When Derek Scott finished his double major in Geology and Environmental Science at Winona State University, he did what you might expect right after graduation: he got a job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Though he did get to work on a trout stream restoration project, most of his job revolved around sitting in front of a computer working with maps day after day. He had been looking forward to more of a challenge and found he was not happy in his job.

At the time, Derek’s girlfriend was working as a Direct Support Professional (DSP) at Home and Community Options.  She encouraged him to think about a career change, or at least consider a job at HCO for the interim. He finally took her advice and applied. Derek has since advanced to become a Program Assistant with HCO in early 2018, and his girlfriend is now teaching special education at Winona Senior High School. “It isn’t rocks,” Derek jokes, “but it isn’t sitting at a computer all day, that’s for sure!” Each day presents a new challenge, and Derek has found that it’s a job that makes him feel as if he has accomplished something: giving support to others who need it. Even when things get hectic at times, when he thinks back to his previous desk job, he knows he can handle the chaos.

Derek cares for one man and three women who live together. They range in age from mid-twenties to eighties, and all have very different personalities. A number of the individuals in the home are non-verbal, although one woman does use some sign language. “It can be a challenge to understand non-verbal individuals,” says Derek, “but you learn to interpret signs and also to give the individuals options to choose.” That is something Derek teaches new staff at the program. Don’t just assume that someone who can’t speak doesn’t want to have a choice and a say in his/her life.

The young man, who moved to the program from his family home, has seemed to really settle in. “It is wonderful to see how his independence is blossoming,” Derek says. “He takes pride in helping the women when they need it. He likes to watch YouTube and Netflix while the women listen to music.” Derek can see this individual going on to live with some other men, or even independently, down the road.

Derek works to support these individuals in a variety of ways. He helps with physical therapy like walking, using a stander to assist with improving movement, or arm strengthening exercises. One woman has been exploring new foods with Derek’s help. Though she is mostly non-verbal, she definitely lets you know when she likes something and is always game for trying new things – like avocados! She also likes to listen to music and loves Lawrence Welk. “If it were up to her,” Derek jokes, “we would probably be watching Lawrence Welk nine hours a day!” She recently retired from DAC, and had begun helping pack backpacks full of food for school kids that may not have had enough to eat at home on the weekends. “When the local schools switched over to distance-learning because of COVID, they were no longer doing the backpacks program.” Derek shares. “It was really too bad – it was one of her favorite activities to do each week. So, one thing I came up with is to have her and one of her housemates help me sort and put away groceries on grocery day. So far, they have both seemed to really enjoy it and it gets them working together as a team.”

COVID-19 has affected the individuals Derek supports in a myriad of ways. All of the individuals in the house have difficulty wearing a mask for long periods of time, so it has been extremely important to make sure the individuals keep a 6-foot distance between each other. This hasn’t been too difficult because they all have their own “areas” of the house, but splitting them up during meal times has been a challenge. Staff wear surgical masks during all shifts. Gowns and additional types of PPE are worn regularly based on the level or type of care that is needed. Routine sanitation and disinfection also occur throughout each day in order to help reduce the risk of potential exposure.

The beginning of the pandemic was fairly difficult for a couple of the individuals who are very social and like to have a routine. One of the hardest parts was trying to explain to them exactly what was unsafe and why. Being unable to go to places that they normally would, and not being able to enjoy social outings in the same way really affected them early on. Another individual is much more reserved and prefers to spend time alone, so it was a big adjustment to suddenly have everyone around all the time. She was struggling a lot when Derek first began working at the program, but has become more comfortable in the house over time.

On the other hand, one of the individuals is absolutely loving the changes to her routine. Derek believes that having more one-on-one time with her has really improved the support that they have been able to provide to her. Her personality has blossomed so much during the pandemic, and her roommates and staff have learned much more about her. She sings and hums almost all day now, which was something she hasn’t done for several years.

