When you say the syllable “Rho” at Berkshire County Arc, 500 people know exactly who you are talking about.
“I grew up at BCArc,” said Rhodora Higgins, who recently retired as Co-Director of Residential Services, after starting with the agency more than 30 years ago. “A lot of people say that BCArc is their family, well I am definitely one of them.”
Calling the individuals with disabilities her teachers, Rho said, “They taught me so much. Every time there is a problem, you learn something. You can’t stop growing here.”
Her BCArc journey started in the position of residential support. A month later she filled the spot of assistant director.
“Ken Singer pushed me to be the director. He was always pushing me,” Rho said. “He would get you excited about the prospects of a new position, to take the next step, even when I didn’t want to. They turned out to be the best moves of my life.”
“Every time there is a problem, you learn something. You can’t stop growing here.”
“Sometimes you know immediately when someone has leadership,” Ken said about Rho. “Right away you could spot it on her. She set a high standard for commitment to our individuals and expected the staff to meet that standard. Nobody ever had a greater impact on the agency than Rhodora.”
Eventually Ken asked Rho to be residential supervisor. “Try it for a month,” he insisted. Rho had heard the “month” offer before and knew better. Or thought she knew better. “So I tried it, reluctantly. After three weeks I loved it and took the job. I enjoyed seeing the larger picture, pulling the different houses together for consistency.”
This year BCArc introduced a new award to recognize the legacy of service Rho created in the community.
She next moved to co-director of residential services with Chris Melski. “Chris was my work-brother,” Rho said, then raised it a few levels. “More like he was my life-brother. I was the sister he never had, and he was the brother I never had. We came to BCArc a month apart three decades ago. We were married a month apart. Our skills complemented each other—he liked areas of the job that I wanted to avoid, and visa versa. I sure miss the comraderie of the job with Chris and everyone.”
Rho recalls stepping back and noticing the general population of individuals growing older. She revised the manual to offer guidance to the houses around an aging population. “The height of the furniture, the lighting, training the staff to better understand aging issues, were some of the changes we made.”
“Looking back, I love the fact that of all the jobs in the world, I know that in this job, I made a difference in so many people’s lives. Every night I laid my head in my pillow and knew I had helped someone. That’s a good feeling to take into retirement.”
