RENOUNCING SHADOWS, CHOOSING FUTURES

Blog #13

            Thinking back recently about my first four plus years in the field of rehabilitation, I remember it seemed as though someone on staff or groups of staff were in some sort of training every week. The training sessions included Medication Administration, OSHA Training, DOL, Safety, CPR, Definitions, HUD for section 8 regulations, Drivers Training, and beginning classes in computer use.

            I was appointed to the Planning Districts III and IV Private Industry Council and joined the Radford Chamber of Commerce and the Floyd County United Way Board of Directors. I once shared with our staff and later with the Board of Directors of VaARF that representatives of our industry must pull up a chair to every table and be involved in every community, business, service organizations and anywhere the interest of people with disabilities could be presented.

            I think it was early February and Dan Semones, Program and Service Director for our organization, and I were to attend an association meeting in Richmond. Dan lived in Carroll County and had agreed to drive us to the meeting in his vehicle. The morning we were scheduled to make the trip, we had some overnight precipitation, and it was frozen on the roadways. I was ready early and waiting for him to pick me up when the telephone rang. It was Dan with news that he had slid off the highway and turned his car on its side. He was not injured but was staying with his vehicle until he got everything arranged for the car’s recovery.

I called Renee Fisher, CEO of the Bedford facility and asked her about her travel arrangements for the Richmond trip. I quickly made some calls and think I had to drive to Roanoke and meet Gail for a ride to Bedford where we met Renee and Ellen. Ellen drove, and her vehicle was some kind of ragtop jeep. I rode in the front passenger seat and thought I would freeze to death. While in Richmond Gail needed to go to the Federal Surplus facility to purchase two packages of white cotton gloves for some contract work at her facility. On the return trip, I was still thinking I was going to freeze, but managed to close my eyes and get a little shuteye. Suddenly I felt something on my thigh and looked down and there was a white glove on my leg. It was Gail’s foot with a white glove on it. Her and Renee had opened a package of the white gloves and put some on their feet to help keep them warm. Gail claimed Renee dared her to use this method to wake me, but they both burst out with boisterous laughs and then giggled for a while. Needless to say, the incident killed any chance to catch any more shuteye.

            At the end of February our organization experienced another CARF certification review, and it lasted three days. I had learned from my shipbuilding experiences in quality inspection functions whether you are the inspector conducting an inspection or facilitating an inspection, inspectors seemed to have a need to find something to include in their inspection report. Often, if it was just a recommendation in lieu of a discrepancy, it gave the inspector, examiner, or CARF surveyor something to report. It was my practice to have a few minor items for the surveyors to find and to include in their recommendations and report. Most often, something we were planning to do was also included in our discussions with the surveyors or in the exit interviews. We always received three-year accreditations and any recommendation made during the survey was in the report and were the things we planned to do or accomplish. The surveyors were happy and so were we.

            In March of 1985 George Pugh’s section of DRS drafted a DRS counselor’s handbook. The handbook was a guide for Department Counselors interaction with vendors, especially our industry. Just prior to issuing the handbook statewide he forwarded a draft copy to me as president of the VaARF for review and comment. It seemed to me we were almost an afterthought. I received a copy and after a quick review, realized I needed at least one other colleague’s help. Renee Fisher was available, and we met immediately, reviewed the draft handbook, and developed a wholesale list of suggested changes. The handbook contained many questionable references to our industry and appeared to guide counselors away from making client referrals to our vendor services. George was in the hospital when he received our suggestions, and he called me from his hospital bed and ripped me for over forty minutes. However, by the end of the “discussion”, George blamed his staff for the poor handbook development and indicated he would consider our suggestions as soon as he got out of the hospital and back in his office. We never saw the end product, but later I visited a DRS field office and learned that the counselors had the handbook, but on the bottom of the bottom desk drawer.

