As Director of Human Resources and Assistant Executive Director, Rob Duquette, has spent nearly four decades working at the Judge Rotenberg Center. For the past 38 years, he has dedicated much of his time helping kids and adults with severe disabilities.
JRC’s mission hits close to home for Duquette, whose disabled younger brother died while in a hospital’s care. He now uses his personal story as motivation to help others at JRC.
“it’s a reminder of why I do what I do because what we do is incredible and the amount of care that we give these kids is like nothing else. I do what I do because of my brother. I see these students and adults and I see him… and I miss him.”
Duquette says that treatment provided by JRC allows students and adults to go home and enjoy quality time with their families, something that was unheard of when they first arrived at JRC.
In his role as Director of Human Resources, Duquette seeks new staff members that are patient and can work well with others, especially the students and adults in their care. “You do what you can and try to bring out folks you think will do well by the kids.”
Duquette says that JRC offers all employees a more competitive wage compared to other practices and agencies who handle similar cases. Supporting the compensation and additional benefits, Duquette feels as though “when you work with the kids that are the most difficult to handle and you see progress, that’s better than a paycheck. We see these kids come in and they are in a really bad place and then a month later, you see them out in the playground or walking through the hallway.”
Again, Duquette reflects on the impact of his own family tragedy. “My brother got me here and I’ll stay here,” he says, “Whatever you can do to help these kids. They’re not getting the same level of care anywhere else.”
