Christopher Miles, a DSP in AHRC’s Day and Residential Services,  was one of 13 honorees for software company MITC’s DSP Week Awards. Out of 684 entries, Chris’ excellence was recognized for going above and beyond during Covid-19.

“Chris has really made the pandemic easier for the men of the home, first and foremost, and also for house staff at Old Britton Road. The pandemic really lowered the spirits of many of us within the agency. . .  (Then), we got Mr. Miles. Chris came in and threw the house a life raft of sort. He does all the expected things and seeks out more to do. He is the most involved staff I have ever worked with in my 16 years with AHRC.

When maintenance couldn’t get here to take care of things, Chris brought his tools to work for assembling some of our orders and breaking down special pick-up items so they could be taken away. He also helped maintenance when they came to the house with assembly, clarifying requests they did not understand, and making repairs. He keeps our garage neat and organized. He is the kind of staff who sees anything around the house, yard, pool, garage and trash storage area and attends to it as if it was his own and maintains it.

He has gotten our least sociable residents to initiate coming out to look on their garden on their own. They will come outside to sit with him to talk when they need to decompress. They have gotten significantly more during Day Hab hours than they did with others who came during the day. He subs for us as a DSP all the time now and the men love to see him coming. He has created a routine of involvement. He has made the transition from quarantining to avoid COVID to gradually getting back out into the community appealing even for our agoraphobic house member. They’re all more engaged because of him.”