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Havre Day Activity Center

When Julie Anderson began working at the Havre Day Activity Center she thought she would only be there for about a month while she looked for another job. Now, 25 years after she arrived, Anderson is still there working with people with developmental disabilities as Havre Day's director of residential services. She said that she stayed because she "fell in love with the people."

"You can walk down the hall and somebody says something to you and it makes you smile and turns your day around," Anderson.

Evidence of that friendliness is on clear display, as individual consumers - the name for individuals who receive support services from Havre Day--encounter either a stranger of familiar face in the hallway. They greet outsiders with wide smiles and talk about themselves - show off a T-shirt they are wearing that bares the mascot of their favorite sports team, a pencil drawing they recently did or how they recently got their picture taken.

The Havre Day Activity Center is a private non profit corporation and disability service provider. In its six group homes in Havre and through its day program at its center on 1st Street West, they work to teach consumers life skills needed to become more independent and become a part of the wider community. Consumers are helped by 75 employees at the center and provide around the clock supervision at the group homes.

Such skills can range from how to feed themselves, brush their teeth, clean their room and do laundry to how to deal with socially challenging situations and in some cases even obtain their drivers licences.

Michelle Burchard, CEO of Havre Day, said that when it was formed in 1974, Havre Day consisted of two group homes in Havre and worked with children. Throughout the years, the number of group homes has increased to six, they have a facility at 235 First Street West that houses their day programs and their focus has shifted to serving adults who have developmental disabilities. In al,l Havre Day serves 49 consumers, 39 of whom live in one of the group homes.

The consumers are diverse, ranging in age from 18-81. Burchard said disorders consumers have include autism spectrum disorders, down syndrome, cerebral palsy or intellectual disabilities.

The cost of operating the day program facility and the homes are paid for primarily through medicaid waivers. Dewi Morgan Jones, Havre Day's chief operating officer said each consumer has an Individual Cost Plan or ICP. That cost plan dictates how many hours of service they get each month from staff. Levels of care needs depend on the individual: some consumers are very independent and have a lot of what Jones calls self help skills, while others require total care.

"Total care means exactly that: you have to feed them, bathe them, change their Depends adult diapers," Jones said.

Some consumers are nonverbal and some also have seizure disorders. Seizures though are usually managed through medication.

In five of the six homes scattered throughout Havre, consumers each get a bedroom. The sixth home, the Assisted Living Center, or ALC, has 10 one-room apartments

Consumers are assigned household chores such as sweeping and cleaning the kitchen table and learn how to do common household tasks such as laundry and cleaning their own room.

Weekdays at 9 a.m, consumers who live in and outside the homes come from to the center to take part in exercise and educational activities. Some of them also get paid for doing work at the center.

The center for example has its own recycling facility in the rear of the main building staffed by the consumers who gather boxes, tear off plastic and remove staples. For a fee, people can drop off their cardboard, cans and used batteries at the facility. Cardboard is then compressed.

Burchard said wooden receptacles are stationed at some businesses, which Havre Day will empty for $7 a load.

Jones said that once they get a minimum of 22 tons of cardboard it is then shipped out. Additional opportunities for employment exist through the center's woodshop, which sands and applies stain to furniture for clients who bring in items or shred documents.

Some consumers have jobs out in the community with such businesses as McDonald's, Taco John's, TownHouse Inn and Ben Franklin Crafts. Others do light janitorial work around the center, Burchard said.

All money raised from recycling, furniture restoration and shredding is then used for consumer wages. Jones said consumers who work in the center get paid a subminimum wage. Jones said that rate is determined by several factors, including how much work an individual consumer does, how long it takes them to complete the task and how many errors are made all as compared to the average of three typical workers.

Havre Day is allowed to pay such a wage through a licence issued by the U.S Department of Labor that must be renewed every two years, Jones said. Consumers who have jobs within the community are paid minimum wage.

Trevor Dees, who has worked with Havre Day for seven years and supervises the consumers in the woodshop, said the work consumers do staining, sanding and restoring furniture is gives instills in them a feeling of accomplishment.

"I know these guys really like it when we have the customers come in they get so excited about the projects they are working on and stuff," Dees said. "And these guys see that and they see the customers and they really get excited and it really gives these guys something to look forward to and to be proud of."

Unlike a worker in a traditional work environment, there is more flexibility for the consumers. Anderson said many consumers have a shorter attention span than a typical worker.

"So it might be that you can only have them out there for a half hour at a time, and then they have to go out and do something different before they can go back out there," she said.

Many of the consumers adhere to rigid routines. For example, Anderson said, there is one consumer who if his ride is not ready to depart from the center by exactly 3 p.m he gets anxious and upset. Some will be worried if they do not take their medication exactly at the prescribed time and instead have to take it a few minutes later.

Some consumers can feel confused if a caregiver they are used to working with each day is absent off on vacation.

"If their staff changes, it can really throw them for a loop," Anderson said.

She said that to avoid confusion, employees try to give consumers as much advanced warning as possible of any changes to their routine so they are not surprised.

Each consumer has a personal support plan also known as a PSP. Each year, they and staff at the center meet to discuss goals and actions that can be taken to achieve them.

For some consumers, a goal might be something like learning to take their own medication. For others the goals can be more ambitious.

Two sisters who are consumers were able to each get their driver's licenses with the help of Havre Day employees. Both sisters who lived together, are now able to drive to the center in their own vehicle.

Anderson said that on another occasion a consumer really wanted to go to an LA Lakers game. She saved all her money to do so, and Havre Day staff arranged it so she could watch Kobe Bryant play for a few moments.

Sometimes, what the consumers want is not always possible to get a consumer exactly what they want. Doreen Smith, director of day programs at Havre Day, said there is one consumer who wants to be a farmer's wife. Smith said in a situation like that, they have to make a consumer realize that such a request is not practical and instead maybe arrange for them to visit a farm or go to a rodeo.

"So when people really want something, we try to think outside the box and get that for them," Anderson said.

The job of a Havre Day employee, whether they assist consumers in a group home or at the center, requires a great deal of responsibility and can be demanding.

"I think that some people come in with the idea that they can do this kind of work and then find it is not their cup of tea," Anderson said.

Unlike many jobs, many employees at Havre Day do not just perform a few tasks.

Beyond assisting consumers with everyday tasks, the job involves helping consumers deal with everything from emotional meltdowns and deaths and all aspects of their lives. They not only take consumers to work but anywhere else they whether it be shopping, fishing or out for a beer, or to go see a boyfriend or girlfriend.

However, people who have the job of assisting the consumers say that there are tremendous benefits to their jobs.

"I've been here seven years and there are still days when they do something I didn't expect and I learn something about these guys," Dees said.

Smith said a woman who worked at a group home had once left for a week on vacation and when she returned to work, the consumers were happier to see her than her own family was.

"It's just something you get from them," Smith said.

 

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