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Summary The Health Technician position is located at the Lebanon VA Medical Center, Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program. Responsibilities The incumbent serves a Health Technician (HT) with the Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP). The HT provides extended care to ambulatory Veterans with complex medical, psychiatric, substance use and homeless problems. The Health Technicians provide seven days a week coverage of the facility on a rotational basis. Develops and maintains a therapeutic professional helping relationship with Veterans admitted to the RRTP. Provides orientation to new residents by explaining RRTP policies/procedures, explanation of the structure, rules and goals of the RRTP, to assure that residents are informed and can benefit from program involvement. Identifies and/ or resolves residents' problems or makes appropriate referral to clinical or administrative staff. Makes self accessible to residents and serves as a role model for appropriate behavior. Contributes to treatment team decision concerning the therapeutic progress of residents. Responsible for reinforcing, setting limits, or counseling residents in accordance with established treatment plan and program guidelines. Leads and facilitates educational classes and support groups for residents to increase their knowledge, enhance their coping skills, and prepare residents for return to independent living. Collects urine specimen for laboratory analysis and conducts random breathalyzer tests on residents returning from off-station trips, passes and when use of substance is suspected. Documents same in medical record. Documents in clinical record the resident's progress towards treatment goals, identified treatment issues and recommendations, educational and group sessions, treatment plan reviews, and any unusual resident behavior or incidents. Performs vital signs and glucometer checks and notifies nursing or medical staff of needed intervention. Supervises residents in general housekeeping tasks of the RR TP and inspects residents' s living areas to maintain clean, safe and healthful environment. May be required to transport residents, in government vehicle, to appropriate medical facilities during emergency situations. Provides direction during fire drills and/or disaster situations. Instructs residents in appropriate procedures. Conducts resident face-to-face checks in accordance with policy. Coordinates with back-up staff to ensure urgent tasks are accomplished in case of absence. Provides coverage needs resulting from planned and unplanned staff absences. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Nights, 0000 - 0800 with weekend and holiday rotation Position Description Title/PD#: Health Technician/PD05093A Physical Requirements: The duties of the position regularly require periods of sitting, standing and walking. Working with patients requires regular sitting, bending, standing, and pushing of wheelchairs. At times, a light to moderate amount of lifting is required. Work in front of a CRT is also required for 1-4 hours per day. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. GS-05 grade level: One year of specialized experience (equivalent to the GS-04 grade level in the federal service); experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA's) and other characteristics to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled, in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes but is not limited to: setup, cleaning and care of selected clinical instrumentation to include the otoscope, audiometers, hearing aid software, electro-acoustic measurement devices, and hearing aid verification technology; Skill in use of tools and equipment used for basic hearing aid repairs; skill in using Computerized Patient Recordkeeping System to enter data for workload tracking; knowledge of hearing conservation principles. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successful completion of a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree, with major study or at least 24 semester hours in subjects directly related to the position. OR, Combination of Experience and Education: Education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to one year of specialized experience. To calculate, first identify the percentage of required education you have earned (when substituting, you cannot use the first 60 semester hours that you earned). Then identify the percentage of required experience you possess. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify at the GS-05. For example, an applicant who has 9 semester hours of graduate level education (i.e. 50% of graduate education required) and 6 months of creditable specialized experience (i.e. 50% of the required experience) would equal 100% of the required experience for the position A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Analytical Reasoning Clinical Data Collection/Documentation Customer Service (Clerical/Technical) Education and Training Specimen Collection Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The duties of the position regularly require periods of sitting, standing and walking. Working with patients requires regular sitting, bending, standing, and pushing of wheelchairs. At times, a light to moderate amount of lifting is required. Work in front of a CRT is also required for 1-4 hours per day. Work Environment: The work is performed in a medical center and requires contact with patients who have a variety of medical problems including contagious diseases. Many of the patients with whom the incumbent has contact have significant difficulty communicating due to speech or hearing impairments. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/. Education Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. Additional Information Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer (TJO). Please visit the Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP), va.gov/EMPLOYEE/docs/The-Fair-Chance-to-Compete-Act.pdf for more information. The following will be communicated to applicants for VA employment in a testing designated position and will also be included in all VA vacancy announcements for such positions: All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drugs use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be well-qualified, applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors if applicable, and must be proficient in most of the requirements of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website which can be found at https://www.opm.gov/. Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.