Disability and Progress-February 22, 2024-ProAct Eagan and Hudson

[00:00:00] Speaker A: KPI. [00:01:01] Speaker B: This is disability and progress, where we bring you insights into ideas about and discussions on disability topics. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Thanks so much for tuning in. Miguel Vargas is my engineer, Charlene Doll as my PR and research person. Hello, Charlene. [00:01:21] Speaker A: Good evening, everyone. [00:01:22] Speaker B: Good morning, everyone. Whatever it is, good day. Great, thank you. And I want to remind everyone, you are tuned to KFAI, 90.3 FM, Minneapolis, and kfai.org disability and progress. If you want to email us, you can email me at [email protected] this week we're speaking with Stephanie Osmond. Stephanie is the senior program manager for Dave support services at the Egan and Hudson proact sites. Did I get all that, Stephanie? [00:01:58] Speaker A: That is correct, yeah. [00:01:59] Speaker B: All right. Thank you so much. Can you start out a little bit? We will be talking all about proact and everything. You guys are doing a lot of stuff, so I'd like to start out by asking you what is proact and what is their mission statement? [00:02:19] Speaker A: You bet. Well, thank you for having me. I'm so excited to have this opportunity to talk about product and our services. Product, Inc. Is a nonprofit organization. We serve adults with disabilities, been in business for more than 50 years, and our mission is to provide the most person centered services to enhance the quality of life for adults with disabilities in areas of employment, life skills, and community inclusion. [00:02:52] Speaker B: And you yourself have been with proact for a long time. A little bit about what you did before then that prepared you for this job and how did you discover Proact? [00:03:04] Speaker A: Well, so I've been here for a little over 17 years and I had an apartment in college I needed to pay for and a car. Fortunately, I had a friend who worked in a group home, so there was an opening and that's how I started in direct care at a group home. Fell in love with it and the hours worked with my school schedule. Then when I graduated, needed something during the day, and I discovered there was an opening here at Proact. I hadn't heard about day services and where folks go during the day and found it. And I have been here since that day, so it's been pretty awesome. I grew up with an aunt with a disability as well. Yeah, I have history in my family, so it wasn't brand spanking new to me, but definitely fell in love with it as a career. So here I am. [00:04:07] Speaker B: I hear the term, especially in the last handful of years, person centered services, or person centered, thrown around a lot. Can you talk a little bit about that term and exactly what you think it means. [00:04:19] Speaker A: Absolutely. So there's a big push, and rightly so, to have the individual be more of a part of their life decisions. I think in the past, even before I started in the service industry, it was very system based. Let's get this paperwork signed and this is kind of the format of a person's life and how they should be so we can keep them safe and supervised. And now it's definitely more, the person we serve is more involved in the planning of what they need and what they want in their lives. So it's more person driven. What's important to you that's always asked for a person, so they get to really customize and be as independent as possible in their life choices. [00:05:15] Speaker B: So where do you walk the line with letting them be as independent as possible and suggesting, come on, you want to try this, you should try this. Because just like us, who always choose what we want or try to, we think we know what we want. But sometimes, unless somebody pushes you to try something, or unless you are adventurous and try things, you'll never discover anything new. [00:05:45] Speaker A: Definitely. So you definitely have someone who, some folks who may be a little timid to try something new. And we use some different strategies to help people get out and try different things. I'll tell you an example. Just last week we were trying a new adventure to one of the indoor petting zoos that are available in the metro area. And there was a person who really was hesitating to go, didn't want to, and we used some coaxing and we were like, let's get out. And they did it. Came back, loved it. I have the pictures to prove that they loved it, chatted with them afterwards. It can be challenging to get someone to try something new, but I feel like if we're diligent in just, we keep offering something new, eventually I think someone will try it. There's different tactics. It can be challenging, but it's very rewarding when you get to see someone try something new that they were shy about and they come back with a smile on their face. [00:06:57] Speaker B: Right. Excellent. Thank you for that. I want to talk a little bit about. You have several services, so I'd like to break it down a little bit and have you explain what they mean and what they include. So you do day services and enrichment programming. What does that mean exactly? [00:07:20] Speaker A: Yes. My role as senior program manager, day Support services is what I coordinate and manage. I supervise the entire team that provides those services. That's my area of expertise. Day support services is they come into our building and Egan, Hudson, Shakapee, Red Wing, those are all