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ARRM Cares Award Winners

Pat Anderson, REM South Central Services, Inc.
Pat works for our In-home Program and has worked with several in-home consumers over the past years. This year she has been a key player in helping a married couple in our in-home program. This couple had a fire and lost everything in the community in which they lived. They moved into an apartment in our county and Pat began to work with them when they had virtually nothing.

Pat helped them get items they need for their apartment. She also helped get them clothing, furniture, and a bed which they needed. Since there was a huge issue with their insurance and the home they lost, Pat spent many hours with them, getting free legal advice. She helped them get the deed cleared to the property they owned, which actually helped keep them out of jail.

She helped contact an agency that provided a volunteer team to assist in cleaning up all the debris from the fire. She also helped the couple get new medical providers set up, which was a huge issue, as the husband has some serious medical issues.

Pat was there to transport them to the appointments and help them get to know their new area. She helped set up meals for the couple through the county.

Pat knew the husband was having a hard time adjusting to apartment living, since he had always lived in the country and had room to get out and tinker with things, so she helped him find a friend that would take him fishing on a routine basis, which is something he loved. He needed a warm winter coat, (a large size was hard to find) and she used her resources to make sure he had a warm winter coat, gloves, hat, and clothing ... to ice fish!

At this time, the couple's son has come to live with them and Pat again is assisting them in looking for a new apartment that could hold three individuals. Their son also is in need of services and she has contacted the county to begin getting services for him.

This couple states that it is due to Pat's help and her caring spirit that they have survived the loss of their home and their belongings. She has helped them find hope in what seemed to be a hopeless situation! They have made friends and adjusted into their new community, have a warm apartment with furnishings, have gotten the medical attention they needed, and are now in the process of getting help for their son!

Pat has given 110% to this family and they now have hope as they look forward to the new year. They stated at our recent Holiday Party, last year we felt we had lost everything and didn't know where to turn. But now as we look forward to 2009, life doesn't seem too bad!

Tammy Artibee, Habilitative Services, Inc.
Tammy Artibee is someone that will get involved, will try new things, and is never afraid to get her hands dirty. She has the drive to make lots of dreams a reality, and the patience to see them through.

Tammy learned to like many new activities, so when she brings the gentlemen she supports to one of those activities, she can participate and make the experience even better for them. One activity that Tammy still talks about is going to a four-hour alternative heavy metal concert called "Drowning Pool and Saliva." Even though that is not Tammy’s type of music, she knew one of the gentlemen she supports would enjoy it immensely. She went in with the attitude this will be great, and she came out saying the concert was a lot of fun.

She also knew that one gentleman loves cars. Tammy found a ’50s car show in the Cities and immediately got everything arranged so he could go. She also supported another gentleman when he was asked to talk to a class at Mankato State University where he shared his experiences of living in an SLS. Tammy also shared with the class how great it is to be a DSP and the rewards and benefits that come from it.

Tammy participated in 2008 Community Enrichment Week by cleaning up an area of her local town.
Tammy is currently working full-time and is a full-time student with a 4.0 GPA this last semester. She is going to school for Developmental Cognitive Disability K–12. With her connections to the school, Tammy is able to take one gentleman to speech therapy class with her. He loves going to the school, seeing all the kids, and learning to find his own voice. Before he began, he could recognize the alphabet and write his name. He is now able to find the words in word find puzzles and is learning to spell more words. One day when they were practicing he spelled out Tammy, which was the second word he could ever spell. It made Tammy cry.

These experiences and watching people grow is a huge reward for her. In her own words: “This is why I’m here. They make my day and amaze me.”

Carl Enck, MBW Company, Inc.
Owning your own successful business…a dream many may have, but few attain. Carl has helped make this dream a reality for a gentleman he supports.

Greg struggled with his work at the sheltered workshop. The repetition of the assembly line was stressful and the highly active environment was difficult for him to tolerate. When Carl first met Greg, Greg had made some attempts at a car washing business, but behavioral issues sabotaged each effort. As an independent businessperson in the community, Carl had first-hand knowledge of what it would take to be successful. He knew he had his work cut out for him. He needed to build Greg’s self-respect and to foster in him a sense of responsibility, dependability and the drive to finish a task once started.

