Verland Not the 'House Next Door'
By Lois Thomson

"We could be the house next door," Steve Lindberg said, "a large residential home in a residential community." That may be true, but the house next door to you likely isn't having the same impact as the one Lindberg is referring to. Lindberg is Program Manager of the Natrona Heights Verland Foundation Intermediate Care Facility for Other Related Conditions (ICFORC). Verland's mission throughout its facilities is to support and operate residences and programs for the treatment, education and long-term care of children and adults with intellectual or physical disabilities, in residences that are truly home-like; they do not look institutional.

However, what goes on inside ICFORC is 24-hour care, the goal being to train the eight residents to achieve more independent living, perhaps with just 10 or 12 hours of personal care assistance per day. Training includes residents assisting in running the house, by helping to shop or clean. If they aren't physically able, they verbally direct staff how to do it. "Everything they do here revolves around hopefully moving them into their own apartment someday," Lindberg said. "When they move out they would be arranging and managing their personal care needs, budgeting their own money. We train them how to do that. So hopefully by the time they move they have all the skills needed to succeed."

Residents are also required to attend some type of day program. "A lot of them choose sheltered workshops that have some functional use of their extremities, like doing piece work or packaging. Many attend United Cerebral Palsy in Pittsburgh for some life skills and academic training. Several have chosen to go the college route."

The latter has provided a particularly interesting success story: One of the residents with cerebral palsy recently received an associates degree in journalism from CCAC Boyce Campus, despite the fact that the only part of his body he can move is his right thumb. "He attended class—our staff would get him there—but he did all of the class work and homework himself. And he can't speak—he uses his thumb to drive his wheelchair and to use an augmented communication device."

Lindberg said the physical abilities of the residents varies. "We have an individual who has been at the same job at Life's Work for 15 years. He gets up every morning and the staff assists him in getting ready. He has more functional use of his extremities so he needs a little less assistance." Another has been attending Community College for a few years and is learning computer-aided drafting to help his father with his drafting business doing bridge deck design.

Working with the residents isn't easy. "You have to be emotionally and physically strong. Most of the residents here need 100 percent assistance with everything." Yet Lindberg said Verland has a number of employees who have been there for 20 years. "There's no glory in this work and the pay's not great either, but the staff is very dedicated to the needs of the residents both in management staff and the direct care staff."

For more information, call (412) 741-2375 or visit www.verland.org

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