They all have definitely experienced some “cabin fever” moments here and there, but over time, they have sort of found their “new” daily routine. Staff at the program work hard to get everyone out of the house regularly, as well as keep them connected with friends and loved ones. Van rides occur daily, and they frequently take socially-distanced walks around town.  They have been keeping busy by doing a variety of activities around the house, and afternoon naps have also become very popular.

While it was a big change coming to work at HCO, Derek shares that everyone on staff worked to help train him for the job and were very supportive. Sometimes, you just end up learning on the job when something new and different comes at you. “It’s a good environment,” Derek says, “and every day brings something new – even humor.” He never dreads going to work and he likes knowing that he can go home after each shift feeling good about his work.

Despite the career switch, Derek does still follow his passion for stones. He has a small online business selling gems and crystals, and enjoys searching for ethically sourced stones. He likes to know the “name of the person who pulled it out of the ground.” He has been known to take crystals to work on occasion to show to the individuals he works with, and they, too, marvel at the beauty of things that come from the earth.

 

Cedar Paulson Mueller was married last October. She met her future husband when she was in high school and working part-time at Fleet Farm. “I don’t know how he fell for me when I was wearing that orange shirt!” Cedar jokes.

Originally from Cochrane, Wisconsin, Cedar grew up attending Cochrane-Fountain City Schools but graduated from Winona Senior High School. She later went on to attend Winona State University and majored in Social Work.

Her introduction to Home and Community Options came while she was taking a service learning class in high school. Her teacher suggested choosing a field that would be challenging and out of her area of experience, so Cedar chose the Developmental Achievement Center (DAC). The DAC provides coaching and job support to people with disabilities, and while there, Cedar heard a lot about HCO from the people there. Cedar thought, “Gee, how fun would it be to work with people all day long instead of just while they are at work!” so she applied to HCO in 2014 and has been here ever since.

When she began working for HCO, she provided support to four gentlemen. “It was super fun,” she shared. In her years with the agency, she has supported people living in their own homes/apartments or with family and has also worked with young children. Cedar thinks that Winona seems to be unique in the fact that there are so many agencies that serve individuals with special needs. She says she talks to people from other towns and they are amazed, because they don’t have such resources. One of her favorite parts of the job is getting to know the individuals and their loved ones. “What you can learn from them is so important,” she says.

Cedar is currently the Primary Counselor at a program supporting a group of women with ages ranging from 23 to 91. Cedar emphasizes that the job is primarily a teaching job. Early on in her career with HCO, a coworker told Cedar, “Work yourself out of a job. Teach them so well that they don’t need you anymore.” Cedar teaches not only the individuals she supports, but also the new staff who come in to help. And, she says, she teaches staff how to teach, too.

When Cedar is training new staff, she always tells them to treat the individuals the way staff would like to be treated, or how they would want a family member to be treated and cared for. “Clean as if you were cleaning for your family,” she tells them. If a new staff member makes a mistake, it is often because they have no experience in keeping someone else safe. It’s not always super tough, she tells new staff. “It’s usually smooth sailing, but there are hiccups sometimes!” Cedar says it’s all about teaching, and she encourages staff to “use your resources.”

Cedar feels that having empathy is an extremely important part of the job. “If you don’t have empathy to start, you’ll definitely gain it after working at HCO!” It’s also important as a staff to find a balance between doing things for someone when they need it and encouraging them to do what they are capable of doing. “They should be allowed to do everything they can for themselves – even the kids. When you let go of control, you allow someone else to be your teacher.”

Patience is helpful too – both with the people you support but also with yourself. There are times when Cedar remembers coming home frustrated. “It is something you constantly work on,” Cedar says. Some days are a struggle. “Other days, I come home from work and say, ‘I did really well today!’”

COVID has made life for those she supports very different. Since they have a few people at a higher risk if they were to contract COVID-19, it is essential to be cautious and take extensive measures to ensure their safety. The staff understand that the ladies’ safety is important and are doing as much as they can to reduce the risk. They eat meals at different times, sanitize high touch surfaces often, frequently wash their hands, and they all wear masks – even the ladies. “It has been a challenge at times.”

