OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY CHIEF I/HOUSING FOR HEALTH

Full Job Description

TYPE OF RECRUITMENT

Open Competitive Job Opportunity - EMERGENCY

EXAM NUMBER

Y5823A-EA

FILING START DATE

Applications will be accepted starting Thursday, February 13, 2025, at 12:30 PM (PT)

We will keep accepting applications until the position is filled. The application window may close unexpectedly once we have enough qualified candidates.

The LA County Board of Supervisors recently declared a local state of emergency for homelessness, and the County is working to revise and expand our response to help all who are affected.

We are looking for qualified and passionate individuals to help us in the mission of addressing issues like housing, mental health, and substance use.

If you are looking for a new career that will directly benefit the population of LA County, this may be the opportunity for you.

Department of Health Services (Housing for Health) is seeking qualified candidates to fill emergency Occupational Therapy Chief I vacancies related to the homelessness crisis.

Under the emergency order, applicants who meet the requirements may be hired for an initial period of up to 90 days, with an opportunity for permanent County employment.

Before your initial work period ends, you will be assessed on your work performance. This assessment will be weighted 100%.

Those who successfully pass the assessment will be considered for permanent appointment to Occupational Therapy Chief I.

ABOUT LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES:

The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) is the second largest municipal health system in the nation.

Through its integrated system of 25 health centers and four acute care hospitals and expanded network of community partner clinics – DHS annually provides direct care for 600,000 unique patients, employs over 23,000 staff, and has an annual budget of over $6.9 billion.

For additional information regarding DHS please visit www.dhs.lacounty.gov .

Through academic affiliations with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Southern California (USC), and the Charles R.

Drew University of Medicine and Sciences (CDU), DHS hospitals are training sites for physicians completing their Graduate Medical Education in nearly every medical specialty and subspecialty.

In addition to its direct clinical services, DHS also runs the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency and the County's 911 emergency response system, as well as Housing for Health and the Office of Diversion and Re-entry, each with a critical role in connecting vulnerable populations, including those released from correctional and institutional settings to supportive housing.

THE MISSION:

To advance the health of our patients and our communities by providing extraordinary care.

ABOUT THE POSITION:

DEFINITION:

Directs a therapy staff in an acute, rehabilitation, or psychiatric hospital that provides occupational therapy services for the treatment of patients by the use of exercise and occupational or recreation activities designed to improve and restore physical and mental functioning and to assist patients to adjust to their disabilities.

CLASSIFICATION STANDARDS:

Positions allocable to this class serve as head of occupational therapy services and direct, through first level supervision, the activities of a small therapy staff of approximately ten to twenty occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and other support staff.

Incumbents work within administrative policies and guidelines as interpreted by a hospital administrator or an administrative physician, and plan, organize and direct all aspects of occupational therapy services necessary to meet the needs of a wide variety of physical or mental conditions.

These positions plan, organize and direct the therapy staff in carrying out limited education programs for student therapists, therapy staff and allied health disciplines.

Incumbents serve as the technical resource person to the occupational therapy staff and allied health personnel.

Requirements

• Plans and directs occupational therapy services.
• Evaluates existing and future needs and services and establishes goals, objectives and standards for the occupational therapy service.
• Develops therapy programs, establishes policies and therapy programs to meet the goals and evaluates progress in achieving goals
• Maintains liaison between the occupational therapy staff, physicians, workers in other health disciplines and outside agencies to promote cooperation and obtain assistance in evaluating, identifying, providing and updating occupational therapy programs to assess the quality of patient care and the need to incorporate new therapy programs and revision of existing programs.
• Plans and schedules occupational therapy clinical training assignments for affiliated student therapists.
• Plans educational opportunities for the therapy staff to improve therapy services and to keep abreast of new therapy techniques.
• Determines budgetary requirements for personnel, facilities, equipment and supplies for the occupational therapy department, compiles the annual budget with justifications for submittal to the appropriate authority in the medical department or hospital administration.
• Interviews and selects prospective employee applicants and makes final decision to hire.
• Evaluates the performance of subordinate supervisors and reviews all performance evaluations.
• Advises subordinate supervisors and makes final decisions in resolving problems of employee utilization, grievances and disciplinary actions.
• Plans assignments in a manner that will ensure continuing education for subordinates and expedite the accomplishment of workload.

Qualifications

SELECTION REQUIREMENTS:
EDUCATION AND TRAINING:
Graduation from an occupational therapy curriculum* accredited by the American Occupational Therapy Association Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) -AND- Five (5) years of occupational therapy experience, two (2) years of which must have been at the level of or comparable to Occupational Therapy Supervisor I** or higher.

*In order to receive credit for any type of college degree, you must include a legible copy of the official diploma, official transcripts, or official letter from the accredited institution which shows the area of specialization with your application at the time of filing or email the documents to the exam analyst at jhernandezgutierrez@dhs.lacounty.gov within seven (7) calendar days of filing your application online. NOTE: We do not accept password-protected documents. Ensure documents are unlocked before attaching to your application or sending to the exam analyst.

**Experience at the level of Occupational Therapy Supervisor I in the County of Los Angeles is defined as: Provides first-level supervision to occupational therapists, therapy assistants and other support staff who are treating acute or rehabilitative patients with a physical or mental disease or an injury; incumbents may also provide administrative supervision to staff in the physical and occupational therapy services in a California Children's Services Medical Therapy Unit.

LICENSE:

• Current license*** or a limited permit*** for license issued by the California Board of Occupational Therapy as an Occupational Therapist.
• A valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions.
  
  

***Applicants must provide the license/permit number, date of issue, date of expiration for the required license/permit in response to Question #6 of the Supplemental Questionnaire OR applicants must attach a legible photocopy of the license issued at the time of filing or within 7 calendar days. All required licenses and certifications must be active and unrestricted, or your application will not be accepted.

