UCP Mission Moments from Around the Globe
MAY FEATURE:
UCP of New York City’s Hydroponic Grow Classroom
For nearly a year, UCP of NYC and Boswyck Farms have been collaborating to expand UCP of NYC’s hydroponics classroom and develop plans for a program. In the hydroponics classroom, program participants learn about growing fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs indoors, in a windowless and soil-free environment. The ribbon-cutting event marks UCP of NYC’s readiness to take training and growing to new heights.
The grow room, which is outfitted with fully accessible systems for individuals with a range of disabilities, is currently producing nearly 60 heads of lettuce, with nearly 60 seedlings growing in rotation. The program participants are also growing tomatoes and chili peppers, and looking forward to introducing herbs and other greens to their garden.
Participants in the hydroponics program are learning about innovative solutions for farming as well as the benefit of fresh fruits and vegetables for improved health and nutrition. The classroom teacher and specialists from Boswyck Farms work directly with participants to research equipment and tools, learn about care for the plantings, and plan new growth projects while promoting concepts of sustainability and healthy living through hydroponic gardening.
Read more about the classroom’s celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony and learn more about UCP of NYC and their hydroponic classroom.
Infinitec – infinite potential through assistive technology
(April Feature)
UCP of Greater Chicago introduced Infinitec (infinite potential through technology) as its technology program, which aims to advance independence and promote inclusive opportunities for individuals through the use of technology.
With the creation of the Infinitec website, users are provided with resources, an online classroom, webinars, access to experts and more. The initiative focuses on four primary areas of service:
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Training and Education includes face-to-face and distance learning for professional development.
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Information Services consists of extensive web and hard copy resources. An additional innovative resource is InfiniTEXT, an online, accessible instructional materials collection which provides access to over 11,000 digital text files for qualified K-12 students with print disabilities.
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Access to Expertise includes access to highly experienced technical assistance staff.
- Equipment Services includes discount purchase programs and a lending library of equipment for the state of Illinois.
Learn more about UCP of Greater Chicago, the Infinitec program and watch a video from ABC 7 Chicago highlighting the collaboration of local vendors to benefit UCP.
RESPITALITY Program – Reenergizing Families
(March Feature)
UCP of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties has been providing families with much needed mini ‘vacations’ for almost 25 years through its RESPITALITY Program.
The UCP RESPITALITY Program offers parents of children with special needs the opportunity to get away for a relaxing weekend. Parents are given the gift of free weekend accommodations at a local partner hotel and for those who do not have their own sitter, UCP will make every effort to provide a qualified respite worker to take care of the children in their own home at no cost to the family.
RESPITALITY weekends provide couples and single parents a chance to get away and have a much-needed break; serving on average 70-80 families each year.
Learn more about UCP of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties and watch a video on what RESPITALITY means to the Rosen family.
New, Affordable, & Accessible Housing
(February Feature)
UCP of Delaware introduced Garrett House on January 31. Mayor James Baker attended and helped dedicate the new building that will provide new housing for people with disabilities in a historical building, Garrett House in Quaker Hill, Delaware.
During the mid-1990s, the original building had deteriorated badly. The City of Wilmington gained control and boarded it up until UCP acquired the building from the City to create new housing for people with physical disabilities.
The lack of housing for people with disabilities has long been known in Delaware. In 2003, Governor Ruth Ann Minner started the Commission on Community-Based Alternatives for Persons with Disabilities. The Commission identified housing as a goal. IRI Executive Director Larry Henderson asked whether the City of Wilmington had a property that both agencies could develop as new, affordable, and accessible housing. The City recommended Garrett House, and donated the building and property to the project.
UCP became owner of the building, and took on the job of fund-raising to renovate the original building and to construct an additional number of apartments.
The building was in great disrepair with the rear of the building havingfallen down, aroof filled with holes, and years of water damage. The interior was unusable and needed new floor support for structural integrity. The front brick wall of the three stories were in danger of falling into the street. The goal to create seven accessible apartments as housing for residents with disabilities would be a fund-raising challenge with an $1.8 million price tag.
Since Garrett House is located in the Quaker Hill community, the historical nature of the building also had to be preserved, and new construction would be required to compliment the original design, especially the windows and the lines of the building.
