ADULT SERVICES

The Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities (Fairhaven Program) offers a variety of services for adults with disabilities. A service planning meeting is held with the adult to discuss options available and to assist the adult in choosing the most appropriate service.

Below is a brief description of each service offered by the adult services program:

Workshop Employment – Employment in one of three workshops provides adults the opportunity to learn job skills and work on a variety of jobs such as sorting, collating, assembling and packaging. The work performed and the paychecks issued are overseen by Fairhaven Industries, Inc., a non-profit board. Other social, recreational, and leisure activities are provided for adults who are unable to work. Assignment to a specific workshop is based on where the adult lives in Trumbull County.

Here are a few examples from our Workshop program:

A Meaningful Day
We pride ourselves in getting the word out about the amount of work completed in our workshop. Obviously, we take pride in our work and put much emphasis on how the finished product is sent nationwide. For the majority of time, there is contract work; but occasionally, we complete the contract work in a half-day. Our Employee Council discussed activities to fill the non-work time and they suggested growing a garden. As the idea grew so did the interest. Within a matter of days we had volunteers ready to show their “green thumbs.” With the help of our maintenance department we had two areas ready for gardening.

Cathy Bright and Susan Spencer spearheaded the list of volunteers to raise flowers and vegetables. Now, with most new ventures everyone is usually enthusiastic at first, then the idea fades, except in this case. With the support of staff members Cathy and Susan and the constant work from individuals such as George Mateyko, James Stewart, James Anderson, Greg Noland, and Ida Weaver, participation becomes a group effort in every step of the way from planting, watering, weeding, picking and, yes — eating.

The Champion Workshop farmers raised quite a garden and quite a successful one, too! They raised corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, beans, carrots, lettuce and peas. There were always fixings for a tasty salad for lunch or a healthy snack right outside the door. Since we had such abundance, people were taking their “non-work” home with them and we looked forward to donating fresh vegetables to a local food bank.

The learning, growing, caring for and finally sharing of our garden certainly has led to many “Meaningful Days.”

One of our hopes for this work is to donate our vegetables to local food banks to help individuals in need. There have been so many people in this area who have supported our mission, and we are trying to pay it forward!

The Voice that Shone Through
When I began at the Champion Workshop in September of 2002, I took for granted the fact that everyone said Lyndell didn’t speak. No one knew differently.

At his annual meeting in June of 2003, I was reviewing the vocational assessment with Lyndell’s mother. When I came to the part about verbal interactions, I told her that for this section, I mark that he is non-verbal. She asked me what I was talking about. I told her that it was reported that he didn’t talk. She looked at Lyndell and asked him why he didn’t talk at the workshop and his response was, “I don’t know.”

I immediately put a goal into place for him to talk to the people in his unit. The goal was specifically to answer staff’s questions. For the first two months, he still would not talk. Staff and I tried our best to get him to talk to us. What finally brought him around was staff asking him to participate in a mock newscast. His job was to tell us what the weather forecast was for the day. He blossomed with this weatherman challenge!

Unfortunately, the only time he would talk was during the weather forecast. A few weeks went by and he was getting frustrated as staff continued working on his goal, asking him questions. One day, I asked him if he needed my help to zip up his coat. Without waiting for an answer, I reached for his coat. He snatched it away from me and said, “I can do it myself.” Since then, Lyndell has been more talkative and people that knew him before are amazed at his progress!

Work Crews – Fairhaven Industries, Inc. offers adults an opportunity to work outside during the summer months on a mobile lawn mowing crew. The adults assigned to the work crew work outside, weather permitting, during the spring, summer, and fall, cutting lawns in the spring and summer and cleaning up leaves in the fall. The lawn crew works at assigned properties throughout Trumbull County. Adults must meet specific qualifications in order to be considered for openings as they occur.

Enclaves – Two industrial work enclaves are offered for adults. The work enclave allows the adult to work in the community as part of a group that completes work on-site for local businesses. Adults must meet certain qualifications in order to be considered for openings as they occur.

Community Employment – The adult services program can support adults to find work in a competitive job in the community. Fairhaven and the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation (BVR) work together to evaluate the adult’s skills and interests, match those skills and interests to a job, and provide the training needed to complete the job independently. Once the adult secures employment and begins working independently, the adult services program will monitor his or her progress on a regular basis and meet with the adult and employer as needed.

In order to receive services from the Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilties, a person must:

• be a resident of Trumbull County;
• have documented disability, a physical or mental impairment other than mental illness,
  and that disability:
• must have manifested prior to the age of 22 and
  is likely to continue indefinitely;
• have completed an assessment called the Ohio Eligibility Determination Instrument
  (C/OEDI), and documented substantial functional limitations in several areas of the
  instrument.

The board, leadership, and employees of the Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities are steadfast in maintaining and creating programs and services that meet the unique needs of individuals and their families.