Carl worked with Greg to develop business cards and flyers. With Carl’s gentle guidance over the past seven years, Greg has been able to expand his business adding lawn mowing and more recently, snow removal and general maintenance to his menu of services.

One of the challenges of Greg’s business was the fact that Greg does not drive. Carl was proactive in helping Greg negotiate with his other direct support professionals so that he had a driver available whenever he had jobs to complete. This is especially critical in the winter with 5:00 AM snow removal jobs.

Carl’s innovation aided Greg in networking with his entire team to assure that his business is operational, no matter how early in the day Greg’s service is needed.

Another part of having your own business is acquiring and maintaining equipment. With Carl’s support and teaching, Greg now utilizes an accounting system to track income and expenses, saving to invest some of his profits back into the business by expanding his inventory.

Greg is currently the proud owner of three lawn mowers (including two riding mowers), a snow blower and a trailer to haul his equipment.

Glenn Gerlitz, Thomas Allen, Inc.
After leaving a promising accounting career, Glenn joined Thomas Allen Inc. in the spring of 1997 and has been indispensable to Lakeview ever since. Thanks to Glenn’s unfailing creativity, generosity and willingness to go the extra mile, Lakeview consumers have attained a level of financial independence and community integration they would not have enjoyed otherwise.

All of Lakeview’s consumers struggle with impulse spending, budgeting, and often with simply balancing their checkbooks and retaining receipts. Glenn has met their financial management needs no matter at what level they are operating, never mind that their checkbook registers are often barely legible and their quarterly expense reports eight and ten pages long. Some consumers spend every dollar at least twice (thank goodness for generous return policies); others keep withdrawing and depositing their money to revel in the joys of banking.

Let’s face it. Like the rest of us, our consumers feel most empowered when they get to buy those big-ticket items such as cameras, tread mills or TV’s or when they get to spend sizable amounts of money on furniture or travel. They usually want more than they can afford, and their incomes can fluctuate dramatically, depending on the level of contract work in sheltered workshops and the inevitable losses, hours cut and lay-offs that are part and parcel of an economy in recession. All of our employed consumers have recently encountered job losses and/or reductions in hours or pay, yet none of them have ever bounced a check or defaulted on a phone, Internet or cable contract or missed their room and board payments.

In better economic times, our men have taken trips and attended events which would have been beyond their reach had Glenn not accompanied them and their aged parents or researched airline ticket prices, gate passes for personal care attendants, and scooter accessible air port cab services.
Mark would not have watched the Hoola girls and ridden the sugar cane train with his seventy-two-year old mother in Maui if Glenn had not been along for the ride. His seizures and wheelchair would have kept him grounded.

Nick would not have flown to California to meditate with Thich Nhat Hanh at the Mind-fullness retreat at Dear Park Monastery because monks don’t pass psychotropic medications and cabbies don’t cart electric scooters unless you know how to ask them—and Glenn does.

Bill might have missed the Viking scrimmage, Mark the Twin’s Game, Stuart the Go-Goes at the Taste of Minnesota. Would have missed out on this, missed out on that and the other thing, and so it goes. But our consumers didn’t miss out on anything!

Glenn made sure of that; he recognized their potential, saw the possibilities, and turned those possibilities into reality. That’s why he is Thomas Allen’s Employee of the Year. That’s why he should be an ARRM Cares winner.

Rosie Moriarty, Dakota Communities, Inc.
Rosie awoke one September morning that felt different from other mornings. She could not explain why, but she knew she had to go and check on Melanie. You can call it a sixth sense or just that feeling you get when you become incredibly close to a person. But Rosie knew that something was not quite right.

Upon entering the room she found Melanie unconscious with shallow breathing, her skin turning blue. She knew to immediately call 911 and get her to a hospital. Rosie saved Melanie’s life that day. This is one example of how Rosie has changed Melanie’s life not only through health and wellness but also through increased quality that she makes happen every day.