The capital funding for Garrett House came from a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Additional funding came from the City of Wilmington, the Delaware State Housing Authority, the Delaware Division of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), New Castle County, JPMorganChase, Bank of America, First State Community Loan Fund, Delmarva Power, the Longwood Foundation and Crystal Trust.
Garrett House was completed in December 2011, and includes three floors and an elevator. All interior doors are wide enough for those who are wheelchair users, and each apartment has its own washing machine and dryer. The building has two accessible means of entrance and exit, and a parking lot with five parking spaces for those with wheelchair accessible vans.
Garrett House will provide independent, residential apartments for adults with physical disabilities who meet federal income guidelines. The apartments will be open to people with any physical disability, not just those who have Cerebral Palsy. All of UCP and IRI’s programs are open in this manner.
Because it was funded with a HUD grant, Garrett House comes with a rent subsidy for people with disabilities who are low income.
Read more about Garrett House and watch the video highlights from the dedication at NewsWorks.
Click here to learn more about UCP of Delaware.
Meet Elvin Alvarez: A Young DSP & Manager Making A Big Difference at Miami CP Residential Services
(January Feature)
Elvin Alvarez is not your typical 26-year-old. Ask anyone at Miami Cerebral Palsy (MCP) Residential Services -- a program run by UCP of South Florida -- and you’ll quickly learn that this young Colombian is a star in his profession a rock-solid Direct Support Professional(DSP) who also is now a Residential Services Coordinator. Part of his job includes training others to become DSPs -- he’s that good!
Consider these Elvin Alvarez milestones:
- Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Organizational Psychology from the Universidad Tecnologica de Bolivar in Colombia, South America at the age of 20;
- Among a select few nationwide DSP-Cs who participated in the formal portfolio submission review and critique process for DSP-Registered seeking to gain DSP-Credentialed status; and
- First DSP and MCP employee to earn DSP-Credentialed status from the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP).
Alvarez’s thirst for knowledge and accomplishments endure still. In the fall of 2012, he begins working on his Master’s in Behavioral Analysis at Florida International University. “Then I’d like to start work on my Ph.D, maybe in Clinical Psychology,” Elvin says. “I am motivated, and always have been, to continue learning, to continue my education. Otherwise I would not be happy.”
Elvin came to MCP Residential in 2007 when he left his homeland in Colombia to work in the United States. He found MCP and didn’t know if he’d like the work. He did. Alvarez began as others do – as a DSP Apprentice – and was assigned to the Braddock facility, which supports 24 people with varying disabilities. Today he is the Assistant Administrator at Braddock, but works daily with clients, trains DSPs, and at heart, remains a DSP in spirit and in is normal work day.
KellenHassell is the Braddock Facility Administrator and Elvin’s boss. Hassell says this about his young Assistant Administrator: “One of the things that everyone can agree upon is that Elvin is absolutely just fun to work with and be around. He’s confident and secure and takes his role supporting individuals with disabilities and our staff very seriously.”
Hassell remembers a situation that he says exemplifies Elvin’s maturity and poise under pressure. In February 2009 one of the agency’s vehicles was carrying four MCP Braddock residents on an outing. Elvin was in the car behind them. Another car ran a red light and plowed into the MCP vehicle.
“It was a pretty horrific accident that resulted in some serious injuries. Elvin was one of the first people on the scene, intervened, stepped-up, kept his composure amongst the chaos, and played a key role in relaying critical information to our Executive Director and to the EMS/911 Rescue personnel for the four individuals and staff under his supervision,” Hassell recounted. “He had valuable and key information for the paramedics about how to deal with our clients and their disabilities. Once those four individuals came back to our facility, Elvin worked very closely with our interdisciplinary team and medical department to support the full recovery of those who sustained the most severe and extensive injuries.”
Hassell added this: “He enjoys taking charge in a crisis situation when things don’t go according to plan. He doesn’t panic, he keeps his composure, he doesn’t take things personally, and he really seems to respond very well under pressure and enjoys taking on that ultimate responsibility.”
During National DSP Recognition Week, the Florida Association of Direct Support Professionals (FADSP) honored him as a “DSP Making a Difference.”
