Human Resource Services
Alameda Skyline

Chief Therapist

Recruitment #21-5872-01

Introduction

THIS IS A NEW ASSEMBLED EXAMINATION.  The eligible list resulting from this examination will cancel any existing list and may last approximately one year, but can be extended.

Supplemental Questionnaire:  A properly completed Supplemental Questionnaire must be submitted with each application. Applications must be in the possession of the Human Resource Services Department by 5:00 p.m. on the Last Day for Filing.  Failure to submit the Application or Supplemental Questionnaire will result in disqualification.

Applications and Supplemental Questionnaires will only be accepted on-line.

DESCRIPTION

ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE SERVICES AGENCY

Alameda County's Health Services Program is administered by the Health Care Services Agency and includes the following program areas: Behavioral Health Care Services, Public Health, Environmental Health Services, and Office of the Agency Director. The ultimate mission of the Health Care Services Agency is to provide fully integrated health care services through a comprehensive network of public and private partnerships that ensure optimal health and well-being and respect the diversity of all residents.

 

PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Alameda County Public Health Department has worked for over 80 years to improve the health and safety of its residents and the neighborhoods they live in. Traditional public health concerns such as disease outbreaks, environmental hazards and access to health care have been joined by contemporary concerns: bioterrorism, crime, violence, and substance abuse. Each of these poses a threat to public health and wellness and calls for short and long-term solutions that lie well outside traditional public health boundaries. 

For more information about our Alameda County Public Health Department, please visit the Alameda County Public Health Department Website and latest Annual Budget document found on www.acgov.org/health

 

THE POSITION

Under general direction, the Chief Therapist plans, organizes and directs the Alameda County California Children’s Services (CCS) Medical Therapy Program (MTP); establishes program policies and procedures; supervises assistant chief therapists and supervising therapists; ensures the program follows current best practices in occupational and physical therapy; prepares budgets and required reports; ensures compliance with legislative mandates and State directives and regulations; and does related work as required.  This program is part of the California's Children's Service Program of the Family Health Services Division of the Health Care Services Agency. The MTP is an occupational and physical therapy program for children and youth (0-21 years old) with cerebral palsy or other neuromuscular or musculoskeletal conditions.

The Chief Therapist is a one-position class responsible for general oversight of the Medical Therapy Program. This position reports to the California Children’s Services Administrator/Deputy Division Director who has administrative responsibility for the entire California Children’s Services program. The Chief Therapist is distinguished from the lower level class of Assistant Chief Therapist by the scope of responsibility. The Chief Therapist directs the entire physical and occupational therapy program  and has ultimate responsibility for all of the Medical Therapy Units within the County whereas the Assistant Chief is responsible for assisting in this oversight, directly managing the supervising therapists and therapy staff in the CCS Administrative program and acting as the Special Education and Local Planning Area (SELPA) liaison between CCS and the School Districts. 

 

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE

In addition to meeting the minimum qualifications states below, the Chief Therapist will possess the following critical attributes:

  • A leader with exceptional interpersonal, verbal, written communication and facilitation skills, with the ability to present information to a variety of groups.
  • A leader who ensures the establishment of organizational infrastructure to address the social determinants of health in programs and services.
  • A professional who demonstrates vision, leadership and strong managerial skills. Identifies operational problems, investigate and evaluate alternatives and implement effective solutions.
  • A resourceful professional that stays current with information, technology, and trends in his/her field. A demonstrated organizer with the skills and ability to prioritize tasks and work on multiple projects simultaneously.
  • A person who exhibits the ability to work effectively with individuals of diverse cultures, interpersonal styles, abilities, motivations and backgrounds.
  • An effective collaborator with other agencies, departments, government entities and local communities to achieve organizational goals while leveraging financial and other resources.
  • A leader who inspires confidence and builds support within and outside of an organization.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Special Requirements:

Registration with the National Registry of Qualified Occupational Therapists.
Possession of a valid certificate to practice as a Registered Physical Therapist,

AND

Experience:

The equivalent of four years of experience as an occupational or physical therapist in an institutional or clinical setting of which the equivalent of three years must have been in the treatment of cerebral palsied or similarly handicapped children and the equivalent of two years must have been in a supervisory capacity.

NOTE: The Civil Service Commission may modify the above Minimum Qualifications in the announcement of an examination.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

The most suitably qualified candidates will possess the following competencies:

Knowledge of:
  • Principles, methods, equipment, and the basic theory of mental and physical rehabilitation involved in the modern practice of both physical and occupational therapy, especially as applied to cerebral palsied children.
  • Principles of effective management and personnel supervision.
  • California's Children’s Service Programs.
  • Provisions and requirements of governmental and private programs for the treatment and education of handicapped children.

Abilities:
  • Planning, organizing and directing a therapy program for cerebral palsied children.
  • Evaluating the performance of staff therapists.
  • Establishing and maintaining cooperative relationships with the community, physicians and various public and private social services agencies.
  • Speaking effectively before community groups and organizations.
  • Preparing reports and case records.

EXAMINATION COMPONENTS

The examination will consist of the following steps:

  1. A review of candidates' application to verify possession of minimum requirements.  Those candidates who possess the minimum requirements for the class will move on to the next step in the examination process.
  2. A review of the supplemental questionnaire to determine the best qualified
    applicants to continue in the process.
  3. An oral interview which will be weighted as 100% of the candidates' final examination score.  The oral interview may contain situational exercises.

Candidates must attain a qualifying rating on each portion of this recruitment. 

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED EXAMINATION STEPS.