Physical Class II - Light: This class includes administrative and clerical positions requiring light physical effort that may include occasional light lifting to a 10-pound limit and some bending, stooping, or squatting. Considerable ambulation may be involved.

You MUST meet the above requirement(s) in order to be appointed to fill any vacancy related to this recruitment. No withholds are allowed for this examination. Applicants must meet the Selection Requirements at the time of filing.

OUT-OF-CLASS INFORMATION:
If you performed work that differs from the duties described in your class specification and believe you qualify for this opportunity, please provide verification via official documentation of additional responsibility bonus, out-of-class bonus, temporary assignment bonus or reclassification study with CEO Classification within seven (7) calendar days from application submission. Employees do not need to submit such verification if they hold or have held a position that regularly performs functions in alignment with the requirements.

Additional Information

OUR ASSESSMENT PROCESS:Before the end of your initial work period, the appointing department will evaluate your performance.

Those who achieve a passing score on this evaluation will be considered for permanent appointment.

VACANCY INFORMATION:The current vacancies are to be filled throughout the Department of Health Services (Housing for Health).AVAILABLE SHIFT:Appointees may be required to work any shift, including evenings, nights, weekends and holidays.APPLICATIONS & FILLING INFORMATION:Applications must be filed online only and will be reviewed for interview consideration on an ongoing basis.

If you have not been contacted within 60 days and the recruitment remains open or reopens for filing, we encourage you to submit a new application.

This will allow you to reaffirm your interest and update any relevant information.Applications must be submitted online only.

Applications submitted by U.S Mail, Fax, or in person will not be accepted.Apply online by clicking on the green "APPLY" button at the top right of this posting.

You can also track the status of your application using this website.Plan to submit your online application in a timely manner as you may be required to verify your email address.

This only needs to be done once per email address, and if you already have a job seeker account on www.governmentjobs.com/careers/lacounty, you can verify at any time by logging in and following the prompts.

This is to enhance the security of your online application and to ensure you do not enter an incorrect email address.

All correspondence will be sent electronically to the email address provided on the application. It is important that applicants provide a valid email address.

Please add jhernandezgutierrez@dhs.lacounty.gov as well as noreply@governmentjobs.com and info@governmentjobs.com to your email address book and to the list of approved senders to prevent email notifications from being filtered as SPAM/JUNK mail.

Please note, you have the ability to opt out of emails from LA County. If you unsubscribe, you will not receive any email notification for any examination for which you apply with Los Angeles County.

Regardless of whether you choose to unsubscribe, you can always check for notifications by logging into governmentjobs.com and viewing your profile inbox, which saves a copy of all emailed notices.IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Please access the following link for important Employment Information. http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhr/247636_EmploymentInformation.pdf (Download PDF reader)
• All information and documents provided by applicants is subject to verification.
• We may reject your application at any time during the examination and hiring process, including after appointment has been made.
• Falsification of any information may result in disqualification or rescission of appointment.

Utilizing verbiage from Class Specification and/or Minimum/Selection Requirements serving as your description of duties will not be sufficient to demonstrate that you meet the Requirements.

Comments such as "See Resumé" or referencing other unsolicited materials/documents will not be considered as a response; in doing so, your application will be rejected.

The acceptance of your application depends on whether you have clearly shown that you meet the Requirements.

Fill out your application completely and correctly to receive full credit for related education, and/or experience in the spaces provided so we can evaluate your qualifications for the position.

Please do not group your experience.

For each position held, give the name and address of your employer, your position title, beginning and ending dates, number of hours worked per week, and description of work performed.

If your application is incomplete, it will be rejected.

NOTE: If you are unable to attach required documents, please email the documents to the exam analyst, Jessica Hernandez Gutierrez at jhernandezgutierrez@dhs.lacounty.gov. Please include the exam number and the exam title.



SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER:

Please include your Social Security Number for record control purposes. Federal law requires that all employed persons have a Social Security Number.


NO SHARING OF USER ID AND PASSWORD:

All applicants must file their application online using their own user ID and password. Using a family member's or friend's user ID and password may erase a candidate's original application record.

COMPUTER AND INTERNET ACCESS AT PUBLIC LIBRARIES:

For candidates who may not have regular access to a computer or the internet, applications can be completed on computers at public libraries throughout Los Angeles County.

FAIR CHANCE INITIATIVE:

The County of Los Angeles is a Fair Chance employer.

Except for a very limited number of positions, you will not be asked to provide information about a conviction history unless you receive a contingent offer of employment.

The County will make an individual assessment of whether your conviction history has a direct or adverse relationship with the specific duties of the job, and consider potential mitigating factors, including, but not limited to, evidence and extent of rehabilitation, regency of the offense(s), and age at the time of the offense(s).

If asked to provide information about a conviction history, any convictions or court records which are exempted by a valid court order do not have to be disclosed.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with County Fair Chance Policies and the Fair Chance Act (Gov. Code Section 12952).

ANTI-RACISM, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION (ARDI):

The County of Los Angeles recognizes and affirms that all people are created equal and are entitled to all rights afforded by the Constitution of the United States.

The Department of Human Resources is committed to promoting Anti-racism, Diversity, and Inclusion efforts to address the inequalities and disparities amongst race.

We support the ARDI Strategic Plan and its goals by improving equality, diversity, and inclusion in recruitment, selection, and employment practices.

ADA COORDINATOR PHONE: (323) 914-7111
CALIFORNIA RELAY SERVICES PHONE: 800-735-2922


DEPARTMENT CONTACT:
Jessica Hernandez Gutierrez, Exam Analyst
(213) 288-7000
jhernandezgutierrez@dhs.lacounty.gov