our sites. And they get to participate in all kinds of different activities. Leisure, in games, arts and crafts. Sky's the limit as to what we do. A lot of exercise, health and wellness. We teach essential life skills, personal safety, social skills. You just get to come in and have some fun. When we get out into the community, that's a huge part of our day support service and volunteering is definitely a huge part of day support service as well. So that is just enrichment, getting out, having fun, exploring different activities around the metro area that maybe they won't get the opportunity to do otherwise. So we get to have a good time in day support service. [00:08:30] Speaker B: Let's talk a little bit about the employment development services and placement. [00:08:35] Speaker A: You bet. So employment services is pretty comprehensive and that's a huge array of services. We start from the very beginning where it's. Let's talk about what kind of work you want to do. Let's explore those options. Now. Let's get ready for job interviews. Let's build resumes. We provide all of that pre employment work. We may go out. We have partnerships with some organizations that provide us with work experience so the participant can go and dabble in different areas of employment and see if they like it. And then there's helping someone find a job. Now let's go look and see what's out there and let's apply. Let's go do those interviews and we'll supply that support if they need it. Now, if someone has obtained the job, we're going to go out and we'll visit you while you're on the job, if you want us to, and help support you while you're there. So it's from the very beginning to ongoing. Once you have the job, we're going to help you maintain it if you want us to. So the employment services is huge and it's very comprehensive. [00:09:47] Speaker B: Do you kind of give them a little bit of practice, interviewing skills and things like that? How do you build their skills? [00:09:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. So you're going to have an employment specialist that you're working with so that it's very structured. You're both getting to know each other. It's not going to be a different staff each time you practice. You get to practice with the same person and you're definitely going down to what should you wear at the interview? What are some of the questions an interviewee or an interviewer could ask? And you're practicing with your employment specialist before you go on the interview. [00:10:29] Speaker B: Okay, you're tuned to KFAI 90.3 FM, Minneapolis, and kFai.org. This is disability and progress. My name is Sam. I'm the host of this show. Miguel is my engineer. We're speaking with Stephanie Osmond. Stephanie is the senior program manager for day support services at the Egan. And a lot of. They're kind of far apart, aren't they? [00:10:55] Speaker A: Yes. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Is this so, like, you never get bored if you. One day it was like, oh, I feel like a better drive. I'm going to go to this site. How did you manage the two that you have? [00:11:07] Speaker A: Not that I want to admit it, but sometimes those are the choices. Sometimes. So how we got into Hudson. Proact started a site in Hudson in 2009 and I had actually been at Proact for a few years in Egan and I took interest in starting that satellite program in 2009. Then I came back to Egan because this day support service coordinator manager position opened and that was really my calling. I really wanted to do that. So a different manager took over in Hudson, and then during the pandemic, we slimmed down a bit and I went back to managing the Hudson site. So I'm back in Hudson kind of full circle and it's been great. I really like being at both sites and it keeps me busy keeping track of two different states regulations and licensing standards. [00:12:11] Speaker B: Are there different rules and regulations between the two states? [00:12:16] Speaker A: There are big. [00:12:18] Speaker B: Is it a lot different? [00:12:20] Speaker A: It's not totally different. I would say it's kind of the same difference, but there are different terminologies. Minnesota, we'll call it day support service for those enrichment activities. In Wisconsin, they call it adult day service. So you just kind of have to remember what site you're talking about, what terminology you're thinking of. [00:12:40] Speaker B: So I probably have a question where you don't want to go, but I'm just curious if I was somebody coming to you with teenager or young adult with a disability that was living with me and I was supporting, and I said if I could choose a state that would give me more. Is there a difference with that between Wisconsin and Minnesota? [00:13:06] Speaker A: No, I don't think Wisconsin. Maybe they provided employment the same way Minnesota is doing it now. They just did it sooner. So I guess it would have depended on the time that you asked me if one of the states provided more. I think they provide the same services either way. And you'll be able to get the funding to do those services in both states. I don't see that there's much of a difference. [00:13:42] Speaker B: No but early on you're saying Wisconsin kind of had a leg up, so to speak. [00:13:49] Speaker A: I don't know if it was a leg up, but just they didn't want the center based work. We had a work floor at our actual site and we're seeing a big shift. That center based work at facilities