and get them trained up and familiar with how we do things here, because it is different. If anybody is looking for a job, they can contact our ‘people operations’. So it’s www.peopleoperations@tcfd.org. If someone wants to work hard and they have a caring heart, we’ll find a place for them!
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
How do we stay up on news with the Center for Discovery?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
As you said, we have a Facebook presence, we have a Twitter presence. And then of course going through our website, we often host webinars that will be posted on the website. See more in-depth about our model and see what we’re doing right now, and see those music therapists playing outside. We have a whole new series of these relaxing videos where we’re doing sound healing and things like that.
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Is there anything else that you’d like to share before I let you go?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
No, I just want to thank you and Sullivan 180 for all of your work. You know, I think you absolutely have a presence in the community and that’s what we need. We need education and that’s going to be the basis for change here and it, and it is starting to take hold. And I think people appreciate that.
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Thank you again for joining us today and thank you to everyone at the Center for Discovery, for providing decades of exceptional care to the families of Sullivan County and far, far beyond.
Transcript of Interview with Dr. Terry Hamlin
September 01, 2020
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Hello, I’m Meaghan Mullally-Gorr. Welcome to “Sullivan 180 Presents… Take Five!” Our guest today is Dr. Teresa Hamlin, the associate executive director at the Center for Discovery. Welcome Terry, thank you for joining us today!
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Thank you for having me. I think these are fabulous little webinars for people, and I’m glad to be here!
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Great. Thank you. Can you please tell us about the Center for Discovery’s ‘model of care’?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Sure. Our model of care really is a very different model than what typically you see in schools like ours or in residential programs. It’s very much a comprehensive, holistic model and we call it a ‘lifestyle medicine approach’. So we think a lot about the intersection of biology: how the individual feels, how their body systems function, how their brain is functioning and how that relates to sort of their lifestyle behavior. What do they eat? How much do they exercise? How do they sleep? Who their friends are.. How much they engage with people. So we look at biology, we look at behavior and then we think about the environment. So what impact does ‘the environment’ have on the person, and how does that influence how they’re learning, and how do all of those things come together to create a complex person, and how do we tease all of those apart and really support the person so that they can advance in their learning? I think we’re really fortunate here because we have a whole host of medical doctors here from all the different subspecialties that relate to body systems. And we have expert clinicians and master-levelspecial educators and researchers, and.. We all are under one roof and we can talk about each individual child, and start to really understand how to help that individual. So I think we’re very fortunate to have a really dynamic team here, and there aren’t too many places that can bring together what we’ve brought together here. So it’s really a great model and probably the ‘Gold Standard’ of what needs to happen when you’re taking care of kids with complex problems like autism or other medical conditions.
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
We’re currently in the reopening stages of the COVID-19 crisis. What initiatives have you implemented for staff during this time?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Oh my goodness. We can’t support our staff enough! We have remarkable staff here. I have to say. They have been here every day. Some of them working seven days a week to ensure the life safety of everybody here, and we’ve done really well. When you look at some of the data being presented through OPWD and DOH, the system has had many, many deaths and just tragic situations. We haven’t had any of that here. We’ve done really, really well. But we’ve had to support our staff tremendously. And so just some of the highlights: right from the get go made sure that we had the face mask and the PPE that people talk about that was such a shortage. We have had a pandemic plan since 2009. And so we had a stock pile of that. So we were able to immediately give our staff everything that they needed to feel like they were protected. We also created an emergency drop-in school age and daycare program for our staff because schools were starting to close down and parents didn’t have a place for their children. So we were authorized to provide that level of service. And then we opened up our own staff store here, a market. And we’re still doing that: groceries at cost, so that they don’t necessarily have to go into the local supermarkets and further be exposed. One staff said that they were really concerned that they had to go to the laundromat. So we immediately bought 15 heavy duty washers and dryers and installed our own laundromat here. And the other issue has been the financial hardship because staff’s spouses or parts of their families have lost their jobs during this pandemic. So we set up financial literacy class to really help people figure out how to work through that crisis. So there is not enough that we can do to support our staff. And so when I said to staff, and we communicate with them practically every day, they know that if they have an idea, they can pick up the phone and they can call Patrick, or they can call me and say, “look, this is really bothering me”. Or, “if we could do this, this would be very helpful”. And we’re going to do that for them: whatever, helps them will ultimately help all of us, and help our children and our adults. So we’ve gone above and beyond, but it’s well worth it.
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Can you tell us about some of the opportunities you have for new people to come on board? What hiring opportunities you have?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Sure. I mean, despite the pandemic, we’re still in an expansion phase here, we’re getting ready to open our children’s hospital. We had purchased the Frontier, building the old frontier building in Rock Hill and we expect to bring onboard 300 more staff. So we’re looking for all positions: professional and nonprofessional positions, but, all clinical staff, PT, OT speech, nurse practitioners, and then entry level staff, especially entry-level staff who want to grow. So we provide continuing education for our staff, we’ll support college degrees for our staff. So, I would say that in every discipline, there will be jobs that will be opening for people, but I’d rather get them in sooner rather than later, and get them trained up and familiar with how we do things here, because it is different. If anybody is looking for a job, they can contact our ‘people operations’. So it’s www.peopleoperations@tcfd.org. If someone wants to work hard and they have a caring heart, we’ll find a place for them!
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
How do we stay up on news with the Center for Discovery?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
As you said, we have a Facebook presence, we have a Twitter presence. And then of course going through our website, we often host webinars that will be posted on the website. See more in-depth about our model and see what we’re doing right now, and see those music therapists playing outside. We have a whole new series of these relaxing videos where we’re doing sound healing and things like that.
Meaghan Mullally-Gorr:
Is there anything else that you’d like to share before I let you go?
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
No, I just want to thank you and Sullivan 180 for all of your work. You know, I think you absolutely have a presence in the community and that’s what we need. We need education and that’s going to be the basis for change here and it, and it is starting to take hold. And I think people appreciate that.
Dr. Teresa Hamlin:
Thank you again for joining us today and thank you to everyone at the Center for Discovery, for providing decades of exceptional care to the families of Sullivan County and far, far beyond.
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