PH DuBois Employee of the Month - January

Rachel Gearhart

Rachel Gearhart, certified occupational therapy assistant in The Rehabiliation Center, has been named the January 2016 Employee of the Month at Penn Highlands DuBois.

Rachel is responsible for planning, implementing and documenting patient treatment sessions. She conducts activities of daily living with patients and completes the daily and weekend schedules for the Inpatient Occupational Therapy Department. She is a member of the Relationship-based Care team and is the managing occupational therapy practitioner for the Wheelchair Clinic of PH DuBois.

Rachel started in her position on March 31, 2014. She received her associate’s degree in occupational therapy from Penn State DuBois in 2013 where she was an honor student and on the dean’s list. She was named Occupational Therapy Associate Degree Student of the Year for 2012-13. She is CarFit certified and Functional Independence Measure trained and certified. She also has her certification in CPR and First Aid.

“Rachel is an amazing person and therapist,” Marty Maloney, director of The Rehabilitation Center inpatient rehab unit, athletic trainers, The Rehabilitation and Orthopedic Centers at PH DuBois and The Therapies at both PH DuBois and PH Brookville. “She provides exceptional patient care and makes sure the patients are at ease and comfortable. She assists nursing and therapy to make sure everything is completed on the Rehab unit.”

“ She is a role model for all in how to provide exceptional care and how to perform professionally. She does a fantastic job!” he said. “She has also been named Employee of the Quarter for the Rehabilitation and Orthopedic Units”.

“My favorite part of my job is getting to help people overcome perhaps the biggest obstacle in their lives,” Rachel said. “I really love getting to know my patients and helping them get back to being able to independently manage at home.”

“I would like to thank my husband, family, friends, instructors, co-workers, managers, and my director for supporting me and helping me become the therapist that I am,” she said.

Rachel is the daughter of Brad and Karen Wells of Reynoldsville and daughter-in-law of Bob and Michele Gearhart of DuBois. Rachel and her husband, Colton, and dog, Zoey, live in Reynoldsville.