Alameda County utilizes a Civil Service Selection System founded on merit. Such a system is competitive and based on broad recruitment efforts and equal opportunity for qualified applicants to test in an examination process designed to determine the qualifications, fitness, and ability of competitors to perform duties of the vacant position. Many of our recruitments are targeted and specific to the needs of a current vacant position, in which case, the eligible list may be exclusively used for that current vacant position. Other recruitments may be more broadly used for both current and future vacancies, or for other alternate jobs with comparable scopes of work.

To learn more about our recruitment and selection process, please visit the “What You Need to Know” section of our website, www.acgov.org/hrs .

Selection Plan

Applicants will be informed via email with reasonable notice in advance of any examination process which will require their attendance. The following dates are tentative and subject to change based on the needs of the Agency:

 

TENTATIVE SELECTION PLAN

 

Deadline for Filing:    

5:00 p.m. Monday, April 12, 2021

Review of Minimum Qualifications:

by April 16, 2021

Review of Supplemental Questionnaire for Best Qualified    

by May 14, 2021

Civil Service Oral Examination:

Week of May 31, 2021

 

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES TO THE ANNOUNCED RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PLAN

 

Alameda County and the Human Resource Services Department will make reasonable efforts in the examination and/or selection process to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities and/or medical conditions in accordance/compliance with the State Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Alameda County’s Reasonable Accommodation Policy and applicable statues. To request an accommodation due to a disability/medical condition during this or other phases of the examination/selection process, please contact the assigned Human Resources Representative listed on the job announcement before the last date of filing. Alameda County requires applicants to provide supporting documentation to substantiate a request for reasonable accommodation. In order to qualify for a reasonable accommodation, applicants must have a disability/medical condition pursuant to the ADA, FEHA and applicable statues.

For more information regarding our Reasonable Accommodation procedures, please visit our website, www.acgov.org/hrs

BENEFITS

Alameda County offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package that affords wide-ranging health care options to meet the different needs of a diverse workforce and their families. We also sponsor many different employee discount, fitness and health screening programs focused on overall well being.  These benefits include but are not limited to*:

For your Health & Well-Being

  • Medical – HMO & PPO Plans
  • Dental – HMO & PPO Plans
  • Vision or Vision Reimbursement
  • Share the Savings
  • Basic Life Insurance 
  • Supplemental Life Insurance (with optional dependent coverage for eligible employees)
  • Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance 
  • County Allowance Credit
  • Flexible Spending Accounts - Health FSA, Dependent Care and Adoption Assistance
  • Short-Term Disability Insurance
  • Long-Term Disability Insurance
  • Voluntary Benefits - Accident Insurance, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity and Legal Services
  • Employee Assistance Program

For your Financial Future

  • Retirement Plan - (Defined Benefit Pension Plan)
  • Deferred Compensation Plan (457 Plan or Roth Plan)

For your Work/Life Balance

  • 11 paid holidays
  • Floating Holidays
  • Vacation and sick leave accrual
  • Vacation purchase program
  • Management Paid Leave**
  • Catastrophic Sick Leave
  • Group Auto/Home Insurance
  • Pet Insurance
  • Commuter Benefits Program
  • Guaranteed Ride Home
  • Employee Wellness Program (e.g. At Work Fitness, Incentive Based Programs, Gym Membership Discounts)
  • Employee Discount Program (e.g. theme parks, cell phone, etc.)
  • Child Care Resources
  • 1st United Services Credit Union 

*Eligibility is determined by Alameda County and offerings may vary by collective bargaining agreement.  This provides a brief summary of the benefits offered and can be subject to change.

** Non-exempt management employees are entitled to up to three days of management paid leave. Exempt management employees are entitled to up to seven days of management paid leave.

Conclusion

All notices related to County recruitments for which you have applied will be sent/delivered via email. Notices will be sent from Noreply@jobaps.com.  Please add @jobaps.com and Noreply@jobaps.com as accepted addresses to any email blocking or spam filtering program you may use. If you do not do this, your email blocking or spam filtering program may block receipt of the notices regarding your application for recruitments. You are also strongly advised to regularly log into your County of Alameda online application account to check for notices that may have been sent to you. All email notices that will be sent to you will also be kept in your personal online application account. You will be able to view all of your notices in your online application account by clicking on the 'My applications' button on the Current Job Openings page and clicking on the link 'last notice sent' for the respective recruitment.

 

Please take the steps recommended above to insure you do not miss any notices about a recruitment for which you have applied. The County of Alameda is not responsible for notices that are not read, received or accessed by any applicant for a County recruitment.

 

NOTE: All notices are generated through an automated email notification system. Replies to the email box NoReply@jobaps.com are routed to an unmonitored mailbox. If you have questions, please go to our website at www.acgov.org/hrs. You may also contact the Human Resources Analyst listed on the job announcement for the recruitment for which you have applied.

  

Angelica Cuevas, HR Analyst

Human Resource Services, County of Alameda

(510) 271-5154 or email Angelica.Cuevas@acgov.org

www.acgov.org/hrs 

 

 

DISASTER SERVICE WORKER

All Alameda County employees are designated Disaster Service Workers through state and local law.  Employment with the County requires the affirmation of a loyalty oath to this effect.  Employees are required to report to work as ordered in the event of an emergency.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Alameda County has a diverse workforce, that is representative of the communities we serve, and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.  All aspects of employment are based on merit, competence, performance and business need. Alameda County does not discriminate in employment on the basis of, race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factors protected under federal, state and local law. Alameda County celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive, and welcoming workplace environment.