messenger june 2016
a publication of Mosaic in Denver | www.mosaicindenver.org
Caring Community RED DAY 2016 WITH KELLER WILLIAMS by Stephanie Webb, Community Relations Manager Keller William’s did it again! Another successful Red Day with our favorite realty team. On May 12 Keller Williams Realty Lonetree/ ParkMeadows hosted the people served by Mosaic in Denver, to a BINGO BASH! About 40 Keller Red team members gathered together, arranged the perfect day for the persons served by Mosaic in Denver, a BINGO day! Each Keller Williams team member donated gift cards to our favorite places; Starbuck’s, Chick-Fil-A, McDonalds, and many others. We were introduced to the Keller Williams Park Meadows team in Winter of 2015, when Christine Justino (our Community Champion) invited us to share our mission through a Discover the Possibilities event at their office. Soon after we shared our stories, we got the call. They were going to adopt us for their 2015 Red Day.
RED (Renew, Energize and Donate) Day is a Keller Williams Realty service
Keller Williams Volunteer at the bingo table with Chuntelle, person supported by Mosaic in Denver.
initiative dedicated to improving our local communities. All Keller Williams Realty associates in the United States and Canada are asked to donate their time on the same day in May to renew and energize aspects of their local communities. So many smiles, laughs, and friends. Ricky Garris, second year attendee, Keller Williams Realtor said, “This
Elmer and the Keller Williams employees and play bingo.
was amazing. Janelle was a fantastic bingo partner. I’m not sure who was helping who.” Danny, a person served by Mosaic in Denver, smile never left his face as two ladies, including Kristal Erickson, a second year Red Day volunteer teamed up with him and assisted him in winning 3 games of BINGO. So many familiar faces from the previous 2015 Red Day bowling event were in attendance and so many new friends came too. James and Tamara enjoyed an exciting afternoon as Elmer’s partners. They were both impressed when Ricky Garris (called Elmer) and Chuntelle up to the front during the break to sing a song. However, Chuntelle would not have it until her other singing mate, Joannie joined them. They all sang, The Beatles, “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Ricky had been at our 2015 Partners in Possibilities event when a few of our superstar’s sang for the guests. A huge applause when they ended their performance. Tara, who partnered with Randy had him laughing, smiling, and winning all afternoon. As Kathryn, ADSM at Mosaic drove a few people home, she says the chatter was all about the amazing day they had. A perfect day for so many. Mosaic in Denver would like to thank the Keller William team for this amazing afternoon. From my view, I am not certain who had more fun the Keller Williams team, or the Mosaic in Denver team.
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Giving a Voice FINDING A HOST HOME MATCH by Ramon Muniz, Direct Support Coordinator I still remember when we introduced Naketha to Omotayo. Omotayo was welcoming, warm and willing to do anything for Naketha. Naketha grabbed a potato from the counter and repeated, “Baked potato, sour cream, cheese” three times. Without skipping a beat Omotayo baked Nakehta a potato with cheese and sour cream. It was a perfect fit. Finding the perfect host home for a person in service can seem very scary. Less than a year into my career as an ICM I experienced this for the first time. Naketha was living with a wonderful woman, Alamia, for over 18 years after losing all contact with her biological family. Nakehta adjusted well to living in her new home where they developed a routine, they had traditions, and they became a family. After the sudden loss of Naketha’s host home provider we felt shock, fear and grief. Not only did we lose one of our most dedicated providers, but Naketha lost her home, her routine, her traditions and another family. We had to act fast but also be diligent in our search for Naketha’s new home.
We made Naketha a huge part of the decision process visiting various homes and providers hoping to find her a place she could call home. The traditions Naketha built with Alamia were so important that we only considered providers willing enough to keep them alive for Naketha. In Omotayo’s home they had a very similar routine and traditions. Church every Sunday, and bible study every Tuesday. This excited Nakehta. Since moving in with Omotayo, over four years ago, she has been able to maintain her traditions while building new ones. Naketha now attends birthday parties with friends on a regular basis, throws her own birthday party every year, gets her hair done every month and goes to the Taste of Colorado. On top of all the new traditions Omotayo has also helped Naketha learn how to ride a bike around the park with the kids which was Naketha’s POM last year. Finding the perfect placement is scary and hard—Plus it doesn’t always happen on the first try, but when you do find it, it’s worth all the fear and anxiety. Watching Naketha flourish and grow over the past four years in her new home with her new family has been one of the grandest rewards of my career.