is going away and they're putting more effort, Minnesota and Wisconsin and states federally putting more effort in. All right. If somebody wants a job, minimum wage or higher competitive wage, we're going to work to get them what they want. And with that person centered focus, it's definitely that same motivation of the person gets to decide their life and if they want a job, we're going to make sure that they get to go look for one. So the employment piece has been a big change in the last few years. [00:14:46] Speaker B: So I know it sounds like you work with them to get that minimum wager or more if they want. Do you work with ones that are doing below minimum wage? Know, they had the workshop type things. Do you work with that? [00:15:05] Speaker A: No. Proact decided that we were not going to continue, that we were going to go with the trend and put our effort in. Whoever wants to look for a job, we're going to do it. So when I say our employment services are quite comprehensive, that's where that piece goes into. Because I don't want to say popular, but that's what people want to do and we're going to provide that service and get people where they want to go. [00:15:36] Speaker B: Can you talk a little bit about the individualized home and semi independent living skills support services? [00:15:45] Speaker A: Sure. So we started this in the last few years, too. At proact in Egan. Individualized home supports is when a staff, one on one, comes in and helps you with it. Could be grocery shopping, every aspect of daily living. So cooking, following a recipe, cleaning, organizing your home, really helping you if you need those supports or just those extra supports, even if you're living independently or you're living with family, we're going to teach those essential life skills through individualized home support. [00:16:25] Speaker B: So your role, you coordinate this stuff primarily the day program, I understand. Are you actually teaching or are you just doing most of the coordination for it? [00:16:38] Speaker A: Mostly I'm doing coordination, but if I have to step in somewhere, we're in the classroom teaching if we need to. I'm a person who likes to get up and walk around and visit everyone and see how everybody's doing. But yes, if I have to teach, and when I started at proact, part of that was, part of my position was teaching some classes, so definitely had to do that, had experience doing it. And I'll sometimes just do it for fun, because sitting in my office all day wouldn't be very fun. [00:17:22] Speaker B: You have four sites, as you pointed out. Is there a difference between the programming or programs that are offered between each. [00:17:30] Speaker A: Site only, just the locations? No day support service is the same at all of our locations, with the enrichment activities as well as the employment pieces. And in home supports? Yes, we offer all of those at all the sites. [00:17:47] Speaker B: That's a lot of staffing. How big is your staff right now? [00:17:54] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, I don't know if I have that number offhand. My team is definitely for day support services. We're getting to be about 30 plus. And I know at the other sites, Shockapee I know is 30 plus for day support and then for employment. And in home, you have a whole other group of staff, too. So you're getting into like 100 plus staffing staff members for our human resource to handle. [00:18:27] Speaker B: How many clients do you generally serve at this time? [00:18:32] Speaker A: Our client base is about 750 and looking to grow. [00:18:37] Speaker B: Wow, that's a lot. Yes, that's a lot. [00:18:41] Speaker A: Yes. So it's a lot of man hours going in and providing all the services, and it's been great. [00:18:50] Speaker B: Talk about what you feel. The value that is brought to the proact clients and their families. [00:19:02] Speaker A: Oh, man. I think we bring meaningful value to all of our teams, our families, our participants. Just even being in service for over 50 years has been a feat in itself. We bring definitely getting out into the community, I think is valuable to a lot of our participants and our family members. We provide the opportunities to socialize and find and maintain jobs and learn how to be self sufficient in your own home. And I think just the variety of things that we provide is so valuable for our participants and our families. And I do think our families appreciate we're close knit and everybody receives their individualized attention. I don't think there's a family out there that feels, oh, gosh, am I just a know? Every person we serve matters and has value to us, and we're knowledgeable in each of their needs. And I think that that brings value to proact and why our families continue to come. And case managers have their families take a look at us as possible. Programming. [00:20:31] Speaker B: Theoretically, not all of your clients have jobs. You have some that do and some that come just for the programming. Do you have a number on the approximate percentage that have jobs? [00:20:46] Speaker A: The percentage I do not have, but you are right, there are some folks that only use our employment services. And that's over 150 plus people that we quote unquote support. So that would be called, we visit them while they're maintaining their jobs. Then you have a handful of folks that receive all of our services. We have a few folks that do in home employment and day services. So the exact