Group meetings will soon be taking place at Quadco Rehabilitation Center, also known as QRC, to determine how to best incorporate the ideals of the Good Life training into its operation.
Executive Director Bruce Abell told board members at QRC’s monthly board meeting on Tuesday (Aug. 27) that Program Coordinator Shannon Zellers had recently graduated from the Good Life facilitator’s training and would be leading training at the center.
Good Life is a statewide program offered by the Ohio Association of County Boards, and Ms. Zellers said the training is often done in small groups with activities that develop trust and provide opportunities to build positive relationships.
Her first training is this week with the QRC management team. She said each learning experience has an objective, and this week the team will focus on history. The idea is to move from traditional working approaches to more personal relationships.
Ms. Zellers said, “We will be introducing the role of an ally. That’s what we want people to become.”
As staff members become allies, they become friends with each other and with the people they serve.
Some people may have attitudes that present obstacles toward achieving that and the small group sessions often help the members develop new ways of interacting that end up producing positive outcomes for everyone involved.
Ms. Zellers said the sessions she attended were led by Willie Jones and Pete Moore from the state association. She said Mr. Jones had previously been at QRC twice to lead sessions on the Positive Culture Initiative, and those sessions have been good ones to use to build upon as they begin the Good Life training.
According to Mr. Abell, Ms. Zellers will also be leading some training on the Good Life at the center’s next Inservice on November 4.
Mr. Abell introduced Jennifer Whaley and Eric McKinney to the board members.
Ms. Whaley said she has been working at one of QRC’s SUBWAY^® restaurants for a little over a year now. She makes sandwiches, preps food, helps at the cash register and takes orders over the phone.
“Jennifer is going to be getting a job in the community,” Mr. Abell reported to the board members.
“That is a very important part of what we want to do here,” he continued. “We want to create the kinds of opportunities for people that they want, so that they can go on and do the things they want to do,” he said.
Aside from the training she has received, one of the things that has been helpful for Jennifer is a weekly meeting at QRC with her peers who also are looking to get a job in the community or have had some experience doing that.
Jennifer said she learned some important things she needed such as having a good attitude, what takes to get a job, the interviewing skills she would need and how to keep a job.
“I’m happy that it is happening, and I’m happy it’s happening for you, Jennifer,” Mr. Abell said.
Eric McKinney said he was celebrating his birthday and enjoys playing drums at the high school boys basketball games in West Unity, following the Detroit Tigers, and likes packaging parts at Northwest Products.
Some young people from Williams County learned more about the world of employment during a summer youth work program operated by QRC and underwritten by the Williams County Board of DD.
Marketing Director Bill Priest said ten young people from Williams County tried their hands at a variety of jobs that included QRC’s Bryan and Stryker SUBWAY^® Restaurants, Bryan and Stryker libraries, Williams County Humane Society, Stryker United Methodist and Lutheran churches, QRC’s Styrker, Northwest Products and bus barn buildings, and at the Bryan and Stryker parks.
The program, he said, is designed to give young people some experience at different types of jobs to have them start to think about what they might like to do as they begin to transition from school into employment.
He said that each person rotated among the jobs to give them a more well-rounded experience.
A group of people from QRC’s Stryker building worked on a float for the Stryker Homecoming parade. Program Coordinator Jessica Douglass said each area did a part of the float and then some people rode on it through the parade.
She noted that the Men’s and Women’s Club made trips to Harrison Lake State Park and the Bloomfield House in Napoleon and some of the people at the Defiance center went to a Toledo Mud Hens game and to the Defiance County Fair.
The NASCAR Club, Baseball Club and Art Club continue to be popular at Northwest Products according to Program Director Philip Zuver. He said they recently held a Bar-B-Q at the Archbold plant with volleyball and cornhole tournaments and took field trips to the Henry County Fair and Jigg’s Root Beer stand in Defiance.
During the board meeting, the board members approved the 2014 joint board calendar and reviewed preliminary budget with no action taken.
The next QRC joint board meeting will be held on September 24 at the conference room in the Stryker building.
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