The path to Easterseals Massachusetts (ESMA) positions at Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for children (PRHC) are as diverse as the staff. Ed, a Student Service Aide currently working at PRHC is a great example of how careers change and new opportunities arise when others end.
Ed came to ESMA via a long path of human service professions. Ed is a retired firefighter/EMT of 34 years. Despite retiring, Ed sought to continue to find work helping others. He began his employment with ESMA in September of 2012 as a Student Service Aide (SSA). When he started working as an SSA, he “didn’t know what to expect and almost 12 years later I am still here.”
Ed enjoys the simple, everyday interactions he has with all the patients at PRHC the most, as well as working alongside his colleagues. Ed’s desire to help and his witty humor is why the patients genuinely enjoy working with him.
Throughout the years, Ed has continued to grow within the SSA Program and is now a mentor to other staff in the program. His knowledge of the PRHC facility, the patients, and the everyday happenings of the program is invaluable. Ed always finds a way to brighten the day of the patients at PRHC and his fellow ESMA colleagues. It is the dedication of staff like Ed that makes the SSA Program so successful.
