Physical Therapist and Patient Reunite Years Later as Coworkers

Marietta, GA – Back in 2005, Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care’s Director of Sales–HME Marc Castelo was a practicing Physical Therapist working with the Atlanta Public Schools Program for Exceptional Children. One of his favorite students was a first grader affectionately called “Miss T.”

Confined to a wheelchair, she was living with Type II Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Together, the pair worked on energy conservation techniques to better her physical endurance, which was so poor that she spoke in a whisper just to maintain her breath. She was a fighter. “Miss T was a very special student/patient who I never forgot,” said Castelo.

Fast forward to 2018, Castelo, who has been working in the home medical equipment sales space for years with Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care’s Marietta, GA team, had an extraordinary experience.

“One day I stood at our file room copy machine, ready to copy some marketing flyers, and I found a sheet of paper left face down on the copy glass. When I removed the paper to make my copies, I saw a patient name: “TeQuyncia”– a.k.a., Miss T! I was floored by the coincidence and knew I had to reconnect with her.”

Castelo reached out to Miss T and the once patient and therapist began an adult friendship. Since that time, they have stayed in touch, seeing each other for holidays and family events. Now an adult whose health has improved dramatically through spinal surgeries, Trilogy, and IPV, TeQuyncia Vaughn asked her former therapist and now trusted friend to help her with a job search. The most important thing she was looking for in a job was “working somewhere she could make a difference in people’s lives.”

Castelo knew the perfect place for Miss T to interview. None other than the place where she had been a patient: Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care. He shared the idea with Miss T and set up an interview. Determined as ever, she did well, and was offered and accepted a position as an administrative assistant at the company where she had been a patient.

Castelo proudly shared this story with his Georgia HME teammates. “I knew exactly where she needed to be,” he said. “Sharing our purpose at Thrive SPC! I am honored, proud, and grateful to now call my friend and former patient my teammate.”

“I’m so excited to start my journey with Thrive SPC,” said Vaughn. “Being a lifetime patient gives me insight into what others are going through, and I am so happy to use my experiences in such a great way.”

About Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care

Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care (www.thrivespc.com), which has a national resource center in Wakefield, Massachusetts, provides home care, therapy services, and durable medical equipment and nutrition supplies to medically fragile and developmentally challenged children in more than 30 locations across the country in the states of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas.

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Photo: Marc Castelo and TeQuyncia “Miss T” Vaughn