percentages, I don't know, but there's definitely a percentage that only do our employment support long term where we're visiting. Percentage that are planning, doing those interview skills, getting prepared for their jobs, percentage of just folks who receive in home. And then you have a small percentage that do it all, that get all of our services. [00:21:55] Speaker B: So what types of jobs do you help them find? What types of jobs do they tend to find? [00:22:06] Speaker A: Honestly, it really is up to the person, once they're going through that exploration phase of what do you like to do, what are you good at doing? And then finding something that's a combination of that really the sky's the limit. I will say the organizations that we partner with to provide job experiences, like if somebody comes to us and says, I don't know what I want to do, then, okay, let's try some things. Is it retail? Is it customer service? Do you want to work in food restaurant industry? Would you like to go into caregiving or daycare? Housekeeping? So then you start exploring different types of industries. If someone comes and says, I don't know, I really want to make my own money, I want to be self sufficient, I want to have a job so they'll explore different industries. [00:23:09] Speaker B: So really you kind of go at it with, if there's a job you want and that you have the skills to do it, we're going to work to get you in there. [00:23:19] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:23:21] Speaker B: And how many partnerships do you have as far as, like, organizations that come and say, I'd like to partner with you because we think we have jobs that would serve your people well, that they could do. [00:23:36] Speaker A: We have a handful and we're looking to grow that. Obviously during the pandemic, you kind of everyone not lost, but definitely things got put on a pause. [00:23:49] Speaker B: Everything got put on a pause. [00:23:51] Speaker A: Right. Everything got put on a pause. So now getting back to, we definitely had a dozen sites that we would go to and that's, I would say, probably cut in half at this point. And now you're looking to grow. Okay, pandemic is over staffing. Good. Opening the doors, getting back to our typical pre pandemic lives. So just continuing to build those partnerships and you want an organization from each of the big industries to go and try and help, and everybody's just been so great. And the managers of our employment programs have been great at networking and developing relationships with different companies in the community. It's been awesome. [00:24:37] Speaker B: Can you tell us, explain a little bit about how that works when you want to grow with a partner? How do you address that? What do you do? What does that look like? [00:24:50] Speaker A: So for me, I mainly look for volunteer experiences and the same thing that happened with employment happened with day support services. The pandemic, we kind of went on a pause for all the places we went and volunteered and we're starting to reconnect and some of the contacts have changed. So you're looking at going through old emails and looking at old contacts. It really just kind of starts with, okay, I'm going to do a big Google search and see, and then you go on their website, find a contact, hope that that's the correct one, or they can guide you to the correct contact. And you're really just emailing, making phone calls. Maybe you're touring the site once you've made that initial contact. At least that's my procedure. And I know that that's how most managers are initiating the relationship, getting out there and looking for more opportunities. Right. And what's awesome is everybody kind of, you'd think people are so busy, it's really hard to get back to folks nowadays. [00:26:05] Speaker B: Tell me about it. [00:26:07] Speaker A: But I'm seeing improvement on that. And so I just reached out to another site that we could hopefully go and exercise and get out and about in the community to exercise. So they contacted me right away and hoping to get that relationship started too. So just kind of don't be afraid to ask, right is kind of our motto. And we're going to try what we can and make as many relationships as we can and get out there and make community partnerships because that's really important too. [00:26:42] Speaker B: Who funds you? How is all this funded? And do the families have to pay into it too? [00:26:49] Speaker A: No. So everybody that we serve, or 99.9% of the people we serve are on what's called a waiver. And that trickles down from each state gets federal dollars, each county gets state dollars. You're represented by a county that kind of manages your waiver funds. So they all have government funds that are paying for our services. And if they're living in a group home as well, usually their waiver is paying for that as well. [00:27:28] Speaker B: So I'm curious to know, how do you find the participants that you find your clients? [00:27:36] Speaker A: Well, we've been really lucky to be in business for over 50 years because then your name is well established among all the counties that represent our participants. So each participant has a representative from the county, either called a social worker or a case manager, and they're given all the names of all the providers out there and they're responsible for calling around, hey, is there an opening here? Or we set up a tour, and so they'll typically be the ones to refer