Mosaic Messenger is published by Mosaic in Denver | 10651 E. Bethany Dr., Ste. 100 Aurora, CO 80014-2601 | 303.369.9711 | www.mosaicindenver.org Executive Director Community Relations Manager
stephen.shaughnessy@mosaicinfo.org stephanie.webb@mosaicinfo.org
Mission Embracing God’s call to serve in the world, Mosaic advocates for people with intellectual disabilities and provides opportunities for them to enjoy a full life. Integrity at Mosaic If you have a concern, call our national Confidential Reporting Hotline at 800.443.4899, or email integrity@mosaicinfo.org
Connect with Mosaic in Denver! mosaicindenver.org mosaicinfo.org/blog facebook.com/mosaicindenver twitter.com/mosaicpossible donate.mosaicinfo.org/denver
Donations Needed: Person and Supplies to build 3 ramps Steam Cleaner ($200) Donations for Camp Memberships ($500 per person) Dresser and Night stand ($200) 1 Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Lamp ($200) 2 Twin Size Comforter/sheet set (guys) ($50) Full Size Comforter set (men) ($50) Toiletries Gift Cards to Local Restaurants
Relationships Mosaic is an affiliated social ministry organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a member of Lutheran Services in America. Non-discrimination Mosaic will not discriminate in matters of employment or service delivery on the basis of race, creed, age, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, marital status or veteran status. To be added or removed from the mailing list or to receive information via email, please contact Mosaic at the address given. ©2016 Mosaic. All rights reserved. Mosaic is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
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Nurses Knowledge UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATION by Sarah Henrich, Registered Nurse Communication is unavoidable. Intentional or unintentional, our words, actions, and inactions all send a message. It is impossible to avoid communicating. Even attempting to avoid communication is communicating a message to someone. We do not get to choose to communicate. We only get to choose if we are going to try to communicate effectively. Working with individuals with intellectual disabilities often presents difficulties with communication. The following are more common barriers individuals face when communicating with others: Impaired speech: Someone with impaired speech may have difficulty pronouncing words clearly, difficulty using appropriate volume, difficulty forming words, or have an inability to speak (non-verbal). Impaired hearing: Someone who is deaf or hard of hearing may have difficulty hearing someone talking if background noise (TV, radio, traffic, other people) is present, misunderstand or not hear words spoken to them, have difficulty understanding people with foreign accents, or not hear at all. Impaired sight: Someone with vision loss may not see facial cues indicating emotion or mood, hand gestures indicating size or direction, cues to respond to a question such as raised eyebrows, and cues providing feedback such as head nodding or eye rolling. Someone with vision loss may also have difficulty knowing who they are speaking to. Impaired thought processing: Someone with an impaired thought process may have difficulty
remembering things, concentrating, and using appropriate reasoning and judgment. They may interrupt frequently, forget or not pay attention to what was said, have difficulty following directions, take a long time to respond, have difficulty making a decision, have difficulty understanding consequences, or have difficulty responding appropriately.
appropriate tone and language. Take the time to determine what an individual wants to tell you. Don’t ask leading questions (“Are you doing X because of Y”, “Did you do A because B did C?”). Confirm what an individual has communicated to you rather than assuming you know what they meant. Make sure an individual understands what you have said to them.
Impaired receptive language skills: Receptive language skills allow us to understand language. Someone with impaired receptive language skills may have difficulty understanding what is said to them, have trouble telling the difference between similar sounds or words, repeat a question rather than respond to it, have a hard time following directions, or give unusual answers to questions. They may have difficulty understanding that “Jane is the friend of Sue’s brother, Joe.” means the same thing as “Jane and Joe are friends.”
