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Carol Foster from the Handicap Development Center (HDC) was our speaker last Monday. HDC is a premier service provider, that passionately advocate on behalf of individuals with disabilities by creating opportunities for them to succeed, to achieve, to grow, and to be happy. Their culture is mission-driven employees engaging in teamwork to positively impact the quality of services. This is accomplished by empowering employees through open communication, honesty, reliability, and support. Above all, HDC culture is treating each person with dignity and respect. HDC provides many very needed services for their clientele. - Daily Discovery: Individuals who attend this program participate in activities that are designed to help them build skills and increase their community involvement.
- Employment Services: Prevocational Services assist the client develop their vocational strengths and reduce the barriers to successful employment in the community. Community Employment supports individuals in their community work settings. Services include assistance with obtaining a job in the community, such as help with identifying vocational interests and abilities, completing resumes, and interviewing skills. Once a job is obtained, on-the-job training, job counseling, and job coaching are available. Individuals are matched with employers according to their interests, skills, and job responsibilities.
- Supported Community Living Services are individualized to each person’s needs. People can receive this service while living at home with their family or while living in an apartment or house by themselves or with roommates.
- Residential Center and Group Homes: The HDC Residential Center is home to up to 60 individuals. Located in a neighborhood in northwest Davenport, the Residential Center provides intensive services to individuals who experience significant intellectual and/or physical disabilities. Also, there are three Group Homes with capacity of up to 8 people are located in Davenport. Group homes offer a comfortable, home-like living arrangement for individuals, with the added benefit of having access to assistance from nursing and other staff.
- HDC Enterprises performs all kinds of assembly and packaging work for over 30 local and regional companies, including Wahl Clipper, John Deere, Springfield Armory, Little Trees/Car Freshener, and others. HDC Enterprises gives individuals an opportunity to work as regular part-time HDC employees receiving all the benefits of that status. They perform high quality work for many area businesses.
An interesting part of Carol's presentation was when she gave us all some tips on how to interact with people with disabilities. Her advice was: - Speak directly to the person rather than their companion or sign language interpreter.
- Identify yourself and others when meeting someone who is blind.
- If you offer assistance, wait for an answer. Then wait for instructions.
- Treat adults as adults.
- Maintain eye contact with someone who has a hearing impairment.
- Treat wheelchairs, walkers, and other equipment with respect.
- Relax.
Thank you, Carol, for all you do for the special people in our community. And thank you for an insightful presentation! |
The 50/50 jackpot continues to grow! You can't win if you don't play! Contact our NEW esteemed Sergeant at Arms, Sam Moyer, for your entry tickets before each meeting!
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