Everyone is currently home and trying to stay busy. The women Cedar supports are not currently working, so they do a lot of crafts in their spare time. Some ladies enjoy their alone time watching TV, playing games, or being on their computers. They talk to friends on the phone and participate in zoom activities. Like everyone, the ladies are sometimes bummed that so many events and activities are cancelled. While they aren’t going out and doing as many things like they used to, they understand the importance of being safe and healthy.

Cedar emphasizes that they are all part of a team and that part of the job is making sure everyone is safe – both individuals and coworkers. Cedar has been exposed to coworkers that have tested positive twice. “Both times I freaked out a bit,” she says. “I am pregnant, so I am considered high risk because they are not sure how the virus can (or if it does) affect the baby. The first time I was exposed, I was only about 10 weeks. More recently, I have been 30+ weeks, so the stress for me hasn’t gotten any better,” she shared. “Overall, HCO has handled the positive cases well. Each time, I received a phone call from our Executive Director explaining the situation and assessing my exposure level.” Data surrounding COVID-19 is constantly changing as more information is being learned about the virus, so HCO works closely with the Minnesota Department of Health to interview and assess exposures of staff and the individuals HCO supports. This enables HCO to continually assess the infection control practices at their residential sites, develop improved protocols, and provide additional staff training if needed.

Adequate staffing was an ongoing challenge for HCO before the pandemic, and the struggle has only been exacerbated by COVID-19. When someone is being tested and they have symptoms, they are not able to work until their test results come back. The care needs of those HCO serves haven’t lessened and it can be a struggle for many HCO programs to find alternative support when a scheduled staff cannot come in to work due to illness or a potential exposure. Luckily, current employees have been very understanding, flexible, and willing to pick up additional shifts to help – often at the last minute. “Our house has done well and staff have been more than willing to pick up their co-workers’ hours, Cedar shares. “We are so grateful for our fantastic bunch of staff we have.”

For staff, getting to know the people you support is the key to providing high quality care. Knowing people’s interests is important to helping them enjoy life, but knowing what they struggle with or dislike can be just as important. “Sometimes jokes and a good laugh will improve everyone’s mood, but other times, it might take having some one-on-one time with an individual who is struggling.” Cedar will often spend time with an individual one-on-one to chat and provide encouragement, or offer a bubble bath. The house has a big walk-in tub, and all the women love a bubble bath. “We all have cranky days,” Cedar says. “Usually everything can be fixed or talked out. Everyone is different.”

Despite all the changes because of COVID-19, Cedar shares that the best part of the job is working with the individuals day-to-day and seeing what brings them joy or makes them laugh. “I wish more people knew about HCO,” she says. “We do a lot of amazing things. The world would look very different if more people understood just how much we are all capable of.”

 

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HCO warmly congratulates Cedar and her husband, Dylan, on the recent birth of their baby girl, Birdie!

Crystal Pagel joined Home and Community Options as a part-time employee about six years ago.

Crystal came to HCO from the Developmental Achievement Center (DAC). Crystal had previously worked in various manufacturing jobs and was looking for something more engaging. In her four years at DAC, she had become familiar with HCO and thought it sounded like a job she would enjoy. Now she can’t imagine working anywhere else. Finding DAC and HCO helped her discover her own talents and enabled her to help others hone theirs. When the pandemic hit, she was working at DAC between her HCO shifts, and also worked for Global Home Health. Now, she continues at Global and is also working at Cardinal of Minnesota in addition to her work with HCO.

Crystal grew up in Winona and has a lot of extended family living here. She has two children, a son, 17, and a daughter, 22. Her daughter lives on her own in Winona and her son goes to Winona Senior High. When schools closed due to the pandemic, he began studying online from home and did quite well. At home, Crystal and her family care for a menagerie of exotic pets: a rabbit, a leopard gecko, frog, parakeet, and two aquariums: one 70 gallons, and the other 20 gallons. Luckily, she has been able to pursue her outdoor interests during the pandemic. In her spare time Crystal likes to kayak, bike, take the boat out, go tubing, camping, fishing, hiking, walking, and running.

