I am writing to commend the staff at Professional PT that serve the Bellmore-Merrick school community. Specifically, Angelo and Elissa for their leadership, as well as, our five AT’s John, Bridget, Taylor, Eliana and Alexa. My apologies for not having written to you sooner.
Under normal circumstances, our athletes have grown accustomed to relying on top quality care from our AT staff for all of their injuries and ailments. However, it should be noted that their work does not typically stop at “treatment”. I can tell you that our expectation in Bellmore-Merrick is that our AT’s are an extension of our staff. Not only do they provide high quality care to our school community by overseeing the general care of student-athletes, but they also ALWAYS go above and beyond in coordinating that care with parents, teachers, coaches, RN’s and other administrative staff. In addition, and perhaps most importantly, our AT’s are the driving force behind directing preventative care for a wide range of injuries for our student-athletes. I can tell you this does NOT go unnoticed.
More recently, as we deal with educating almost 5200 students in our district, our AT’s were able to assist with temperature taking and other tasks in their buildings during early morning hours to enable us to process students attending classes (we are one of the very few districts providing full in-person instruction) in a timely matter. As a result, the start of our school days were able to begin as scheduled and uninterrupted. Further, this enabled us to provide a sense of health and safety for our faculty, students and staff that eased a tremendous amount of anxiety for everyone involved in the school day, during the pandemic.
Make no mistake, this could not have occurred without the steady leadership of both Angelo Marsella and Elissa Linderman. To say working with them over the past six years has been a pleasure is an understatement. Even during the most stressful moments, they have always found a way to assist the Bellmore-Merrick community in the best way possible. Never have they said “NO”. Rather, they have always shown a willingness to work through the most difficult scenarios without hesitation. I could not ask for a better partnership. Because of their attention to detail and dedication to our school community, their impact has been immeasurable.