Professional Interview

For the professional interview, I interviewed Pamela Minunni at the Arizona Department of Veteran Services. She was very kind and extremely busy. It was amazing that we found even five minutes to sit down and talk to her, but those five minutes were well worth it.

"When asked what she enjoys most about her job, Pamela said, “the people, without a doubt.” She loves the ability to make people laugh and smile and help them. Another aspect of her job that she loves is how she gets to not only plan the programs, but see them “played out,” and adjust if the program needs adjusting. As a D1 Recreation Therapist, Minunni’s job was described in four steps: Assessment and care plans of residents, creating effective programs, implement those programs, and designing outings for residents. Along with all the program planning comes the inevitable evaluations, monthly of all programs. Also the residents are evaluated by a team of people working at the facility to establish the best care and assessment plans of each person, what the patient is capable of, their limitations, and what would best benefit them."

My favorite part of the interview was getting the opportunity to see everything that we had discussed in class, in person. Everything she said she does as part of her job, lines up with the NCTRC curriculum and even highlights from the Therapeutic Recreation book. I was absolutely fascinated. The whole experience was wonderful because I got to see all the concepts we have been learning about played out in action.