            I was very embarrassed when we held the association’s spring conference at Bernard’s Landing on Smith Mountain Lake. The accommodations were very nice, with meeting rooms, guest rooms and the beautiful lake scenes. However, the embarrassment came when we had our first meal, the evening of the first day of the conference. The restaurant was not accessible, and I had to assist our dear friend and colleague, George Homan, who was wheelchair bound, through the shipping doors and on through the kitchen to the dining area. I am sure at some point later the restaurant was made accessible. There was another conference event held in Charlottesville that I want forget. It also involved George in his wheelchair racing Woody on a luggage cart with someone pushing down the hotel hall. I was not involved, just a spectator.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Blog # 12

In April 1984, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rehabilitation and Research Training Center (VCU/RRTC) sponsored a National Symposium in Virginia Beach. The one statement in Dr. Paul Wehman’s presentation that is worthy of thinking about, and I cannot remember it exactly. But he essentially stated this, it is acceptable to have a disabled person attending the salad bar in a restaurant to slobber while on duty. I suppose it was how he made his remark with such emphasis that struck me as surprising, particularly with a large national audience.  It had been a year and one-half since the Nashville Conference and I had not heard much about the WORKSHOP WITHOUT WALLS concept. Now, here it was in the limelight again but with all we were doing at the New River Valley Workshop I did not realize the significance of the new employment model.

            Also, in the spring of 1984, I proposed to the NRV Workshop Board of Directors that we consider establishing a foundation corporation and begin to set aside some of the workshop’s industrial fund balances (reserves). The program would be designed to award scholarships to unfunded individuals with disabilities to receive training and support services. Only net earnings from the fund investments would be used for the program scholarships. The Board affirmed the proposal, and our attorney Dan Hamrick filed the necessary documents. The not-for-profit corporation was established with the name New River Valley Foundation for the Handicapped. I am not now disappointed that in my tenure we never applied much effort to using reserve funds in this manner. It was only because we continually invested in program and employment growth. There was only one year of my twenty that we were unable to invest in my never-ending drive to achieve the best possible employment opportunities for the people we served.

            The 1984 spring meeting for the state association VaARF was held at Wintergreen and two of our staff, Linda Fisher and Brenda Burton attended with me. The only thing I remember about the conference is the morning of the second day at breakfast I asked Linda where they had parked my Chrysler van. I had let the staff use my van, if needed, the evening before. Linda and Brenda had gotten acquainted with Ron Burnop’s staff the previous evening and the two sets of staff decided to drive down the east side of the mountain to just ride around. The driver was selected, and his personal vehicle was also a Chrysler van. When the gang got in my van to return up the mountain, he reached into his pocket, and by mistake pulled out his key and broke off his key in my ignition. I do not know how they got back up to Wintergreen, but my van was left at a garage below the mountain and would be ready for pick up the following afternoon. Good laughs and no one was reprimanded for the funny event.

            On June 14, 1984, we broke ground for the new facility in the Giles County Industrial Park and the attendees had gathered for the event at the scheduled time. Our guest speaker had not arrived. It was a hot, sunny day and I was wearing my first hairpiece and my bald head under the new rug was really beginning to sweat. After a few minutes of waiting a young attorney from a local law firm came speeding onto our building site and told us that State Senator Danny Bird’s car had broken down on Interstate 81 and he would get here just as soon as possible. The attorney left and I decided to proceed without Senator Bird, who was our guest speaker. State Delegate Jeff Stafford was there, and he agreed to speak after I made my comments and introductions. I do not remember the name of the pastor giving the invocation prayer but later learned he was on the United Way Board. To get the event started was quite a relief and after I made my comments, Jeff spoke, and did a great job. Just as we were getting ready with the shovels, Senator Bird drove in. His breakdown was a flat tire, and someone had stopped and helped with the tire change. Once the ground was broken for the new building, we all went to Elmtree, our group home, for refreshments and the enjoyment of talking with the residents, who were at the groundbreaking event. The new facility would be their new place of employment. I always invited the local press to attend our events and help, if appropriate, with writing an article for the newspaper. It was a great day for the Elmtree residents.