When she first started at HCO, Crystal was also on call at HCO’s first remote-monitoring home, so when the position of Program Coordinator at the remote-monitoring program opened up, Crystal moved there. Conversations about creating a remote monitoring program began in 2008 or 2009. While not perhaps prepared to live entirely independently, HCO believed that there were individuals at a few of the homes who had built strong skills and may no longer need support 24 hours a day. They would be able to spend the night at home without constant staff on-site, and HCO wanted to find a system that would support these individuals from afar to enable them to be more independent. As one individual living in the home said at the time, “I don’t need to be babysat!”

When searching for the right system, HCO discovered that one did not exist with the features that they needed, so they decided to develop it themselves. If a person living at one site calls for help over the system, help is provided by staff at another site. All of the individuals living in the home, as well as their guardians, must agree to using the system. They are required to learn how the system works, when to use it, and when not to.

Remote monitoring technology is now being used in three HCO homes. The system is specific to the needs of the individuals in the home and is implemented in locations where HCO finds the additional technology to be safe and beneficial to those living there. It is rare for anyone to push the button to call for help, but Crystal says that the men she supports like the system. They feel that they are being trusted with extra responsibility and are proud that they have developed the skills that enable them to use it.

Staff used to come in early in the morning to get everyone ready for work, then come back mid-afternoon when the men arrived home to provide support into the evening hours. Due to the pandemic, the schedule has changed and the four men that Crystal supports have not been working during the day. The program supervisor is currently on-site full time (instead of also splitting time at another site), and additional staff have been added as well. With people home most of the day, Crystal has been helping the men in the house cook, clean, and create menus, as well as assisting them with many other aspects of their lives. Crystal’s job also includes training staff to complete required paperwork and data-tracking, helping the men with personal hygiene, household chores, budgeting, and planning activities. She enjoys watching them grow in their abilities, and she sees constant improvement as they build independence and create new relationships.

Before COVID-19, staff would take the men to events in the community like church on Sundays, COMPASS bowling, dances, and trips to the YMCA. Now, the men can still attend church on ZOOM, as well as ZOOM with friends and family, and take advantage of the virtual programs and activities offered by HCO, such as exercising and games.

All of the gentleman that Crystal supports are currently in the process of returning to work and are eager to get back to their former routine. “They would like to have more things to do in the community,” she shares, “but they realize that they are not alone in wishing that the pandemic would go away and businesses would open up again.” Until then, the men are keeping busy with crafts, sidewalk chalk art, rides in the house van, campfires at the house and at the HCO campsite at Prairie Island, or playing cards and games in their spare time. They also mow the lawn, go golfing, grill out, and are enjoying the warm summer days.

Crystal loves both the staff she works with and the individuals she supports. “HCO is a great place to work with caring, hardworking people who take their jobs seriously,” Crystal says, “and with individuals who can always make you smile – even when you’ve had a bad day.”

 

When an enormous portion of your job centers around coordinating large scale events and legislative advocacy groups, what do you do when a pandemic limits people’s ability to safely come together in groups? If you are Lynette Johnson, Events Coordinator for Home and Community Options, you create virtual events and leverage technology to involve all the individuals and staff throughout the agency in various interests from afar.

COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on people with disabilities. In the spring, many of the individuals HCO supports were suddenly unable to work. Staff were quickly rerouted from other worksites to provide more care and support for people who were now at home during the day and were looking for ways to stay active and engaged. Lynette loves to travel, so back in March, she began creating daily themed activities as learning opportunities. Want to go to France or Australia? You can, with Lynette’s travel packets sent to each house. They include something for everyone, including coloring pages, word finds, and interesting facts about these faraway places. Through June, there has been more than 100 straight days of different themed activities shared with HCO houses.

