Howard Frushtick, CareGiver

Jewish Family and Career Services, Atlanta

An interview with Paul Pieper, Client Services Coordinator

Howard Frushtick

Presently, Howard is interacting with his clients, that are clients of Jewish Family and Career Services. This is one of our independent living sites, which is basically a site for developmentally disabled adults who live within the community as independently as possible with proper support. We're an agency that provides support on an individualistic level. For each individual, the support is different.

Howard began with us at the Ashwood Trail House, as a weekend staff. So basically, he was here on the weekends to make sure the clients remembered to take their medications, and to just keep things running smoothly with light supervision, socialization, whatever the situation may be. He's developed the possibility of moving into another one of our independent living facilities, to actually live Monday through Sunday there as a consultant and a House Parent with three developmentally disabled young men who live independently. That will be whatever support they need, at whatever level they need, and that will be backed up with case management for Jewish Family and Career services.

Howard and the clients at the table are playing cards, and having conversation, just as you and I might play cards and have a conversation. And this is possible because Howard is a caregiver for Jewish Family and Career Cervices for developmentally disabled adults at one of our independent living sites. The clients are developmentally disabled adults. And they need light supervision to exist safely in the community.

Individual support provided by caregivers like Howard allows them to live safely in the community. Those supports can be anything from medication, to making sure that they're getting a balanced meal, to getting to work, transportation, to socialization, having a card game, seeing a movie; things that you and I would take for granted, are things that these people need assistance with. That's what our caregivers do.

Jewish Family Services has been in existence for 8 years and other services similar to JFS sprang up after the de-institutionalization of America when people were basically let out of institutions to live in the community independently. MR waivers allow our clients the funding to live independently in the community. That would not have happened forty years ago -- it would have been on an individual basis, but most likely, the clients would have been institutionalized and would not be living independently and would not be living in their own homes. Possibly, they would be living with their families, often families would be courageous and take the task on, but for the most part, institutionalization was encouraged.

I think what has happened is that we have begun to realize that the disabled have rights too and that with the right support, they too can live in the community; have an independent life, just like you or I, just with the right support. Our outlook towards the disabled has come a long way with education, and basically has gone away from "these people belong in institutions" to believing that they have a right to live in the community. We still have a long, long way to go in terms of making sure there's proper funding and making sure that independent living sites can function, but we're coming along and we have come a long way from where we were. We have a philosophy to serve the individual, and all the individual's needs. Having Howard here and other caregivers like him, enable the individuals to have their basic needs met that they need in order to be independent. And enabling three adults to get together and play cards-Enabling people to get to work and have a job and to get to get to the grocery store, and to clean their house; whatever aspect of independent living that we take for granted.

There are hundreds and hundreds of agencies throughout the United States. Frankly, some states are funded much better than Georgia happened to be funded, but we're coming further and further all the time. Unfortunately in some states it's much easier to do that than Georgia. But with Jewish Family and Career Services, since we have our own private funding -- donations and federation -- we're able to do what we're able to do in addition to what we get from Medicaid or private pay.

Every client that we have, we honor, as individuals. And what you see happening at this card game wouldn't be happening 40 years ago. Each of these clients is at this table because of a change of attitudes of people and our society in general towards developmentally disabled people. And we are honoring them as individuals, as people, with rights and needs. And this card game is a small part of what we do with them and what they do with us.

One of the crises that is facing the industry is that a lot of our clients are aging. Not all of our clients, but some of our clients are becoming senior citizens and going into their 50's and 60's and 70's. This means that developmentally disabled adults are living longer, which is a wonderful thing, because their care is better, but also, as with all of us when we age, our needs change. Unfortunately, their funding does not change.

So you have a client who came to you 10 years ago who was 40 and who now is 50, and who no longer has the ability that they had at 40, and their funding is the same. So we have to be more and more creative in what we're able to do with those clients. And the agency is looking at a national level for the aging in developmentally disabled community to see what to do about it and to serve the clients better as they age.

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it so that we had the funding to serve everybody individually, with greater ease and going through less hoops to make sure that everyone, just because they're aging, doesn't end up in nursing homes or assisted living to the extent where their individual needs aren't forgotten about with some of their needs from being developmentally disabled, not just old.

So if I had a wand, it would be to create all those supports and fund all those supports that our clients, as they age, need. Society benefits when all of its participants are honored and everybody has a piece of the pie so to speak.