families, participants and their families to check out our programming. Each person we serve typically goes through transition school after they graduate high school. So the transition programs have also heard about the day providers. Just getting your name out there and they'll typically reach out and say, hey, we have some students graduating. They're looking around. Can they come to proact? So just word of mouth being known among the industry, that's typically how we know. Or the county will tell us, hey, we have this many graduates that are going to be looking for services this year once they graduate from transition school, so we can prepare for numbers and staffing and such. So it's kind of this awesome little great relationship that all the counties and all the providers have with each other so that they know where to steer participants and if they want to go to a day provider. [00:29:18] Speaker B: Is there a waiting list for you or do you have room currently? [00:29:24] Speaker A: Currently in Egan? We are getting there. I'm more optimistic than I was a year ago. Staffing was a hardship for a bit and still is, I think, being especially a direct service professional, it's not typically out there as this long term career opportunity. So I think that that can be tough to sell. Folks looking for a job. So we're almost there. And yes, there are people inquiring about services all the time, folks needing or wanting places to go in all of our services, employment in home, day service, folks looking for places for places to spend their day and services to provide for things that they want. So I currently do not have a wait list. I think there was a time where that would have been really long. Folks have been waiting a long time, so I preferred not to have one. But I tell folks like, hey, check back in with me. In this amount of time, I think we're getting there and more optimistic that we'll be opening our doors to new people soon. [00:30:46] Speaker B: And is that kind of the same with all four? [00:30:50] Speaker A: No, it's different for each site. So if someone is in the red Wing area, they'll have a different contact in Red Wing who will let them know, hey, yes, we're staffed up. We're accepting new participants. Actually, Red Wing is getting this huge new rec area, which is pretty cool, a huge recreational space. So I think they'll be opening their doors to new folks soon, too. [00:31:17] Speaker B: Excellent. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about community inclusion. Proact talks a lot about that, that they really promote that. And can you talk about how proact assists in doing that? [00:31:34] Speaker A: Absolutely. So it's a huge part of our programming in all areas. All know every person deserves to be a part of their community. The majority of people we serve want to be a part of their community. They want to explore what the community has to offer. Just being in the metro area, there's so many things to go and explore and see and have adventures and so many places to work. So we've seen a greater focus as well on diversity, equity and inclusion just for businesses and everybody's. I think businesses are becoming more ADA aware, adult disability aware. Right. And more accessible. Businesses are becoming more accessible. So it's becoming easier to get to try everything that's out there in the area and beyond. So proact really looks to elevate community inclusion and getting out every single day. Anybody who wants to go out and explore can again, that person centered piece, and that's a huge part for day providers and day support services is we'll take you there. We're that source and we're that provider that will get you to the places you want to go and explore. Even accessing community resources is a huge part of our community inclusion. The library, the grocery store, how do you get transportation? That's a huge barrier for the people we serve. Right? We provide that. We set that up for you and we get you there. We have a great partnership with Metro Mobility, too. They've been huge in getting our folks that need accessibility out and about to where they want to just been. It's increasing, it will continue to increase. And a huge part of it, too, is volunteering. Our folks love giving back to their community. So we're returning to a lot of our sites that we had pre pandemic so that our folks can feel fulfilled in that giving back aspect because they love to do so. So, yeah, it's a huge part and we're looking to increase. Right. That P word pandemic put us on that pause. But now let's do this. Let's get back to where we were pre pandemic and getting out every single day. So it's really just this huge and valuable part of our programming and what we offer. [00:34:28] Speaker B: I really like how proact talks about providing the volunteer opportunities because they do really promote giving back to the community. And I think, I wish more programs would do that, actually, because I think it promotes a lot of really good things. It promotes caring about your community, teaching your community to care about you, and to show them that you can give back and do give back, and that not everything is. I mean, it's really nice when you can make money doing something, but not everything is all about that. And sometimes it's just okay to volunteer and help. And I was wondering if you could elaborate a little more on that, because you guys seem to really promote that. [00:35:16] Speaker A: Well, I was just thinking, you