Our WMHS Foundation scholarship funds are coming full circle, giving back to a community who has so generously supported us. Through your gifts, healthcare students can focus on their education and return here to apply their skills, ensuring expert care for those close to home.

Meet Derek Thompson, a local son, who graduated from Fort Hill, Allegany College, and Frostburg State. Derek knew he wanted to pursue a healthcare career but was unsure of a specific field.  After completing the Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant Program (COTA) at Allegany College of Maryland, he took a job at UPMC Western Maryland in the Therapy Services Department.  Immediately, he knew he was home.

“I loved working with patients,” Derek remembers. Following patient evaluations by licensed occupational therapists, Derek worked one-on-one, carrying out the plan of care. Often, he and other therapy assistants saw the same patients day after day, working with them toward their independence and discharge – most often stroke patients, knee and hip replacement recipients and traumatically injured individuals.

It took only a year for Derek to decide to take the next step and secure his license as an Occupational Therapist (OTR). His supervisor, Kristina Morton, manager of Rehab Services, was very supportive and made it easy for him to continue working while he studied.  “We saw the potential that Derek had and how much of a gem he is, so when he decided to pursue his OTR, we knew we wanted to help him as best we could.  We wanted to keep him on the team,” she said.

Kristina encouraged Derek to apply for Foundation and Auxiliary scholarship assistance, help she fondly remembered from her own days in graduate school.  Her father was a long-time health system employee, making her eligible for a generous family scholarship.  “For me, the Foundation made a monumental contribution to my career,” she said. “My doctorate program was three years, and at a private school, that’s a vast financial commitment.  The Foundation greatly reduced that for me.”

Derek took his cue from her experience. Like Kristina, he chose the closest OTR program, which happens to be an out-of-state private school.  “For the first time in my life, I had to take out student loans,” said Derek. “By the end of my graduate journey, the dollar signs were piling up. That was probably the most stressful thing – how long it would take to recover financially.” The WMHS Foundation and the WMHS Auxiliary helped him bridge a gap in his finances, giving him breathing room, he says.

Kristina says they couldn’t be more pleased with having Derek in this new role.  “His interaction with patients is individualized and patient-centered. He’s very respectful, and the patients respond.” On a departmental level, this therapy assistant-turned-therapist has improved patient throughput, allowing the team to efficiently perform timely intake and evaluations, develop discharge plans, and get individual patient mobility started more quickly.

“So many families – sons and daughters of our patients – push hard to get their loved ones into our Rehab unit. And why not? We have outstanding outcomes,” Kristina noted.  She added that UPMC Western Maryland is consistently one of the top performers among UPMC Rehab Institute providers. Her department has been recognized for excellent patient self-care scores and invited to share their best practices across the network.

Kristina says that her team advocates beyond therapy for their patients, providing referrals for mental health or a clothing bank as needed – even working with a dietician if a patient is at risk of malnutrition. “We have a lot of poverty in this community, so other social factors sometimes determine the reason patients are degenerating.”

“I just feel that 100% of our staff have their heart and soul invested in this job,” said Kristina. “We’re going above and beyond with every single patient.”

As for Derek, he loves giving back in the community he grew up in. It’s the familiarity of knowing his patients, he says, and knowing the job and this hospital. Beyond his professional life, he likes living in this community — near his parents and friends, and appreciates, increasingly, the reasonable cost of living in our region.

“I think getting chosen for any sort of scholarship or financial assistance is very humbling,” he said. He thanks both the WMHS Foundation and the Auxiliary for allowing him to do what he loves. “Every aspect of patient care is number one for me – that’s why I’m here.”

The WMHS Foundation exists to support the patients and caregivers at UPMC Western Maryland. To learn more, click on the Foundation pages: Ways to Help (Foundation) – UPMC Western Maryland (wmhs.com).