The staff at Elmtree, under the supervision of Debbie DeBusk, were as good as could be found anywhere as they were not just trainers and caregivers. No, they were friends and shared their lives with the home residents. I personally enjoyed the functions held there with the parties, the holiday celebrations, and the resident’s involvement in the community. The group participated in parades, community events, and all banking, shopping, and the activities of any family. I loved to join them as often as my schedule allowed. We moved into our new Giles County facility on September 24^th and held an open house celebration for the community and other guests in November.

            As I close out my recollection for the year of 1984, I had become the chair of the state agency’s committee on Mental Health and Mental Retardation, been elected president of the state association for 1985 and continued to facilitate colleague meetings in our region. I must also mention the fun events held for families, clients, residents, staff, and board members. Christmas was always celebrated for the whole workday with Christmas trees, Santa Claus, good food and some families would drop by. Of course, there were gifts, music by a disc jockey and an annual bonus for everyone. Other holiday events were celebrated as well. We continued to hold family and other stakeholders’ meetings. Our company picnics were enjoyed by all.

DENOUNCING SHADOWS / CHOOSING FUTURES

POST #11

It was early November 1983 and time for the VaARF annual conference. The organizations in Northern Virginia were responsible for the conference. The organizations in Southwest and Blue Ridge forums were excited about attending the conference because we knew the folks in Northern Virginia would try to outdo our “Navigating the Rehab Waters” from the last annual conference. At one of our regional meetings, I suggested we make the trip to the conference in Alexandria by bus. After some discussion we all agreed, and I volunteered to make the arrangements. Folks in Virginia west of Radford would have to drive there because that would be our point of departure. We planned stops in Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville. The day came to travel and by the time we left our last stop the ride had become a festive event. There were coolers with beverages and someone from Danville had a music box. There were lots of laughter and a few drinks before we arrived at our hotel in Alexandria. On the bus ride the song, “Under the Boardwalk” was playing and when it stopped someone shouted, “Play it again!” The song was played over and over again as we were all singing along. When we arrived, the northern Virginia gang were anxiously awaiting the bus arrival. I remember seeing Woody at a third-floor window waving at the bus and the load of us guys and gals waving back. It was dinner on your own the first evening and on returning to the hotel, most everyone gathered in one of the large rooms with comfortable furniture and a large fireplace. After a while it had become late for me and I went to my room. I had fallen asleep when the fire alarm went off and my roommate, Ron Burnop, called me about the same time. He was from Marion and still hanging around the gathering room. I slipped on my trousers and shoes, without socks, and headed for the stairway. Someone on the stairway must not have been able to reserve a handicap accessible room as a couple of guys were trying to get him down the stairway in his wheelchair. There was no smoke in the stairway section, so I took time to assist and we did get down and out to the street. Most all the guests were outside by then, including Gordan Ownby and he was in his nightshirt. Gordan worked in George Pugh’s department at the DRS office in Richmond. The fire was not serious, just a trash can incident, so we were able to return to our rooms without much delay.

            The next evening, after a day of sessions, we had a exciting cruise on the Potomac River. It was a dinner cruise with a band. The food was great and the band’s music good. Someone, apparently one who had been on the bus ride, asked the band leader to play “Under the Boardwalk” and announced the gang from the bus would now perform a line dance as they sang “Under the Boardwalk”. I hesitated to immediately join the dancers, but with encouragement, joined at one end of the line. Later in the evening at my table, one of the guys expressed some concern about the boat listing and one of the gals thought the boat was going to turn over. Discussion started and others joined in about the list and I spoke up to not worry as the boat list was not something to be concerned about. Some of the guys started estimating the degree of the list and some wagers were being made. The discussion continued and someone asked me what I thought, and I said about three degrees and the only comment I received was some boos. I suggested we go to the bridge and ask the helmsman about the list. Several of us went topside and I climbed the few steps up to the wheelhouse. The door was open, and I asked the person on the helm about the list degree. The person on the helm was an attractive young lady, and she spoke out loud, “About three degrees.” Hinkle and Chernish were crowding me on the steps and were not sure they heard her and asked again to repeat the list degree, and they again heard about three degrees. That was not the end of the story as I did not mention to the concerned passengers anything about my previous shipyard experiences. Part of my responsibilities on submarine contracts was to ensure that subs positioned at piers were maintained in a trim status with minor lists.

