InsideOut

Ron Tester, PT, COS-C, is a physical therapist and the owner of Advanced RehabTrust Home Health, where he is the administrator and a practicing physical therapist. Ron became a physical therapist after seeing the tremendous life-changing difference that a physical therapist made in the life of one of his family members, and he was inspired to pursue physical therapy so he provides that same kind of life-changing care to others. As a physical therapist, he has worked in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and skilled nursing facilities, but he has especially loved the practical, one-on-one care that he can provides in the home setting. He also found that he gets to know his clients better and has a longer lasting impact on them and their health and well-being.

Unfortunately, with some of the changes in Medicare over the years, some of at home healthcare agencies that Ron worked for became more motivated by profits than patient care. Ultimately, he was inspired to start Advanced RehabTrust Home Health when one of the agencies that he was working for, a so-called “community-owned, not-for-profit agency,” decided that they would rather make more money by providing less care for one of their especially challenging patients than do what Ron argued was the right thing for the patient. It turns out that “not-for-profit” means that the bosses just wrote themselves big bonus checks at the end of the year and hence the agency had “no profit.” As a result, in 2001 Ron started his agency with a commitment to provide the kind of care that he would want his own mother to receive, and to always put people before profits.

Over the years, Advanced RehabTrust has established itself as one of the best home health agencies for patient care in North Texas. One of the main reasons is that through the years we have established ourselves as one of the best places for nurses and therapists to work and happy, highly-skilled clinicians provide better care. In an industry where clinician turnover is an ever-present problem, our clinicians stay with us and recruit their friends to join us because we understand that our work is not just a job but a calling. We continually reinforce the central and guiding principle of our agency which is that people come first. We have high standards of care and we don't compromise that care in order to achieve a bigger bottom line.

When people need help in their homes, they often don't realize what services they need and what they should be getting, and it's difficult for them to know if they are getting what they truly deserve. Therefore, it's up to the home health agency to honor the trust that they have been given by their patients and choose to do the right thing, even if the patients don’t know what the right thing is. At Advanced RehabTrust, it is the essence of who we are, who we hire, how we care and what we're passionate about. And we refuse to do any less for our patients.

Lucinda Otto is a performer, director and teaching artist with many years of experience living and working in lovely San Francisco. Working with a wide range of ages and in school and community serttings, Ms. Otto has developed a method for teahing physically-based drama and creative play-making techniques that are much loved by her studends and audiences. Much of her work in schools involves working with classroom teachers to infuse the arts and creating original, integrated projects that bring theatre and performance across the curriculum.

After making her stage debut at the tender age of five in "The Wizard of Oz," Ms. Otto has gone on to a varied career in theatre. In addition to teaching and curriculum development she is as a performer, director and playwright working with Fools Fury Theatre, the San Francisco Arts Education Project, Young Performers Theatre, Stanford University, the East Harlem Tutorial Project, Santa Cruz County Community Schools and others.

 Ms. Otto also has an extensive background in arts education advocacy and arts administration. She worked for several years for the Bay Area Discovery Museum, was Board President of the San Francisco Children's Art Museum, on the Steering Committee of the Arts Education Funders Collaborative and founded Parents for the Arts in San Francisco Schools. Ms. Otto has a BFA in Drama for New York University and an MA in Arts Education fro Stanford University. 

Todd has engaged hundreds of students to take part in his City of Awesome project, for which he asks people of all ages to pictures of themselves in action making their community more awesome ("no skill needed, stick figures okay"). He collages these drawings into paintings that capture a chaotic sense of San Francisco streets in bright, expressionistic drawing, painting and collage. In 2012, Todd received (and fulfilled) a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to bring this project to Market Street as part of the "2 Blocks of Art" event on Market and 6th Streets.

Todd was born in the hills of West Virginia, grew up on Long Island, NY, and moved to San Francisco in 1998 with his partner Lauren Girardin, a marketing and communications consultant for non-profits. In 2006, Todd was named "Bike Commuter of the Year" for San Francisco County and he continues to get around town on two wheels despite his recent up-hill move to Bernal Heights. He has a BA in Public Policy from Brown University and continues his arts education through programs at U.C. Berkeley Extension and the San Francisco Art Institute. He is currently in the process of earning a certificate in the Integrated Learning Specialist Program. His art often hangs on the walls of local community spaces in San Francisco and can always be seen online at TheArtDontStop.com.

Art in Action fosters the educational development and creativity of children across America through innovative visual arts programs and communities. We believe that a quality art education is critical for every student's preparation for success in the 21st Century, and we actively assist schools in implementing a comprehensive, standards based quality visual art program tailored to each student's development. Art in Action was founded in 1982 and is a nonprofit organization.

The Art in Action Program combines a sequential K-8 curriculum based on the Great Masters with convenient lesson-specific art supplies for a classroom, hands-on training of teachers and parent volunteers, and continuous school support via the school's designated Art in Action contact person. The curriculum is available both online and in book form. It provides detailed, recipe-style directions for guiding successful discussions and projects, and it integrates with language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The curriculum is aligned with California and National Academic Content Standards for Visual Arts and received a 99.5% user satisfaction rating in a recent user survey.

Kala Art Institute provides a communal meeting place forartists from around the world who are offered the gift of time and space tofurther develop their unique visions in our West Berkeley studios. These talented artists form the creative corps of Kala’s Artists-In-Schools program,through which they share their expertise with K-12 students in Alameda County.