When HCO first procured iPads for the individuals in the organization to use to stay connected with friends and loved ones, there was some apprehension. However, it didn’t take long before everyone was merrily joining in during the daily and weekly virtual events. “Technology has enabled us all to still come together. During this time of uncertainty, I have heard a lot more laughing together than I imagined I would,” Lynette comments. “Now that everyone has gotten more comfortable with seeing their friends virtually, we can continue to help them build on those independent skills and find ways for them to take on more ownership and help more with planning, leading, and engaging with each other.”

One thing Lynette has always loved about her job is her work with the Grassroots Advocacy Task Force, which follows legislative issues impacting disability services. She enjoys supporting people as they build confidence and skills to advocate for things they are passionate about. During COVID-19, she has been able to help people continue to grow and take on leadership roles in other ways. Lynette has frequent calls with individuals to see how they are doing, brainstorm fun activities, or talk about ways that they would like to get involved. “I ask them what they’d like to do, and then I try to find a way to help them make it happen.” Individuals began sharing new talents, building different skills, and showing more independence. Several people have taken on planning specific activities, or assisting with leading parts of events like being a timekeeper, or hosting. “One individual I was talking with recently played the piano for me beautifully. I never knew they even played because they had never shared that before. Out of that, we came up with the idea to have a Talent Show for our individuals to showcase their many different skills to all of their friends.”

The variety of games and other remote activities has continued to expand. “We try to find popular activities or brainstorm new ideas of various things people would be able to do together normally. Then we try to find ways to adapt these ideas for a large virtual group or make them more interactive,” Lynette shares. One favorite is virtual birthday parties. They include crafting of birthday cards, singing, and seeing all your friends from other programs. Fitness activities like Chair Yoga, Adaptive Dance, and recreational competitions like toss tournaments help to get people up and moving while getting to compete with friends, cheer each other on, and provide a feeling of being right alongside one another. There have been scavenger hunts, Bingo games, crafts, contests, and trips around the world – all without leaving home. They’ve had virtual bake-offs, a virtual BBQ, and a cooking show.  “As time has gone on and the length of time people are staying at home grows, we are trying to provide even more activities to help people stay positive and to feel mentally and socially fulfilled.”

One of Lynette’s roles at HCO is to coordinate various internships and volunteers across the agency. This spring, fast moving COVID-19 restrictions had Lynette unexpectedly recreating new internships from scratch for prospective interns. For four Therapeutic Recreation Majors interning during their spring and summer semesters, technology is being used as a resource to communicate remotely with those HCO serves. Instead of providing musical support on stage, each of these interns have a caseload of calls to individuals to make and activities to lead. “It’s fun for the individuals to make new friends. They like spending time with each other,” Lynette says, “and it’s fun for the interns to stretch their creative and leadership abilities within the new Zoom format.” One of the interns found out an individual she calls likes to play Farkle, so now they have some pretty competitive contests together over the computer. The pandemic has pushed HCO to utilize volunteers in different ways too, like providing socializing video calls to residents or sewing face masks for HCO’s programs. “It is important for us to be able to follow through with our commitments to our interns and volunteers, and find new ways to still provide quality experiences for them and our programs.”

Any other year, the middle of June marks the culmination of at least a year’s worth of work when the HCO musical opens on stage at Saint Mary’s Page Theatre. Without the musical this year, Lynette’s first thought was how much she was going to miss seeing individuals every night during rehearsals, but she has been pleasantly surprised to find that she’s seeing more of them now than ever before. Time away from the production has provided Lynette with a unique opportunity to get creative and develop activities that provide new ways to interact and engage with those HCO supports. Some individuals who were uninterested or unable to attend events in the past are now becoming involved through the computer. Inclusion is a vital part of HCO’s work, and Lynette believes that a number of virtual events will continue beyond the effects of COVID-19 due to the opportunities it has provided to engage new participants.

Lynette says that she has learned a lot through this new way of doing things. “I have known some of the individuals HCO serves for years, but I have been able to really build a deeper relationship with them during COVID-19. I love that I’m still able to make an impact on their lives.  That’s why I have the job I have,” she says.