RENOUNCING SHADOWS, CHOOSING FUTURES

Blog 10

            In August of 1983 Dr. Joseph Fisher, Secretary of Human Resources, and Al Dickerson, Commissioner of the Department of Rehabilitation Services, flew into the New River Valley Airport. I met them there and we drove over to Giles County where I took them to the new industrial park where we had purchased a site to build a new manufacturing facility and employment training center. We had erected a 4’ X 8’ sign on the site with all the facility information displayed. We had outgrown our facility in the town of Narrows and the new industrial park near the town of Pearisburg was more centralized and near our group home Elmtree. After a walkthrough of Elmtree Secretary Fisher, Commissioner Dickerson, and I then rode over the mountain to Blacksburg and went by the New River House project and I explained our connection to that facility. Then it was on to Radford and a visit to Parkview and the New River Valley Workshop. The tour was informative, particularly for Dr. Fisher. I provided him with a booklet that I had personally produced, and it was entitled “Everything I Need to Know about Rehabilitation Facilities”. I drove the Secretary and Commissioner back to the airport, thanked them for the visit and they boarded the state plane and departed the New River Valley District.

            It was early November 1983 and time for the VaARF annual conference. The organizations in Northern Virginia were responsible for the conference. The organizations in Southwest and Blue Ridge forums were excited about attending the conference because we knew the folks in Northern Virginia would try to outdo our “Navigating the Rehab Waters” from the last annual conference. At one of our regional meetings, I suggested we make the trip to Alexandria in a bus. After some discussion we all agreed, and I volunteered to make the arrangements. Folks in Virginia west of Radford would have to drive there because that would be our point of departure. We planned stops in Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Charlottesville. The day came to travel and by the time we left our last stop the ride had become a festival event. There were coolers with beverages and someone from Danville had a music box. There was lots of laughter and a few drinks before we arrived at our hotel in Alexandria. On the bus ride the song, “Under the Boardwalk” was playing and when it stopped someone shouted, “Play it again!” The song was played over and over as we were all singing along. When we arrived, the northern Virginia gang were anxiously awaiting the bus arrival. I remember seeing Woody at a third-floor window waving at the bus and the load of us guys and gals waving back. It was dinner on your own the first evening and on returning to the hotel, most everyone gathered in one of the large rooms with comfortable furniture and a large fireplace. It was late and I went to my room. I had fallen asleep when the fire alarm went off and my roommate, Ron Burnop, called me about the same time. He was from Marion and still hanging around the gathering room. I slipped on my trousers and shoes, without socks, and headed for the stairway. Someone in the stairway must not have been able to reserve a handicap accessible room as a couple of guys were trying to get him down the stairway in his wheelchair. There was no smoke in the stairway, so I took time to assist and did get down and out of the street. Most all the guests were outside by then, including Gordan Ownby and he was in his nightshirt. Gordan worked in George Pugh’s department at the DRS office in Richmond. The fire was not serious, just a trash can incident, so we were able to return to our rooms without much delay. As usual I quickly feel back to sleep having good thoughts about the conference ahead.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Blog 9

           Our state association, VaARF, started 1983 with a new association management team, Easter and Associates from Charlottesville. I chaired the association’s legislative committee and as the year progressed, I think Peter Easter was more impressed with us than we were with him. We later terminated the contract with Easter and Associates and hired a lady from Lynchburg with tons of experience and great political connections. The lady was Louise Cunningham and after we completed an afternoon of interviews being held in the boardroom at Richmond Goodwill Industries we met in Cecil McFarland’s office. As we discussed the candidates for a while, Cecil spoke up and said, “Let’s hire the blonde,” and we did. Cecil was a dedicated, experienced, and a joy to have in our group and we all loved to be in his presence.