Melanie was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her late 20’s and began requiring in-home support from Dakota Communities in 2004. Rosie entered her life as an occasional support staff in 2005 and shortly thereafter became her fulltime live-in staff. But this was never just a job for Rosie, and she was never just a staff person for Melanie. Rosie quickly became her best friend and advocate.

Finding that perfect balance of friend and advocate is a gift that Rosie has been able to achieve. She has encouraged Melanie to maintain physical, mental, and spiritual opportunities that are essential to a whole life for her, regardless of her disability. Melanie was following a path of depression and poor physical health. Rosie came in and changed the direction of that path.

With Rosie by her side, Melanie pursued and won employment as a greeter at Walmart, rediscovered her love of classical music as a concert violist, became a flourishing member of a Red Hat Society, volunteered as an usher at the Ted Mann Theater, and rediscovered her Jewish Faith, becoming an active member of her synagogue, celebrating the high holidays with friends and families.

For the first time in several years, Melanie was able to travel out of state, visiting New York and Washington DC. When her power chair broke down the first day of the trip, Rosie was not fazed. She simply disengaged the power and pushed this chair, all 500 pounds of it, all over town to assure that Melanie was able to see the sights. While this may seem like a small feat, I challenge anyone reading this to try it for 5 minutes let alone 8 hours.

Understanding Melanie’s need for optimal health, they have enrolled in the Ways to Wellness Program at Woodwinds Hospital, establishing a relationship with a wellness coach. Through lifestyle, fitness and nutrition, they have developed a partnership for better living, taking dance classes once a week, belly dancing in their living room, developing a nutritious diet, losing weight and becoming an expert at Wii Sports.

Because she has so much to look forward to, Melanie has recovered from her illness and continues her infectious joy for living with Rosie by her side every step of the way…as an advocate, an angel and friend.

Lisa Wallen, Dakota Communities, Inc.
It was late February 2008 when I first started working at Inndale, a home for women with Multiple Sclerosis. The first thing I heard about was the MS Walk, quickly realizing that this was a highly important event to everyone. One of the ladies asked me when we were going to start our fundraising efforts. I turned to Lisa Wallen, who patiently explained to me the importance of the walk.

I watched as Lisa immediately set out to see what could be done to get things started to meet the goal. Lisa devoted time to this project in addition to handling all the other responsibilities of her job. The goal to set to raise $3000, Lisa was able to coordinate her efforts to get the word out.
Lisa helped the ladies write letters to Montel Williams and send press releases. Lisa had a reporter from a local newspaper come to the house to interview the ladies, completing a feature story in the Sun Post. This led to a response from several people in the immediate community who started to sent funds.

Lisa coordinated her efforts to have the program Twin Cities Live visit the ladies. This led to a spot on the television show and further increased donations towards our goal. The Pioneer Press wrote a wonderful article about the tenacity and indomitable spirit of the ladies. Still, there was one lady in the home who was reluctant to be involved. I watched as Lisa worked her magic.

Before I knew what happened, the lady and the reporter from Pioneer Press had forged a bond, spending 2 hours talking. The reporter left that day with a greater understanding of MS, and the lady who told her story realized she truly mattered.

The day of the walk approached. Lisa had coordinated family members and other Dakota Community staff to join us. We had over 50 people respond. That day the ladies were surrounded by people that reminded them of how much they can impact others. Not only did the ladies meet their goal of $3000, they raised an additional $500 more than expected.

Lisa Wallen has been employed by Dakota Communities for 18 years. During her tenure, Lisa acted as an Administrative Assistant, an Advocate, and today she works as a Senior Advocate at our Lakeville home.

From the very beginning Lisa demonstrated heart and soul about what it means to advocate for others. We celebrate Lisa not only for the tremendous work she did to make the walk a huge success. We also celebrate Lisa because she saw an opportunity to teach others. She knows MS does not define a person. MS is a challenge that can be met with dignity through the support of people like Lisa. The career Lisa chose 18 years ago makes a daily difference and impacts all of us in such simple and yet profound ways.

There is no better ambassador than Lisa. She makes us all better Advocates.