Life Improved Honorable Mention - Brett Amo

Over the past several days we've honored our seven Life Improved Award winners. Now, over the next week or so we are going to honor each of the nominees, all of whom have made valuable contributions to United Helpers and the lives of the people we serve.

Our first honorable mention goes to Brett Amo. Brett is a physical therapist, who works at both Maplewood and RiverLedge. His nomination was the lone nomination to from outside the company, coming from the mother of a young physical therapy patient.

Here's the text of that nomination.

"Our seven year old son, Wyatt Wilkinson had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Amo after he had double leg Achilles's tendon lengthening surgery at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, NY. Wyatt was in a double leg cast for 6 weeks and after surgery he had lost his coordination and would have to learn it all over again. We were told it would be 6 months or more before Wyatt would be able to run or jump again the way he should. 2 days after the casts were removed Wyatt began out-patient therapy at Riverledge in Ogdensburg. The best decision hands down. Brett immediately developed a bond with Wyatt. It took a lot of hard work to get Wyatt to participate in his own therapy in the beginning. There was a lot of pain and tears. His spirit was broke. He was used to running and racing his bike with the neighbor children. They developed a fist bump and from there on in Wyatt worked hard every appointment he had. Brett would get to Wyatt's level and talk with him and walk him through the exercises encouraging him every step of the way even to the point of Wyatt complaining his feet were hot (an excuse to get out of the exercise that caused him pain) and Brett would take the time to remove his socks and fan his feet and ankles. Thanks to Brett it didn't take Wyatt 6 months or more to learn to walk, run and jump again. It took a little over 3 months. Wyatt has made a full recovery and you would not even know there was an issue to begin with..It seems good to see the smile back on Wyatt's face. I am forever grateful for Brett and his hard work and dedication to Wyatt."      

Twenty-one employees received nominations and each nominee will receive a small token of appreciation for the work they do to improve the lives of those we serve.