took the words right out of my mouth. I was like, that's how I wanted to answer that question. That was so great. [00:35:25] Speaker B: It really is. And I wish, like I said, there are so many programs out there that deal with people with disabilities. You guys aren't the only ones. And there's so many different types of disabilities that you don't even necessarily cover, but you don't hear so much about giving back to the community. And I just think that's such a great thing. [00:35:47] Speaker A: I think there might be fear that there's maybe not accessibility to someone who might not look like they can do the volunteer experience right. So our goal is to get everyone out to volunteer who wants to, and we're going to find a way for everybody to participate in the activity regardless, and find a way for everybody to have that feeling. It's kind of indescribable when you see someone enjoying the fact that they understand, hey, I'm packaging this food for someone who needs it or may not have access to it on a regular basis. I'm helping. I'm doing this for someone. It truly is. It's just the glow while someone's volunteering, the glow in their face and their facial expression and just the appreciation that they're feeling like they're a part of helping and giving back and just making them feel really good. [00:37:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm wondering, we have talked during this time a lot about pre pandemic and pandemic, and now we're past pandemic. But the fact of the matter is, the pandemic happened, which was, it was never the first pandemic. It's just, it had been so long that we had had something that nobody remembered it. I'm wondering, and this is something obviously, that who knows how many years. But they say it's not a matter of if, but when. What have you guys done as far as, like, did you put anything in place. So when the next one comes, what kind of things will you do to kind of not go back to so much of the shutdown? And maybe there's other ways that things can be done. [00:38:03] Speaker A: Well, we're still doing this. We right away immediately started planning for providing enrichment services virtually. And we did it. Zoom, using Zoom. And we still do that because there are folks who just like having that service and they like the way that it's more accessible to them. They feel a little safer in their homes providing the service. So I have a couple staff that run a virtual enrichment program. We serve all participants from all sites that want to in that program, and we do it through our site in Egan here. Okay. So when was, it was like mid March 2020, and we took about six weeks to try and develop it because we did. We knew we need something. Our folks are at home. They're isolated. They want to see each other. We want to see them. So we developed a virtual enrichment program, and we started that right at the beginning of May in 2020. So it took about a month for us to kind of decide. And you got to figure out the red tape of it all right. Through the state. How's the waiver going to pay for it? Got it rolling. And it's still rolling almost four years later. At its biggest point, we were at about 175 participants. We were serving virtually. [00:39:34] Speaker B: Wow. [00:39:35] Speaker A: Yes. Now folks came back in person, so we're at about 40 folks. We're serving virtually. And again, some folks are coming in person a couple of days, and on their other days, they're participating virtually. They're doing a mix. So it's still rolling. And if there were anything to ever happen again, we know that we can do it and it's possible and it was still valuable. And that's the way we would roll if everything got shut down again, is we have this awesome technology that can connect us. So that would be a major plan and something we keep doing. So it'd be a shorter turnaround and you'd be able to provide the virtual right away. [00:40:31] Speaker B: Right. Well, and I just want to point out there are so many reasons why that's so good to keep because I think people got so, oh, good, I can go back to normal, but I'm not sure there is a really, quote, normal ever again. And I think having this particular virtual is so good for people who have low immunities, people who actually do get sick but aren't sick enough to, they still want to do something, but you just maybe wouldn't want them near you or people who have cancer and going through treatments, and there's so many reasons why this would be good. So I want to encourage you. I hope you guys are still finding new ways to use the virtual thing and ways that you would. I hope the exploration of growing it doesn't stop because I think that's going to be something that you guys, as an organization, can keep in your pocket and do better than anyone else if you keep growing it. [00:41:36] Speaker A: We plan on it. Yes, absolutely. [00:41:39] Speaker B: Does proact stand for something or is it just the name? Proact? [00:41:44] Speaker A: Just proact. [00:41:46] Speaker B: Excellent. I do want to talk a little bit about the new leisure center you opened. I want to make sure we don't forget about that late last year, I think. Can you tell us a little bit about this and how you decided to open it, where it's located, things like that? [00:42:03] Speaker A: Yes. So we were discovering that we had a population of participants who wanted something a little more easy going. And we're a big building. This is for Egan. We're a long building, so it can