            Our industry leaders and members continued to educate (not lobby as that is not allowed for not-for-profits eligible for using government funding under state and federal regulations) members and committees of Virginia’s Legislative Bodies. We also continued to work with the State’s Administration and specific State Agencies. Included in the state budget for the next state fiscal year was a $1,200,000.00 new allocation for individuals served by all the service providers. As I recall, $1,000,000.00 of those funds were taken from the Department of Social Services budget request. An oversight committee had been required by the budget allocation language, and I was selected to chair that committee. We met at least quarterly or as needed to keep apprised of allocation utilization. The Commonwealth’s new Governor, Chuck Robb, was interested in our industry. His administration, in their budget recommendations to the money committees of the General Assembly, in his second year was that funds be made available for economic development. The funds were for the use by our industry and would be in the form of grants to assist our programs and provide more employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. I served a couple years on the awards committee for reviewing and approving the grant applications. The second year of service on this awards committee the New River Valley Workshop had applied for a replacement transportation van. I abstained, as appropriate, from the voting on my organization’s application. However, I was pleased to see that every rider on that van route had handwritten a note of their support for a van replacement. Vans were much needed in rural areas of the state, and our grant application was approved.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Post 8

Construction of the Parkview apartment complex was complete, and residents were moving in. Jack Riley had assigned one of his professional staff to assist the residents with their new independence. These residents were selected on an individual needs assessment basis, family situation, ability to learn how to shop, prepare meals, do laundry, and complete housekeeping duties. These individuals had never lived on their own. They previously were living in group homes, with older parents, siblings, or some other group setting. It was a challenge to train and assist thirteen individuals with disabilities to function independently. They, of course, had learned many helpful daily living skills, but now they were living alone in their own apartment. Our staff did an amazing job with this challenge and duties were often outside of regular hours and on weekends. These costs and the many functions of daily living were all funded by the New River Valley Workshop with no financial help from any government agency or local program. However, the mortgage payments were through the HUD Section 8 program.

As all the residential programs and properties were settling down, Jack and I were venturing down another larger residential path. We had another HUD project developing and it involved a forty-two-unit apartment complex. After considering a one site complex it occurred to me that three apartment complexes, one in Christiansburg, one in Floyd, and one in Pulaski would better serve the New River Valley District. We went to Richmond to suggest constructing three facilities in lieu of one. We had identified and essentially secured a construction site for the forty-two-unit apartment complex and now had to do some additional site investigation. The HUD officials had agreed and as this project was being developed the board of directors and I were discussing how we were going to assist and support forty-two more individuals in three different counties. It was a good question, as client funding was changing, resident funding was nonexistent, and none was developing at the state or local level. The decision was made for me to find another option or find a partner. I learned that the Southern Baptists were interested in housing for the elderly and people with disabilities. So, I asked my younger brother “Binky”, a Baptist preacher in Wytheville, to arrange a meeting with their leaders to discuss a partnership. Arrangements for the meeting were made, and it was held in our Board Room in Radford. By the end of the meeting, I realized that it sounded like it would take a vote of every member of every Baptist Church in our section of the world to decide the feasibility of such a venture and that would take months or years. All I had for a decision was about four weeks. That idea was abandoned, and I thought about the Warm Hearth Village in Blacksburg. We met with their leadership. A new board of directors was established to oversee the construction of a forty-two-unit complex in the Warm Hearth Village that would serve the elderly and handicapped. Two or three members of each board met a few times to ensure the project would succeed. Before the final agreement, I had to make another trip to Richmond and convinced the HUD officials to allow us to bring the three individual fourteen-unit complexes they had just recently approved, back to a single forty-two-unit apartment complex. Approval was granted and a beautiful forty-two-unit apartment complex was built in the Warm Hearth Village, and the name of the building is the New River House. There was enough money available for the project to add a ceramic lab, a music room, and a meeting room on the lower level of the building.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Post 7

