A Tip Of The Hat

This week we celebrate Direct Support Professionals week.  I have seen many organizations proudly share their support for DSP’s.  We at the Milestone HCQU West also are thankful and grateful that DSP’s choose to continue on in this profession. I have worked Direct Care, but not in the last several decades, and I started to think about how different today’s current workforce is than my own.  We often say that when people have multiple roles that they “wear different hats” and that is true of DSP’s as well.  The difference between my time in Direct Care and now is that I only wore one hat at a time.  When I was cooking…I cooked.  When I was driving…I drove.  When I was documenting…I documented.  I, for the most part, had the luxury of doing one task and then starting the next, only wearing one hat at a time. In today’s workforce it seems like they are wearing many hats all the time.  The fast-paced world and lightening-fast technology haven’t eased their burden.  They are still cooks, drivers, documenters but also therapists, problem solvers, educators, laundry aides, to-do list keepers, and so many more things.  The most important part of their job isn’t something that is charted or listed; DSP’s are the ones that help make living a full life possible.  They put on all the hats and open the doors to new experiences that make lives full and rich.  This week we recognize and honor all of the hats they wear.