Patience. Allow time for an individual to process and understand information before they respond. Don’t interrupt an individual; allow them to finish their thoughts. Interrupting someone causes them to respond to you rather than finish what they wanted to say. You may need to repeat or rephrase what you say, redirect an individual back to the conversation, or help an individual find the right words to use.
Impaired expressive language skills: Expressive language skills allow us to express our wants and needs using words, appropriate grammar, hand gestures, and facial expressions. Someone with impaired expressive language skills may have a limited vocabulary, leave out important words when speaking, confuse past, present, and future verb tense (“I eat” instead of “I ate”), have difficulty naming objects, use made up words, use words in the wrong order in sentences, or use the wrong pronouns (“her said” instead of “she said”). To effectively communicate with individuals who have difficulty with communication, it is important to practice the following: Respect. Talk to individuals like you would talk to anyone else. Be kind, genuine, and straightforward. Use age
Pay attention. Pay attention to an individual’s body language, gestures, and facial expressions. Individuals may communicate verbally, use gestures, use picture boards or electronic devices, or use behaviors. Everyone communicates; we need to figure out how. If an individual’s behavior puts them or others at risk, it may be necessary to work with a mental health professional to develop better communication techniques, and help care providers learn what behaviors mean and how to work with the individual to anticipate needs and communicate more effectively Communication is how we give information to others about our needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or how we are doing. As advocates and care providers for individuals who often communicate differently, we need to make sure we do everything we can to avoid receiving the wrong message from those we serve.
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Caring Community ADVENTURES WITH AVA by Ben Rainbow, Direct Support Associate I began my Mosaic journey in early September of 2015. The very first person I had the pleasure of meeting was Ava. Ava is a part of our (CES) Children’s Extensive Services program at Mosaic, which serves children with intellectual disabilities. Ava is a ten year old girl who loves to listen to music and sing. Whenever she gets the chance she will sing her little heart out in front of her computer, making her own music videos. She also loves movies and when she isn’t making music videos she is plopped down in front of one of her favorite musicals. I have had a wonderful time getting to know this little girl and all of her quirks. Every day, she shows me how things that are not a big deal to some of us, are struggles she works to overcome. Ava really struggles with loud noises that are out of her control.
We work on moving to a different space if things become too overwhelming. We also take as many opportunities as we can to get out into the community and learn that sometimes things are just out of our power to fix. Some of our favorite places to go are the zoo and the pet stores to look at all the different kinds of fish they have. After being with Ava for almost eight months I have learned just how strong willed she is. If she does not like something she lets you know and if she wants something she will find a way to get it. She shows me every day how to be a better person, and how sometimes I need to take a step back and look at it from her point of view. If you would like to learn more about our Children’s Extensive Services at Mosaic in Denver, contact Melissa Durkop at melissa.durkop@mosaicinfo.org or 303.369.9711 x11.
Ben Rainbow, DSA, and Ava with Childrens Extensive Services
Never Say Goodbye On April 30, many gathered to say goodbye to very amazing lady. Crystal Wiley, Office Manager, who held many roles including Direct Support Manager, over her almost seven years with Mosaic in Denver, said goodbye. Many attended her “Never Say Goodbye” party. We smiled, we laughed, and even a few tears. Crystal shared with the persons we serve, “I am not saying goodbye, because I will still attend your celebrations and other events.” This made many people smile. We all agree it would have been a hard goodbye had she been moving away! Good Luck Crystal- see you soon! Team Mosaic in Denver
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Meaningful Life GOALS AND DREAMS by Christina Picicci, Occupational Therapy Student Mosaic in Denver is truly an incredible organization. Over the past month I have been welcomed into the day-to-day life of how Mosaic serves people, striving to meet their every need. It has been my pleasure to assist Mosaic in creating a program for occupational therapy students to help individuals who desire to work in the community.
working with individuals in their own home; they’re the experts of their own space and life, so it makes for a very client-driven experience. After I got to know Kandra a little better, we completed an assessment that provided information about all areas of Kandra’s life and specifically identified areas she wanted to work on.