After returning from the trip to Nashville, I was anxious to continue my work on a new project. The plant manager from a furniture manufacturing company in Galax had contacted me about our Radford facility producing components for bedroom furniture. Drawer sides and backs for dressers, chest of drawers, and armories would be manufactured and delivered to factories in Galax. I had several things to consider, i.e., material suppliers, purchasing two new machines, costing, pricing, and quoting. I drew out the machine line needed for producing the various types required and decided to design a special sanding machine for the production line. The special sanding machine was produced by Patrick Enterprises in Giles County. It had several features to accommodate individual operators with limited skills for a fast-moving production. One of the major features was a bass boat seat (with seat belt) mounted to a swivel post so the operator could, while seated move back and forth as needed to reach the incoming material, the operating controls, and a grab bar.

I had a chance to observe a young man with uncontrollable shakes along with other limitations operate the sander. The professional rehabilitation staff had requested we give this young man a chance to operate the sanding machine. I was skeptical but agreed and he was assisted onto the operator’s seat and was able to keep pace with the fast-moving line. I observed him from a distance and was amazed that he could keep up and not shake. The referring agency transferred him to another program after a few weeks, but I was proud that the machine design was effective.

We later purchased finishing line equipment that sprayed various finishing materials onto the drawer stock before the cut-off step. The finishing line cleaned, painted and dried the stock. The drying process was in an ultraviolet cabinet with infeed and outfeed conveyors. This processing equipment allowed the employment of four additional individuals enrolled in our programs.

The next month was our state association’s annual conference, and our region was responsible for the conference venue, programs, presentations, guests, menus, and entertainment for the evenings. After a couple of conference planning meetings, the members of the planning committee agreed to my idea for the three-day conference. The theme was “Navigating the Rehab Waters”. The sessions for day one and day two were classroom settings with each session facilitated by one of our regional leaders. Each session developed an instruction on the “How To” for several essential functions common to each participating organization. The meal for the first evening was seafood and a sailboat filled with ice was the buffet line. Mike Trobridge provided the boat. The evening of the second day the instructions were, approved, typed, copied, and placed in manuals and distributed to the attendees on the final day of the conference.

As planned the session facilitators were presented with awards for the most outstanding instruction sessions. The presentations were made at the closing luncheon and three awards were presented. One of our shops made the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place trophies which I designed. I made the presentations and I told the audience that three retired Navy Petty Officers on the last evening had read the manual and selected the three most informative and usable instructions and rated them one, two, and three. The third place was a rope placed on a beautiful wooden base with brass plate. I announced that the rope was found in the Bermuda Triangle and identified as off a Norwegian Freighter. Second place trophy was pipe with valve off the “African Queen” and on a wooden base. First place trophy was a plimsoll mark cut from the hull of a shipwreck. Great Conference and Renee Fisher, CEO from the Bedford Facility, won the First Place Trophy.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Post 6

In October 1982, several Virginia Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (Va ARF) members attended a national conference in Nashville, Tennessee. I had met many of my colleagues and was anxious to meet representatives from other states. I drove to Bristol and joined Welthy Soni and two of her staff to make the balance of the trip with them. We stopped near Rogersville TN and picked up John Theobald. John operated programs in East Tennessee and in Southwest Virginia. I do not recall any specifics of the session’s topics except the one on the last day. It was a general session. Most of Virginia’s attendees had already left. Welthy, her staff and John were still in the Hotel. I sat in the last session for a brief time and realized the panel making the presentations included Virginia’s George Pugh and I thought someone from Virginia Commonwealth University. George was the director whose section in Virginia’s Department of Rehabilitative Services contracting with Rehabilitation Facilities. The subject being presented sounded like “WORKSHOPS WITHOUT WALLS”. I was not sure but it sounded threatening. I did not see anyone in the audience from Virginia so I hurriedly left to find a CEO from Virginia. I found Ellen Walker from Danville and one of Welthy’s staff and they followed me back to the session. I was correct about the subject and was troubled about the suggested changes in service delivery and about the new training and employment concept being presented. Although today this model does not trouble me but, its implementation and utilization did then and does to this day.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Post 5

Each working day I was always an early starter and if there was a staff meeting that morning, the first thing out of my mouth was, “As I was shaving this morning, it occurred to me we have something new to consider.” It was always an idea, a new project, a solution to a problem I had slept on or an improvement we should make. I usually would hear someone whisper, “I wish he would grow a beard. However, we always enjoyed our staff meetings as they were informative, productive, did not last long, and would give us a fresh start for the challenges of the day.

