Members of the Defiance County Board of DD along with several staff members got a firsthand look at the programs and services at Quadco Rehabilitation Center (QRC) as they took a tour of the center’s building at Stryker prior to the QRC monthly board meeting on Tuesday (May 27).
The tour was part of an annual In-Service the Defiance County Board of DD holds for its board members.
The group of eleven people learned about the QRC Art Club from Training Specialist Bobbi Schlosser. She explained that the people in the art club meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week and get involved in all kinds of artistic endeavors.
She showed the board members how the art club members were painting American flags on blocks of wood during their visit, taping off the places for the stars and stripes.
Bobbi showed other examples of how the members had painted birds in pastels, cut them out, and then applied the cut outs to acrylic backgrounds on canvas that other members had painted.
Mrs. Schlosser explained that one scene called for snow, so a club member used white paint on a toothbrush and splattered the paint on the canvas by flicking the bristles of the toothbrush with his finger to give the scene the feeling of falling snow.
The club members have also painted images on a garden fence outside of the back entrance of QRC as well as colorful slate tiles that are attached to the building.
She said each month an artist of the month is chosen and some piece of work that they have made is displayed in the monthly newsletter.
Soon, Mrs. Schlosser said, she hopes that the group will be able to display some of its artwork in some more public places around the area.
The board members visited the Senior Activities Center and learned about the programs that senior participants enjoy at QRC. They also engage in artistic projects, many of which they take home to decorate their rooms or use as gifts for the people who are special in their lives.
Now that the weather is getting better, the senior participants are looking forward to going to garage sales and shopping expeditions.
They also join each month with other area senior groups for lunch and a special program. This past month they enjoyed a program of special animals from the Toledo Zoo.
The board members got to visit the garden that garden club members recently planted. The club members are looking forward to harvesting their tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, radishes, and cucumbers as they grow in their garden.
The board members watched one area working on an exercise program. They learned that there are also healthy living clubs, a book club, a NASCAR club and men’s and women’s clubs with activities geared for participation in the community.
QRC also provides a variety of work, and the board members learned that there are work opportunities at the Stryker building and the Defiance center that come from area companies. Northwest Products in Archbold features a diverse workforce completing a number of jobs for area companies and workers can join the crew at Altenloh, Brinck & Co. in Bryan, also known as Trufast, where they work in an integrated setting.
The final stop of the day for the Defiance County Board members was at the Stryker SUBWAY and Mama DeLuca’s Pizza Now! restaurants, which are also community employment and training sites for people being served by QRC.
The Defiance County group also toured other facilities and services offered by the county board of DD.
During the regular monthly meeting of the QRC Administrative and Non-Profit boards, QRC Executive Director Bruce Abell noted that the center will continue to work toward providing community integrated programs in a cost-efficient manner.
Mr. Abell shared a couple of recent news stories of organizations that are focusing on community employment, emphasizing job tryouts and people who make items in a public setting that allows them to interact with other people around them.
He said the center will continue to emphasize programs that promote community employment and inclusion in the community for the people that they serve.
Program Manager Shannon Zellers told the board that members of the National Honor Society from Hilltop High School visited the center at Stryker on May 2. The members put together activities for the people in each area of the building, which proved very popular.
She also mentioned that the annual QRC summer picnic will be held on June 6 at Ruihley Park in Archbold.