I had the opportunity to get to know one individual in service extremely well. For those who know Kandra, you would know that her dream is to work in a hotel, specifically making beds. It is often the topic of many conversations and it is so exciting to hear the enthusiasm in her voice when she talks about it.
While finding a job in the community was her main priority, we also discovered she wanted to work on her cooking skills and completing her household chores. Ideally, as the occupational therapy student program continues to grow, each of these needs would be addressed.
Occupational therapy has a unique perspective; looking at the end goal of working and finding various ways to help individuals who want to work do
In the short time I had the opportunity to work with Kandra we decided together that we would work on a goal that would be beneficial to her everyday
Kandra, person supported by Mosaic in Denver and Christine Piccici, Occupational Therapy Student, University of Kansas
so. I started working with Kandra by visiting her at her home. She welcomed me and gave me a personal tour of her place, which included conversations about her interests, typical daily routine, and, of course, her dream job. Personally, I love
routine, as well as apply to her long term goal of finding a job in the community. Kandra and I worked together to create a visual schedule that allowed her to see which chores needed to be completed and which chores were already done.
We made some adaptations to the first schedule we created by adding colored pictures instead of black and white as well as utilizing a daily chore schedule rather than a weekly one. Kandra chose which pictures she wanted to represent which chores. This may seem like a simple option, every opportunity for an individual to make a personal choice is an important one. I could have chosen a picture of a vacuum and told Kandra what that picture represented, but when Kandra chose each picture she was more involved and even showed excitement as we placed the brightly colored schedule on her refrigerator. Kandra plans to use this visual schedule to complete her chores each day. This is an example of how helping Kandra build skills today (e.g., following a visual schedule) allows for those skills to someday be applied to her dream job of working in a hotel. As Kandra becomes comfortable with using this kind of task list, our hope is that she could use a similar schedule to follow work responsibilities at a hotel. I enjoyed my time with Kandra over the past month. I’m thankful for her kindness, humor, and the dance moves she had the chance to teach me! Lauren Weichman, a licensed occupational therapist who supervised me during my time at Mosaic in Denver, will be continuing to work with local universities as well as the University of Kansas Medical Center to have students committed to consistently working with individuals in service. I am so excited to see how the relationship between Mosaic in Denver and occupational therapy continues to grow in the near future as well as in the years to come. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity!
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Meaningful Life
Volunteer Appreciation
DREAM VACATIONS by Kathryn Ireland, Associate Direct Support Manager
In April, Mosaic in Denver showed appreciation for our volunteers. Mosaic has a phenomenal team of volunteers who give their all to support the people we serve. A lunch invitation went out to join our Executive Director, Stephen Shaughnessy at the Cheesecake Factory at Park Meadows Mall. Ana, a volunteer with Mosaic said, “What a great way to just sit and enjoy each other. So many times we are so busy.”
If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Elmer Gibson, you would know that if there is one thing he loves the most it is the Wild West. All of his favorite things center on this theme, from television shows like Bonanza and Gunsmoke, to almost every John Wayne movie (Red River is his favorite), to listening to cowboy poetry. If it lives in the lore of the American West, Elmer either has or would enjoy it. That is why we here at Mosaic were excited to send Elmer on a four-day trip to Arizona to experience living on a dude ranch. While he was on the ranch, Elmer got to experience many aspects of the cowboy life he loves so much. Elmer took horseback riding lessons, with the help of the staff at the ranch Elmer rode a few different horses named Gunner, Uno and Apache. There was also a big dance on the last night, and the staff mentioned that Elmer was on the dance floor the whole time. Which wasn’t surprising to any of us back here in Denver. However, Elmer said his favorite activity while he was in Arizona was being able to participate in herding
cattle, or “cattle chasin” as he calls it. Rounding up the many head of cattle that reside on the ranch before settling in for supper truly gave Elmer that Wild West, Life of the Cowboys experience he lives for. This wasn’t the first time that Elmer had visited this ranch in Arizona, but this was his favorite because of the activities he got to participate in. The trip was created and staffed by Trips, Inc. Trips, Inc. is an organization that provides all-inclusive getaways for individuals 16 and older who have intellectual disabilities. Last fall, Elmer went with Trips, Inc. to the Pendleton Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon; another Wild West themed getaway. He made such a strong impression that when he got to the ranch he was immediately recognized by some of the staff. Mosaic’s mission of creating a meaningful life for those we serve can take many different forms because of our individualized approach to care, and it always gratifying to play a part in helping the people we serve live their dreams.
