After the sad/bad news last evening, I noticed I was sounding very
glum. So here's a piece I just did for the WCB Newsline Magazine.
It's a nostalgic look back over our 25 years as Peninsula
Rehabilitation Services.
Carl Jarvis
Twenty-five Years of Learning
by
Carl Jarvis
There's an old song that goes, "What a difference a day makes". Well,
I don't know about one day, but 25 years most certainly makes a difference.
25 years. Looking back we feel as though we can almost touch that day
in early January. And yet, as we drove down highway 101, to our first
appointment, 25 years seemed to stretch ahead of us forever. Such an
immense length of time.
Peninsula Rehabilitation Services(PRS) began business almost the same
day that we
moved into our new home. Now, nestled on ten acres near the village
of Quilcene, we were official! One small member of a state-wide
program, the Independent Living/Older Blind Program(IL/OB , initially
we were to serve Kitsap, Jefferson and Clallam counties.
but within a year we added Mason and Grays Harbor counties to our PRS
family. Over the years the state program became known as the ILOB Program.
As part of the Department of Services for the Blind, Ed Grant was
appointed the program's first administrator. Ed
retired in the early 90's and he and his wife Phyllis bought a home in Port
Angeles. There they began a blind support group at the Park View Villa
retirement Apartments.
On January First 1995, we unloaded the moving Van and entered our
new home. And then we collapsed, figuring
we'd take our time organizing stuff...tons and tons of stuff.
Early on Monday, January 2, Ed called.
"You get moved in?" he asked. "If you mean is everything out of the
weather, then yes we're moved in". It would still be ten days of
waiting for a final inspection before we took possession. Ed said
his group met on the
second Tuesday of each month, and they would love to meet us, next Tuesday.
And so it began.
The world was a bit different back 25 years ago. We had no laptops,
no GPS, no Cell Phones, and no On-Line Resources. But we did have
one big advantage going for us. We were 25 years younger. And we
were excited, and eager.
We set a heavy schedule, two appointments before lunch and two in the
afternoon, five days a week. Remember, we were driving around in
Kitsap, Jefferson, Clallam, Mason and Grays Harbor counties from
Bainbridge Island to Neah Bay, and from West Port to Point No Point.
On normal days we ate dinner during Jeopardy, and then it was off to
the office to do the days entries and records and place orders and
call new referrals.
But schedules are made to be broken. One of our first learning
experiences was finding out that retired people enjoy being retired.
Many new clients expressed open shock when we suggested that we had a
9:00 A.M. opening. As one sweet lady put it, "My dear, That is the
time I'm getting my beauty sleep." Since no one would deny a person
their beauty sleep, we dropped the early morning appointment. Another
lesson learned the hard way was the rising cost of doing business.
When we first set out, a nice filling lunch could be had for around
ten dollars for the two of us. The last lunch we bought cost a bit
over three times that amount. But that was just lunch. Everything
else went up in price, too. Gas and maintenance on our Ford trucks.
we wore out three
during the 25 years, then there was the increase in aids and
appliances not to mention shipping costs.
But despite rising expenses, increased accountability(piles and piles
of records and paperwork, we managed to keep our eye on our goal of
meeting people's needs, assisting in developing the independent skills
that would enable them to live where and how they chose.
Another important lesson we learned was that our clients often knew
more than we knew about what they needed. We learned to shut up and
listen. It became clear that it was not as important where they lived
as it was in how they felt about their contributions to their family
and their community. It came to us that for years we Americans have
been isolating our Senior Citizens when what they wanted was
participation. While we were busy "protecting" our Elders, by
sheltering them in Assisted Living Facilities, they were feeling
excluded, when they still wanted and needed to feel Included.
More than once we heard someone complain that their family had parked
them in a Senior Facility in order to be rid of them.
As Rehab Teachers there is an assumption that we can relate to our
clients. But while this maybe somewhat true, there's a huge
difference between relating to, and living with, the Aging Process.
This lesson is learned when we realize that the heavy grunt was not
coming from our client, but is us, trying to rise up out of our chair.
And that youthful lilt to our step is more like a lurching limp. And
finally, if all the stars are in their proper places, we come to
understand that we are not so much teachers as we are learners, all
learning together.
For years we grumbled that the Eye Lob program was like going around
putting band aids on open wounds. In hind sight that has not proven
to be the case. Sure, we could have done much more, and served more
clients if we'd been given more resources, but in truth, we "done good
with what we got". The real Rehab was not the gadgets or the
coaching, it was the simple fact of connecting, the feeling of being
worthwhile, to feel needed, and to feel a sense of independence. 25
years could all be summed up simply as the lady who beamed as she told
us, "That watch, that lovely little talking watch. Now I no longer
have to go about asking folks what time it is. I just ask my little
friend."
One small touch of independence, a turning point, the first step
toward...toward taking the next step.
25 years. Really, not so long a time. But time enough to travel the
great Northwest and meet so many good people.
And, as we close the doors and turn out the lights, that becomes our
final word as rehab teachers. Whenever the TV and radio and on-line
news becomes unbearably negative, just pull on your walking shoes and
go knocking on your neighbor's doors. There's a whole beautiful Land
full of beautiful folks just waiting to welcome you into their lives.
**********
