Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com
Published - Thursday, July 10, 2008
Lakeview looking for new tasks
Employees of the county’s sheltered workshop for people with disabilities at the Lakeview Health Center in West Salem are hoping they will get the chance to help out area businesses in the Coulee Region this summer — and maybe earn some spending money in the process.
Rebecca Rieber, recreation therapy manager at Lakeview Health Center, noted that the members of the Neshonoc Center’s sheltered workshop —who come from all over the county — make up a labor pool that has yet to be fully tapped.
“We are looking for other jobs for our employees to complete,” she said. “They have done laundry services (such as folding), sorting, collating, recycling and the shredding of documents.”
But those jobs are by no means the only ones that Rieber would consider for workers with disabilities. There might well be other simple tasks they are capable of that no one has thought of yet.
Such jobs are important in more ways than one, according to Pat Seidel, a recreation therapy assistant at Lakeview’s Neshonoc Center, the site where much of the work is done.
“Working gives them (the disabled) the opportunity to be productive and earn money. It’s something to be proud of,” Seidel said. “The pay is piece work, but it is based on minimum wage adapted for people with disabilities.”
“Work is a definite morale booster,” Rieber said. “It gives their lives more meaning, plus they pick up valuable skills they wouldn’t learn otherwise. They learn to show up on time, how to collect a paycheck, how to pay bills and manage money.”
The Neshonoc Center is inside the grounds of the Lakeview Health Center at 902 Garland St. E. in West Salem. Neshonoc workers already do many of the daily chores at Lakeview. They wash all the resident’s clothes and clothes protectors (formerly known as bibs). After the clothes are washed and dried, employees fold and sort them alphabetically (every item of clothing has a name tag).
They also recycle cans, first cleaning them and taking the labels off. “We would like to do more recycling of pop cans and newspapers, but we don’t have a drop-off bin outside yet. But we’re here every weekday from 7 (a.m.) to 3:30 (p.m.), so if people have something they’d like to drop off they can leave it at the door,” Seidel said. She added that the funds raised from recycling are used on outings for residents.
Cardboard, too, is recycled here and the Neshonoc Center also has an industrial-size shredder that can be used for big shredding jobs.
“We’re looking for more work opportunities,” Seidel said. “For example, we could do laundry for high school athletic teams or maybe a fitness club.”
In the past, workers have assembled pull tabs on coat zippers and a few of the higher functioning workers have taken on janitorial jobs. Seidel said there are a few workers available for that type of work.
“There might be other tasks that a business might have that our workers could handle. Maybe there are simple jobs that staff do now that our workers could take over,” Rieber said.
She said she would be more than willing to meet with potential employers, either at Lakeview or at their businesses. “Anyone interested in helping their business connect with the community, getting work done at a cheaper price or alleviating staff work can give me a call,” Rieber said.
She can be reached during the day at 786-1400, ext. 133.
All stories copyright 2006 Holmen Courier and other attributed sources.