Melissa and Joannie
Later in the month, we had a volunteer team building activity in which we enjoyed our evening at “Sip and Paint.” Nancy Garcia mentioned, “What a fun way to learn about each other.” Mosaic would not be able to create a life of possibilities for those we serve without these people. Thank you! If you would like to join our phenomenal volunteer team at Mosaic in Denver, contact Stephanie at stephanie. webb@mosaicinfo.org or call 303.369.9711 ext. 16.
Elmer (person served) on his Dream Vacation
Ana and Becky
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Discover the Possibilities and learn more about our mission and services. Join us for this one-hour tour of our mission and learn how you can make a difference too.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
COME CELEBRATE OUR JUNE & JULY BIRTHDAYS Come one. Come all. Mosaic is buying the treats!
TIME TO DANCE WITH MOSAIC July 23 6–9 p.m. Augustana Lutheran Church in Denver
All events held at the Mosaic Office 10651 E. Bethany Dr. Suite 100, Aurora in Denver unless noted.
June 7 5–7 p.m. Location to be determined July 12 5–7 p.m. Location to be determined
Thursday, June 14 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m Augustana Lutheran Church 5000 E. Alameda Ave.
LADIES/GUYS NIGHT June 28 5–7:30 p.m. location to be determined
Wednesday, June 22 6–7 p.m. Thursday, July 19 6–7 p.m. Please RSVP to stephanie.webb@ mosaicinfo.org or at 303.369.9711 x16.
2ND ANNUAL FRIENDS AND FAMILY BARBEQUE August 6 11 a.m.– 2 p.m.
We are excited to be teaming up with Community Living Alternatives, a fellow Denver metro service provider to sponsor a summer dance. We will serve light refreshments and hors d’oeuvres, take attendees photos to preserve the memories and of course dance the night away. This evening is free to attend, but we do have a limited amount of tickets, so please sign up quickly. If you are interested in attending the dance please call Melissa Durkop at 303.369.9711 x11. We want all of the people Mosaic serves who attend to feel as amazing as possible on this special night so we have begun recruiting volunteers to provide makeup, nails and hairstyles a few hours before the dance begins. There will be a limited number of donated formal wear, shoes and jewelry for people to choose from on a first come first serve basis. If you are interested in donating your time or items please contact us at one of the numbers above. See a full list of items needed below. -Dresses -Suits/Tuxes -Dress shirts -Ties/Bowties -Men’s and women’s dress shoes -Jewelry, tiaras -Gift cards for Walmart, local grocery stores, Party City, Michaels, Hobby Lobby.
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10651 E. Bethany Dr., Ste. 100 Aurora, CO 80014-2601
Return Service Requested
A life of possibilities for people with intellectual disabilities.
Welcome to Our Newest Employee by Melissa Durkop, Direct Support Manager
Mosaic in Denver would like to welcome Anita Boakye-Yiadom, our newest to Direct Support Professional to the team. Anita is passionate about working with people with disabilities because while growing up her mother was a host home provider. Anita viewed this person as a part of her family and knew she wanted to follow
in her mother’s footsteps and serve the community as well. Anita comes to us with several years of experience working in the field, most recently at a day program in Aurora. Anita will be working with Matthew, to expand his community time by going out and participating in activities and getting to know people. Anita will work to provide a meaningful life for many other people Mosaic serves as well. We are so lucky to have Anita on our team, welcome! Anita Boakye-Yiadom.
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