be a trek from the front door to your programming area. And we have folks who, their stamina might wane by the time you're in the middle of the building. And it was getting a little tiresome. We wanted something a little more specialized, more relaxing, closer to the front door. And so we decided to create the leisure center. And it's here at our Egan location right now. We had a handful of folks, about a dozen folks that really were. Yes, yes. We want to do please, please. And they get to customize it. They get to plan what they want to do. We have a little flexible guide of activities, but heck, they get to do. Bingo is number one favorite. That is a must on the list. They got to do bingo. Everybody gets their coffee in the morning. We have a coffee station. Everybody has their own personalized mug that they drink their coffee out of. And they got the couches and the tables, arts and crafts. It's all decorated. It's so cute. But we had a need for folks to just come socialize, have their coffee, catch up on current events. I will say it was more towards our aging population. So folks on average are 50 plus. Not that there needs to be a minimum age, but that just tended to be, on average where folks were for aging. So we designed it, we got it rolling. And in November we started. Yeah, for our fall and winter, our fall and winter schedule, we started the leisure center. It's been amazing. [00:44:27] Speaker B: And how does the waivers cover that as well? [00:44:33] Speaker A: It falls under day support service. So it's the same as those enrichment. Yes. [00:44:38] Speaker B: What is the age that you cover in regards to people with disabilities? [00:44:45] Speaker A: So for us, for day provider, for proact, anywhere from, I mean, they could graduate high school and start looking for a day provider if they want. Like I said, typically folks do another three years in what's called transition. So anywhere from 18 to 21, they could start coming to a day provider up until retirement age. We care for folks. I think that you would consider retirement age and elderly, 70 plus. I can't tell you the oldest participant we've had, but I think definitely we've served some folks that are 75 plus. Yeah. For a wide range, yes. [00:45:31] Speaker B: And what do you hope to see happen with the leisure center? [00:45:36] Speaker A: I hope it grows among society and community. I think when our parents or our grandparents get to that age, you start thinking about senior living center. Right. What we didn't see, what proact didn't see is what about our folks with disabilities that are aging, where they may still need those specialized services and staff that are trained in giving them the supports they need and what they need. Although the age may be the same for a person going into a senior center or assisted living, the staff and the training that you may need in order to keep serving a senior with a disability is different. So a leisure center provides that specialized training for staff that are trained in providing supports for the folks that we need. And it's still a safe and supervised place where they can come and enjoy the activities they love doing, where maybe otherwise they'd be at home. And that social piece is really huge, so they may be not socializing. So that's where I see it going. I would like it to increase and see it grow, expand, be available to more people who want a day like that to just come and have fun and socialize with each other. Oh, man. Even just this morning I was down there and they're all giggling at each other and laughing, telling jokes. It was just a different atmosphere and it's really fun. It's really great. [00:47:36] Speaker B: Well, you guys are always, I feel like thinking about new and different things. And you are having another center. Starting to plan on opening coming up? Yes. [00:47:53] Speaker A: I'm very busy. Posted. We're very busy over here in Egan. Yes. So again, talking about that pre pandemic, we were seeing an increase in folks being referred, participants being referred that were on the autism spectrum. And again, we were discussing how can we enhance our services, customize our services, or provide better services for our folks on the spectrum. I mean, this is something that is increasing. So we need to also provide services in order to meet those needs. So we thought, let's try and build an autism center. And it is finally coming to fruition this year. We are hoping that we definitely have a handful of folks that would benefit from having an area where their sensory needs can be met. Movement is a huge part for our folks that are diagnosed with autism. So having a lot of movement activities and just any tactile activities, arts and crafts, keeping our hands busy. So we plan on opening that probably early spring. Haven't really gotten a set date for that yet, but it is in the works and very exciting. [00:49:34] Speaker B: And still in Egan. [00:49:36] Speaker A: It will be in Egan, yes. [00:49:39] Speaker B: How do you decide where you're going to open these centers? [00:49:43] Speaker A: So that really is mainly due to. Okay, do we have the space? Do we have the know? When we were looking at our referrals, we looked at it specific to Egan referrals. So we had the space for it. So a lot of that decision is having the space. Like I said, red wing developing their rec center. Well, they had a space. They were repurposing. They're like, oh my gosh. Most of our folks love doing recreational