JAN'S GROUP HOME SUPPORT

i’m isn’t just about Microsoft instant messaging and emailing with hotmail. It is about having a say in the money that is being made when you use their free services. You get to choose one of the participating charities to receive a portion of the proceeds from the ads.

Here is a video

Here is more information if you want to participate

Reduce Utility Bills just added a new category-Gasoline. The first post to help lower what you will pay at the pump was posted today, Shopping Strategies to Lower Gasoline Expenses! It seems appropriate as we celebrate the America’s freedom on this 4th of July, it would be nice to be free of the high expense of filling up the tank. Not only personally, but also for our group homes. The less money going out to fill up the tank, the more money available for things like:

• Outings
• Groceries
• Vacations
• Household items

The post has some good suggestions for planning shopping. Some clients don’t do well on long shopping trips even if it does save the house some money. Ways to save help group home residents tolerate longer trips:

• Plan something that they enjoy at the end of the trip
• Bring snacks and drinks
• Stop at a park in between stores
• Have extra staff to occupy residents who don’t like to shop while staff and resident who enjoys shopping shop
• Do shopping near where resident is picked up from DTA (day treatment activity) or work program
• If residents don’t tolerate shopping, shop without residents after transport to DTA or work program

Planning trips with residents tolerance levels in mind can reduce the mileage driven by the group home vehicle and it will in turn reduce gas expenses.

At work the other day I heard a disturbing story of a customer at Wal-mart who tried to help another customer who was disabled and it went quite wrong.

Background:

At the Wal-mart that I work at there are several customers that are in wheel chairs that come in regularly that we as associates are familiar with. Some we haave gotten to know because they need help and others we have gotten to know because of their friendliness.

There is an amazing man with Cerable Palsy. He is unable to speak and has very limited fine motor function and uses his head rest to control his motorized wheelchair. He is a brave and determined soul who comes shopping alone with a note taped to his wheel chair so where he goes, he can get help shopping for the items he needs. Even if I don’t help him, I usually go and say hello. Since I have worked in group homes for so long, I have no problem offering to wipe his face since he tends to have some drool and is unable to wipe his own face. He is an inspiring man to me because he is not afraid to drive his wheel chair alone to the stores and to shop.

Do Gooder Gone Bad

This gentleman was in the McDonalds eating ice cream. A woman came up and saw a bump on his head. She immediately ASSUMED that he had been assaulted. She asked him if he was OK and where was his wallet. (Keep in mind, he was just sitting there eating ice cream, not giving any indication of needing help.) She then proceeded to go through his backpack looking for his wallet and now she ASSUMED that he had his wallet stolen because she couldn’t find it in his backpack (he does not keep it there). He became very upset with this stranger direspectfully rummaging through his stuff and tried to get away from her. Headrest controls aren’t real easy to use anyways, and being so upset, his movement in the wheel chair wasn’t as controled as it usually is. She persisted and he communicated to her the best he could which included loud noises and large motions with his arms and legs, because of the severity of his Cerable Palsy he is unable to speak. Now this woman ASSUMED he was having a siezure and wanted 911 called! By this time there was several managers and associates gathered around trying to explain to the woman that he comes in all the time and he’s fine and she just needs to leave him alone. She went so far as to threaten lawsuits because Wal-mart didn’t provide medical attention for his “siezure”. I guess finally the lady backed off and he was allowed to get away from the entire situation. It would be almost comical if it weren’t a true story.

I hope this doesn’t affect him going shopping alone. I wasn’t there, but if I was, I would’ve contacted the group home so that they would be aware of what had happened and helped him to deal with it. My guess is that since he has such a brave and determined nature, it won’t slow him down and he will continue with the highest level of independence he is capable of.

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