When you ask Alvarez about his primary responsibilities, he gives you a list of the top 12, and among those are: works with families and outside providers….maintains all client information and records….conducts quality assurance monitoring….helps with staff development and training and is a reviewing officer for DSPs….on call 365/24/7 for anything that comes up….participates as On-Duty staff on a rotating basis on weekends and holidays and is Officer on Duty for weekends and holidays.
Alvarez’s motivation to learn also included the College of Direct Support (CDS) curriculum. “We have no training like this in my country. I enjoyed the CDS curriculum because it was something additional to all of the training components that I did once I was hired at MCP. I really liked all the courses because they show ‘the big picture’ of what DSPs need to be doing to provide great supports. Also, it was important because I learned additional things I did not learn in my normal training.”
This matches his passion for becoming a DSP-Credentialed through NADSP. “When I first read about the NADSP credentialing program (DSP-R; DSP-C; DSP-S), I said to myself I would become a DSP-C,” he explained. “It was not an easy task, but after several workshops I understood the right way to create portfolios, and then I could complete my DSP-C application package. It was fun doing this. It made me think beyond just providing services to individuals with disabilities. Currently, I am helping (coaching) DSPs at MCP to do their DSP-C application packages.”
Hassell described one other problem that Alvarez solved. For a while, MCP had struggled with creating, organizing and maintaining a stable group of On-Call DSPs to step into roles in a last-minute or emergency basis. He described the system that was used was “inconsistent and not always efficient or maximized staff talent or effectiveness.”
In stepped Alvarez, who had come to understand the need for stability in the lives of those they support. “Looking at this problem with a big-picture mentality in that it was impacting nearly all MCP residents and staff, Elvin was able to attack it and solve the problem employing a great attention to detail and by remaining organized,” Hassell said. “He became the ultimate gate-keeper for the On-Call staff at the Braddock Facility. He created a simple, yet perfectly designed system of organizing the On-Call staff schedules at our Braddock Facility by working 1:1 with our Residential Service Coordinator supervisors on a weekly basis in order to plan ahead for the need for On-Call and additional fill-in staff based on what is happening in the individuals’ lives at that time and also planning for the unexpected by allowing for free blocks where On-Call staff would be available in the event of a last-minute change or emergency.”
The result? Alvarez’s system matched On-Call DSPs with clients they knew and who the people being supported knew.
“The bottom line is that Elvin was able to essentially see both sides of the issue. Unlike those who favor one approach over the other, Elvin has shown increasingly that he is not wedded to one particular mode of conceptualizing or solving a problem,” Hassell added. “Those of us who know him really well see where he typically falls on an issue, but he has demonstrated an ability to literally use both his left brain and his right brain (without prejudice) in order to work to implement whatever is necessary, whatever the situation demands – not what he arbitrarily prefers. That’s another extremely significant way that Elvin’s maturity as a person and professional greatly impacts us at MCP.”
He began as a DSP. Today, he manages and helps train DSPs and down deep he’s still a DSP. “We make a difference in their lives,” Elvin said. “That’s what being a DSP is all about. It’s simple.”
Miami Cerebral Palsy Residential Services, Inc., is an affiliate of UCP of South Florida selected as part of the Top 125 Companies to work for by Training Magazine for four consecutive years.
UCP of Orange County Helps Young Boy Live a Life Without Limits
(December Feature)
It was New Years Eve when new parents Frank and Geri Kate got the life-altering news. Their son, Granden, had been diagnosed with Jeune syndrome, a genetic order affecting the growth of long bones.
Frank and Geri Kate struggled watching their son’s slow development. Jeune syndrome affects the rib bones, and is a restrictive lung disorder. Granden also had to use a feeding tube for nourishment. He couldn’t spend any time on his belly, which slowed his physical development.
Frank and Geri decided to bring Granden to UCP to learn more about his disorder. “It’s really empowering to have knowledge, as compared to feeling helpless,” said Geri.
UCP of Orange County provides physical therapy to Granden, helping him learn to roll over, stand up and walk. He also receives feeding therapy, learning to eat so he gets enough calories through his mouth to be able to remove his feeding tube. Before therapy, he hadn’t used his mouth muscles to eat, so it was difficult for him to form words, and this therapy is an important step for him in learning to speak.
According to his Frank, “Despite his challenges every day, he is one of the happiest children we’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering.”