activities. Let's make this into a rec area. So you're choosing your spaces according to the participants you serve and per site and what you think you need. So that's basically mainly the decision to do. The autism center in Egan and Shockby has a sensory area as well, because they saw needs there as well. So they developed a sensory area. [00:50:43] Speaker B: So for people who don't understand, talk about what a sensory area is. [00:50:48] Speaker A: Sensory area. So how I envision the autism centers, how I'll try to articulate the visionary that's in my head or that we've all been discussing here in Egan, there are a lot of different sensory needs, right? We have five senses. Some people argue we have more. So definitely compartmentalizing one big space into different little areas where folks can get the sensory they need. So you're going to have specialized furniture that meets those needs. Maybe it's not just a plain chair at a table like the ones that we typically use. It could be bouncy ball chairs. We've seen the chairs that have the tennis balls on them for sensory and movement when people are moving in their chairs. So you're going to have different areas that meet all of the needs. There may be an area with drapes coming from the ceiling that someone can go into to protect themselves from maybe the LED lighting that we have in the room. You definitely want to be able to adjust lighting because that vision sensory can be either stimulating or calming. So you're going to have different areas. Maybe the lights are low and you have fluorescent something going off on a projector that's like fluorescent and flowy for folks to look at or even follow. We plan on having a sensory path in the autism center. I'm not sure if anybody has seen those at school. They have these sensory paths where you can walk in a circle or you have to stop and do like five jumping jacks. And then you walk and put your right hand on a handprint, left hand on a handprint. So it provides different movement and activities for everybody and just meeting all of the needs. And also I want to say we're partnering with the Autism Society of Minnesota. Proact is and they're providing all of the staff at all of our sites, specialized training so that we can have a little more expertise in serving our folks that are on the spectrum. And that has been super beneficial and very helpful to partner with folks that this is their expertise and they're providing us with that knowledge so that we can be the best we can be. Once the autism center opens and we're serving our folks on the spectrum well and giving them what they need and the supports they need. [00:53:54] Speaker B: What separates proact from other programs that do what you do? [00:53:59] Speaker A: Definitely our comprehensive services, I'll tell you that also we have had staff working here. I'm not the only one that's at 17. And if you look at all of our other leaders that have been here, they have more years than I do as well. So you have a leadership team that is long standing, that has been here, been through every change in programming, all the changes in the terms over the years, and that knowledge trickles down through everybody that they're leading. I myself love that I have a team from Vid management to direct service professionals that have longevity here, that have been here a long time, and that are just on board with all the changes that happen as they come. Our industry is constantly changing, always looking for changes. And as I've listed off all of the programs and services and new things we have coming, it takes a lot of energy and to have a team that's on board with all the enhancements and things we're doing, that's what sets us apart. I feel the energy is so positive when you step into one of our buildings and any of our sites. And that helps too, because your participants want to come every day. [00:55:37] Speaker B: What do you think that proact does for their employees that make them want to stay, man. [00:55:46] Speaker A: Why do I want to stay? There's just so many things. We have committees that everybody can be involved on. We have activity committees. We have diversity, equity and inclusion committee. We're constantly celebrating different. You got Super bowl, you got Mardi Gras. February's got everything, right. We have so many things just to kind of keep up that positive energy and liven things up a little bit. Nothing's ever mundane at proact, I'll tell you that, at any of the sites. So I think proact does a really good job of showing staff, hey, we appreciate you. We know there are challenging times. We appreciate everybody being on board with all the services that we're creating and all the services that we're providing. So I think leadership does a really good job of showing appreciation, and that just benefits everybody as a whole. You have happy staff, you have happy participants, people who want to wake up and come to their jobs. You have participants who want to wake up and come and see their staff that love coming to their jobs. It's all a positive domino effect, and I think that that's what sets us apart. And you find that when people come and take tours, definitely people are leaving. Like, this was an amazing energy here. Kind of can't explain it other than everybody's just happy. [00:57:24] Speaker B: How can people find out more about proact? [00:57:28] Speaker A: The biggest resource is our website. That is ww dot proactinc.org, ww dot proactinc.org, KPI.org.