For David Caron, personal joy and professional fulfillment was found in service to our most vulnerable citizens.
It was March 2020 and COVID-19 had arrived with a vengeance. As the world was grappling with the novel coronavirus, so too was Crotched Mountain in its small corner of western New Hampshire. In those early days of the pandemic, the virus attacked one particular adult residence without mercy, forcing nearly all the regular staff out of the home due to illness and quarantine. That left a committed cadre of Direct Support Professionals to step up and keep the program moving forward – at enormous personal sacrifice.
David Caron was one of those professionals.
He moved into the house and slept on a cot in the office for a week, tending round the clock to the social, emotional, and physical needs of a group of adults with severe disabilities.
“That was one of the most difficult and yet rewarding experiences of my life,” he recounts. “I was determined to stabilize the program. I cared for these people and wanted to do whatever it took to support them.”
Four years before COVID hit, David was in the middle of a dramatic career change. After 15 years, working in the financial sector for investment firms and state government, he joined Crotched Mountain as a data analyst for the residential program. While there he realized just how much he enjoyed working directly with the clients and it wasn’t long before he made a second career switch – and found the job of his life
“I found the work fascinating,” he said. “I always had a desire to understand people’s wants and needs and to improve relationships.’
Working primarily with Crotched Mountain’s adult clients (and picking up shifts as needed to serve the students of Crotched Mountain School), David would have ample opportunity to pursue what he found fascinating and ultimately rewarding.
He quickly established himself as a direct care superstar. He built trusting relationships with many of the clients he served and would be the first one to step up to support the programs that needed him.
Today, David’s career has taken yet another step. As a Program Manager for Crotched Mountain Foundation’s Adult Services, he oversees services for adults with disabilities living in the community with home care providers. It gives him the chance to continue supporting the mission he fell in love with four years ago, while also utilizing his analyst skills to strengthen the program.
“The need is there,” he says. “There’s absolutely room to grow. But more importantly, we’re really doing good by these adults by finding suitable places to live in the community.”
Spring 2020. Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, NH. David Caron pulls up in his van. He was given a very special job. Perhaps the most special job he’s ever had.
At the entrance of the hospital there is a line of nurses and hospital staff. They are applauding. A man in a wheelchair emerges from the corridor of the hospital and David welcomes him. It is Richard, a Crotched Mountain client and a member of the house that had been hit hard by COVID. He had almost succumbed to the virus, even being placed on a ventilator. Amazingly, Richard recovered and now he was heading home.
“It was incredible,” David says. “I was bringing someone home that probably shouldn’t have made it. In a moment like that you realize how valuable a human life is. Working for Crotched Mountain Foundation is more than a job. Helping these vulnerable adults has given my life purpose and meaning.”