Sixty percent of Jeune syndrome patients don’t live past two years of age. Thanks to the care he receives at UCP, Granden just celebrated his second birthday.
“If we were not able to take Granden to UCP, we would have just been on a waiting list. And while we spent time on that waiting list, he would have just fallen further and further behind other children of his age,” said Frank.
With UCP’s help, Granden is truly living a life without limits. Click here to learn more about UCP of Orange County.
UCP Helps City Resident Achieve Dream
(November Feature)
UCP of Central Maryland was recently featured for their role in assisting Wayne Chambers to live a life without limits. Below is just a brief excerpt from the story but you can read the entire piece here.
Wayne Chambers was 15 when he suffered from a drug- and alcohol-induced coma that resulted in spastic quadriplegia and legal blindness. Today, Chambers is 27 and more mobile than he ever would have expected 12 years ago, thanks to United Cerebral Palsy of Central Maryland.
With the support of UCP and its staff in Cumberland, Chambers is now able to achieve his newfound dream of sharing his message to youths…
Chambers lives in one of UCP’s residential assisted-living units in Cumberland with two other people with disabilities. The Residential Services program provides barrier-free housing, personal care assistance, and life-skills training for adults with disabilities. Each home is modified to ensure accessibility and is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by UCP professionals.
Click here to learn more about UCP of Central Maryland and how to get involved.
Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s “The Cerebral Palsy Challenge”
(October Feature)
The Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s is one of UCP’s international affiliates based in Australia. The affiliate launched The Cerebral Palsy Challenge as an eight week team activity that began on September 6 and runs through October 31.
The Challenge requires participants to form a team of four where each person then tracks their daily step count (by wearing a pedometer) or other fitness activity on a personalized webpage. Participants are not limited to walking but can also track activities such as running, cycling, swimming and a number of other activities - including activities suitable for individuals with a disability.
Each team selects a division to enter based on the fitness level of Team Members. There are three divisions to choose from, each in the form of a different 'virtual mountain' that the team needs to climb by the end of the Challenge.
Each day, when team members enter their steps, the team will progress up its virtual mountain. The aim of the Challenge is for each team to reach the top by the end of the eight week period.
Click here to learn more about the challenge and The Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
Artwork Credits: Cerebral Palsy Alliance
Congratulations to UCP/CLASS on 60 Years of Service
(September Feature)
On September 12, UCP/CLASS in Pittsburgh, Pa. celebrated 60 years of service to the community. The landmark anniversary was celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony and festivities at their newest facility in Swissvale.
UCP/CLASS offers a variety of individualized services ranging from independent living skills training in the classroom to the community-based case management for social, recreational and residential supports.
To learn more and find how you can help support UCP/CLASS visit: http://www.ucpclass.org.
Photo Credits: Stephanie Rex via Patch.com
Camp Kelley Creek (August Feature)
Three years ago, UCP of San Luis Obispo started a summer camp that has become a popular destination. Camp Kelley Creek is a week long summer camp for adults with developmental disabilities. The program is designed to provide a fun outdoor experience and positive environment for each camper. Each year they have approximately 70-80 campers and in fact, this year, camp was completely sold out! and provided a memorable experience for 85 lucky campers! Daily activities for the 85 lucky campers included (but are not limited to): swimming, arts & crafts, nature excursions, music & movement, and evening campfires.
To learn more and find how you can help support UCP of San Luis Obispo and Camp Kelley Creek visit: http://www.ucp-slo.org.
UCP Wheels for Humanity (July Feature)
Since 1996, UCP Wheels for Humanity has helped more than 50,000 people with disabilities in more than 68 developing nations gain increased mobility and dignity. Watch the story of just one life that has been impacted through this program.
To learn more and find how you can help support UCP Wheels for Humanity visit: http://www.ucpwfh.org.
UCP of Central Florida
UCP of Central Florida, A Special Program for Kids with Special Needs
Check out UCP of Central Florida on the cover of the July publication of Orlando Family Magazine. Learn more about their programs and services at: http://www.ucpcfl.org.
UCP of Sacramento and Northern California
Autistic boy breaking through barriers with program’s help
Great article on UCP of Greater Sacramento's Autism Center for Excellence and how it is breaking barriers by helping to improve social skills of autistic children. Visit http://www.ucpsacto.org/ACE.htm to learn more about the program.