Assisting
Independence
Continued
by Tim Bugansky
photos by Allison Waltz
 Tom Burick, the qualified mental retardation professional for Independence, helps group home resident Tammy resolve her dilemma about what she should do with her broken VCR. |
Working with the developmentally disabled is a taxing job, Independence employees and Kent State students Linda Rohr and Madeleine Mayher say.
"It's constant stimulation," Rohr says. "The job is totally frustrating. It's enough to freak you out a bit."
The aides face a constant barrage of things to be done, including running the programs, cooking, running more programs, staying alert to every consumer's needs, filling out reports and dealing with seizures or other complications. Only two habilitation aides are usually working at once.
"I've had times where I've gone home at night, and I can't focus on anything," adds Mayher.
Mayher, a Kent State sophomore psychology major, is a residential support specialist, supervising supported living apartments in Ravenna. Mayher pays the bills for the apartment, arranges doctor's appointments, gives the consumers their medicine and helps out with their grocery shopping.
Rohr, a Kent State junior psychology major, worked as a habilitation aide at Highland, a women's group home in Ravenna. She recently took another job with a similar agency in Summit County and is now only on substitute status at Independence.
The difficulty of working with the developmentally disabled sometimes go beyond managing a number of activities simultaneously. Occasionally a consumer will become aggressive or violent. One consumer threw a garbage can at Mayher.
"One woman at Highland has psychotic disorders," Rohr says. "She's pushed me down the stairs. She pushed a girl I was working with down a flight of stairs when she was pregnant."
But the habilitation aides are trained to deal with aggressive behavior. They know how to calm and restrain the consumer without inflicting harm on him or her.
"You give them a couple verbal prompts to settle down, chill out, relax – it's nonviolent intervention," Rohr says. "You're trained to deal with it. You know that they're not doing it out of spite."
They try not to let it bother them.
"It's not anything that's personal," Van Almen adds. "You just keep that in mind."