We would like to recognize a long-time employee of Pathways that is retiring after 41 years with the organization:

Steve Hammond, Residential Support Professional

Steve has only had three jobs his entire life – pumping gas as a teenager through young adulthood, working as an orderly at Mary Hitchcock Hospital and then joining the Upper Valley Training Center in 1984 which later became United Developmental Services (UDS). UDS merged with Developmental Services of Sullivan County in 2006, and the merged agencies became PathWays of the River Valley and Steve came with the merge!

During his tenure he has worked in several residential programs and has lots of memories from his experiences here. He helped open at least three residential homes including one on Elm Street in Lebanon where he met his wife! She was touring the home as a new employee at another residence, and he still remembers exactly where they were both standing when they met!
Amazingly, he has worked the overnight shift for 40 years!

Most of his time with us has been spent at our Orford Rd residence in Lyme, NH. He told us that it was originally supposed to be four buildings with ten residents per building and it first opened as a major medical unit with 24-hour nursing. He had no desire to go into Nursing!

Orford is currently one large facility and is our only Licensed Facility with on-site nursing staff. Steve shared some of his memories from working at Orford:

• One December the furnace blew up and they had to evacuate everyone to another site in Newport, NH until Orford was habitable again. During this time, Steve worked at another home in Lebanon to avoid the long drive to Newport.
• Steve remembers that the residence was evacuated four times for renovations/fixes. One time everyone was moved to a hotel, another time to Lake Morey, Newport as mentioned above and another time all the individuals moved in with their family members.
• The resident he worked with in his home during one of the evacuations is one of the reasons Steve has stayed so long and enjoyed working at Orford Rd. The resident had/has some behavioral concerns, and Steve enjoyed the challenge of working with him.
• Steve remembers a resident that did a really good imitation of his family dog, and he started barking at Orford. The imitation was so good that he scared one of the other residents who thought it was a real dog.
• Orford used to have five dogs that lived there until the Board of Directors were meeting there one time and one of the dogs relieved itself under the table. The dogs were soon gone after that!
• When one resident passed away without any family, the staff spread his ashes at Orford as that had been his home.

Steve has decided to leave while everything at the residence is still going well, he is still going well and the fact that he is tired! He does not want to be around if the doors ever close at Orford, and we hope that does not happen either.

Steve, thank you for your 41 years of service to countless individuals with developmental disabilities and especially your dedication to the Orford Rd residence and its residents. You have made a lasting impact on those residents as well as the staff members you have worked alongside. Best wishes on your retirement.