Every year OPRA encourages all member agencies to submit nominations to recognize those who have worked hard to help support the people they serve. The awards come in ten categories. Echoing Hills is excited to announce three team members have received the awards this year! Enjoy excerpts from Maddie’s nomination.

Direct Support Professional Award – Madison Jackson, DSP

Madison Jackson is a ROCK STAR – she is our Direct Support Professional of the Year – each and every day! When we asked other team members (QIDP’s and peers), along with the individuals-served and their families, what they have to say about Maddi, there is a common theme. She is admired, cherished, and loved! This isn’t just a job to Maddi – receiving a paycheck every two weeks – it is her life.

When Maddi was made aware of the labor shortage in our Southwest Region due to COVID-19 hitting two of our homes, she stepped up to the plate and volunteered to go work there to serve. She didn’t give it a second thought. “She is selfless,” explains a supervisor. As we heard news stories and even encountered some of these experiences of our own, front line teams not showing up because of their fears, Maddi was saying, ‘I will go!’ She did this knowing she wouldn’t see her own family and friends for at least a month.

The blessing and affirmation from a family – trusting us – thanks to Maddi is yet another of the greatest testaments.

Making the decision to move Aric to a residential facility was the single most agonizing decision I had to ever make in my life. He had already lost so much in the year prior to his move, his caregiver and beloved mother, his home, hobbies, and any sense of normalcy he had been afforded by living with us while we searched for a permanent placement. My worst fear, as I left him alone in his room at Echoing Hills for the first time, was that he would feel alone and afraid. He was a stranger to his caregivers, and they were strangers to him. He is deaf, and his speech is poor; all attempts to teach him sign language or alternate communication methods had failed. I was concerned that he would never truly feel at home in this new environment and that ultimately, he would withdraw into himself and slowly wither away.

Then along came Maddi.

Slowly but surely, she began to build a rapport with Aric. Despite major communication barriers, she won his trust. She took the time to get to know him, his interests, his history, what made him frustrated, and what truly mattered to him. She even came on her days off to take him on outings to his favorite restaurant or ball games with her family.

Maddi stepped up in the most touching way when quarantine prevented us from celebrating Aric’s birthday with him for the first time in 44 years. On the day of his birthday, she went to work early and completely decorated his room with streamers and balloons and Happy Birthday signs. She made sure he had presents to open, candles for his cake, and did her best to include us in the celebration by Facetiming us while the residents and staff sang Happy Birthday to him. I will never forget the smile on his face. I couldn’t stop the tears that night. I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

I could share so many more examples of Maddi’s selfless love, but suffice it to say that she is nothing less than an angel in the eyes of our family. An answer to prayers. Aric is thriving at Echoing Hills due in no small part of her purposeful effort to make him feel safe, loved, and accepted.

And that, my friends, says it all.