I thoroughly enjoyed the production side of the business and often got involved in the details, as manufacturing processes intrigued me. On an occasion to assist a colleague with a large order for assembling a small product, we received several containers of parts. The items to be assembled were closet savers. Each assembly was made up of three pieces, two hooks and a connecting arm containing five holes for clothes hangers. The assembling steps required the operator, using a rubber mallet, to attach accurately one plastic hook to one end of the arm by striking the arm with the mallet with enough force to join the two pieces and repeat the step for the other end. The connection was a ball and socket fit and some of our client workers were unable to easily make the connection in one, two, or more strikes. It was also discouraging for some workers to get the ball and socket properly aligned before the mallet strike.

I was blessed with a God given talent to almost always find better, faster, or simpler methods to accomplish manufacturing tasks. It was late in the week when the containers arrived, and we were anxious to get started assembling the closet savers. We had a few workers and supervisors trying to make the two connecting steps using a rubber mallet as instructed. Some of those trying were not successful enough to be assigned to the project. I was not satisfied that some of our workers were not able to work on this project. So off I go for the weekend with a few of the parts. I was back on Monday morning with an assembling device. It worked so well, anyone could easily operate the device, and we made another one. Finished the order in surely record time. Even now, years later, I am thrilled to remember some of the success our client workers had on this project.

Renouncing Shadows, Choosing Futures

Post 4

After passage of the Study Resolution by the Legislature, committee assignments were made, and meetings scheduled. The committee consisted of seven members and three of those were executive directors of rehabilitation facilities, Renee Fisher, Woody Van Valkenburgh and Alex Karris. Their first meeting was held in one of the meeting rooms in the General Assembly building in Richmond. I was happy to see Wand Teel on the committee. Mike Trobridge, Gus Fagan, and I made the first presentations in the meeting. Due to the work of this committee and to the efforts of individual organizations and their stakeholders, the General Assembly included in the state budget $1,700,000 for supporting individuals benefiting from our programs and services. Leaders in our industry were interested in which state agency would be responsible for administrating the funds. After consideration, we agreed on the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS). The Department of Social Services (DSS) had at that time the responsibility for setting vendor service rates. That department had a well-established Vendor Application Package and the staff to service applications. But DSS was contracting with only a few Community Rehabilitation Facilities. The Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (DMHMR) was the agency that regulated and funded the local Community Services Board system which in some cases was no longer contracting with our industry. So, logically the DRS became our recommendation, and that agency was selected to administer the new funding.

An allocation formula was needed to ensure the $1,700,000 fund was equitably utilized. A committee was formed to develop the formula and the members were: Carol Singer-Metz DMHMR, Peggy Smith DSS, George Pugh DRS, Woody Van Valkenburgh and Bob Huff from the vendors. In our first meeting, Carol proposed that the productive level for clients utilizing the new funds should be set at 75%. I remember saying, “Well, Carol what will your agency do with all the people in your group homes with low productivity rates attending our programs as we will not be able to serve them under your plan”. The idea was immediately dropped. Further discussion was had with no significant outcomes. George chaired the committee and asked that we all come to the next meeting with allocation formula recommendations. It was several weeks before we met again, and no one had developed a formula except me, and I had two. My first formula, which considered population percentages, service area sizes, number of clients and service area overlaps was accepted. It was also agreed that only organizations losing Title XX funds were eligible for accessing the new state funds. The new funds were labeled Extended Sheltered Employment (ESE). George was never pleased with this designation so several years later I came up with Extended Employment Services (EES). George liked it and it stuck.