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Lindsay Galbraith feels more like extended family than staff as she helps her adult clients gain greater independence on the job or prepares them to plan nutritious meals and do chores around the house.
So naturally, when an adult client recently indicated he didn’t need her at his worksite anymore, the moment was a little bittersweet. Galbraith gets it, though. “I’m passionate about treating everybody like my brother or sister. I want them to thrive and I want them to grow.”
Galbraith is helping to build Vista Adult Services from the ground up. She started as an employment specialist and is now a residential supports manager. She says her new role is “a perfect fit for me.”
She has had the opportunity to observe not only the adults’ growth as they gain work experiences and greater confidence, but also the reactions and changing perceptions of their coworkers and service recipients.
“Even 10 years ago, there was a stigma about people with autism,” she says, but working alongside Vista’s adult clients is helping to change that. Workers at the Hershey Spa last summer loved the days when DB came to work. They joked around with him, and he learned to tell stories about his dad’s orange truck.
At Keystone Villa in Douglassville (Berks County), CC navigates the halls “like it’s nobody’s business,” Galbraith says. “He has a chart and knows the rooms where he has to pick up laundry.” At first, staff worried that CC would have a communication barrier with residents who have Alzheimer’s, but that hasn’t been an issue. He interacts with residents, but is also able to say, “got to get back to work now,” Galbraith says. “They all love him.”
As she prepares some of her adult clients for the “big move” into their own home, Galbraith is adamant that staff will be assistants, not babysitters. At the end of the day, she wants adults to feel, “I trust these people. They want to hang out with me as much as I want to hang out with them.”
Helping to facilitate good decision-making is a key part of what the staff does. For example, staff might help an individual to understand the need to take a walk before eating a snack. Because consistency and routines are so essential, staff will work with individuals in the home to establish schedules for household chores, such as raking leaves or shoveling snow.
Family will continue to play a big role in the adults’ lives, too. Whereas before, mom or dad put dinner on the table every night, now the adults might invite parents over and cook a meal for them.
“It’s good for us to blur those lines, for them to understand this is what an adult does,” Galbraith says. “It gives a sense of accomplishment and pride.”
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