S - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's Monthly Magazine ...
S - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's Monthly Magazine ...
S - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's Monthly Magazine ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Spectrum</strong>Mar07.qxd 4/26/2007 4:48 PM Page 20<br />
S<br />
LEARNING THE CULTURE OF THE JOB<br />
20<br />
Valerie Harris, Special to <strong>The</strong> <strong>Spectrum</strong><br />
One of <strong>Redwood</strong> City’s best-kept secrets is an<br />
organization called Kainos. Kainos, from the<br />
Greek word meaning “new beginnings,” is a<br />
center that assists clients with developmental disabilities.<br />
<strong>The</strong> plight of individuals with developmental disabilities<br />
dates back to the beginning of recorded history.<br />
Developmental disabilities can be found as far<br />
back as around 1500 B.C. in the therapeutic papyri<br />
of <strong>The</strong>bes (now Luxor) in Egypt. <strong>The</strong>se documents<br />
clearly refer to disabilities of the mind and body due<br />
to brain damage.<br />
In ancient Greece and Rome, society dealt with disabilities<br />
through infanticide. In Sparta, if a neonate<br />
were suspected of being defective, the infant was<br />
thrown from a cliff to its death. During the Roman<br />
Empire, individuals with disabilities were frequently<br />
sold for entertainment or amusement. <strong>The</strong> age of<br />
Christianity advocated more humane treatment for<br />
the developmentally disabled and infirmed.<br />
In 1690, John Locke published “An Essay<br />
Concerning Human Understanding,” stating his<br />
belief that an individual was born without innate<br />
ideas, a blank slate. His ideas profoundly influenced<br />
the approach to the care of individuals with mental<br />
disabilities. Locke distinguished differences between<br />
mental retardation and mental illness.<br />
In France in the 1800s, Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard of<br />
the Institutes for Deaf-Mutes worked with a boy<br />
named Victor. Itard created a novel educational program<br />
for Victor to develop his senses, intellect and<br />
emotions. A new awareness was born, ushering in a<br />
new era in the way society treated people with developmental<br />
disabilities. However, society still had a<br />
long way to go.<br />
President John F. Kennedy, in a special message to<br />
Congress on Feb. 5, 1963, said, “I recommend a farreaching<br />
program designed to end our national neglect<br />
of the mentally retarded. <strong>The</strong> full benefits of our<br />
society belong to those who suffer from such disabilities,<br />
and the mentally retarded should be encouraged<br />
to participate in the productive life of their<br />
communities. This will require strengthened educational<br />
and rehabilitation programs and, ultimately,<br />
meaningful employment.”<br />
their families or alone. It proved less expensive and<br />
more compassionate than putting them in state hospitals.<br />
This legislation chartered the funding for Kainos.<br />
Funds are distributed through the Golden Gate<br />
Regional Center, the local agent of the California<br />
Department of Developmental Services, which is<br />
responsible for funding adult community services for<br />
people with developmental disabilities. Kainos also<br />
partners with local organizations, Rotary Clubs and<br />
the Chamber of Commerce to actively raise money.<br />
Kainos Executive Director Andy Frisch explained<br />
that at Kainos, “We help people with work and help<br />
people find a place to live, provide housing for people<br />
who couldn’t afford to live here and also support<br />
whatever they need. Our housing ranges from 24-<br />
hour (around-the-clock) group homes for people who<br />
need supervision all the time, with cooking and taking<br />
care of their rooms. We assist from that level all<br />
the way to total independent living.”<br />
Frisch continues, “We can also help people find their<br />
own home, and then we go and visit them three to<br />
four times a week. We check the menus they have<br />
planned, to ensure they are getting proper nutrition.<br />
We are there wherever they need support. We tailor<br />
their plans to their individual needs. If someone<br />
needs support five days a week, we will be there five<br />
days a week.”<br />
Kainos was founded in 1974, and then the work and<br />
vocational rehabilitation branch was founded in<br />
1977. Kainos has built six homes since then and has<br />
one in-house work facility in <strong>Redwood</strong> City.<br />
Frisch says, “Fifty people a day come to learn work<br />
skills, depending on their skill ability and work ability.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y come for training and skills. <strong>The</strong>y are doing<br />
productive work in the meantime.”<br />
One contract, from Network Video Technologies in<br />
Menlo Park, uses Kainos clients to clean and relabel<br />
parts bins for electronic parts. Another contract consists<br />
of repackaging dental floss with shrink-wrap.<br />
Another consists of packing corkscrews and information<br />
on wine into boxes for shipment. Companies<br />
that contract with Kainos find that it is extremely<br />
cost-effective for jobs such as mailings. This service<br />
lends itself well to processing shipments for sellers<br />
(or resellers) on Internet sales sites such as eBay,<br />
Yahoo or craigslist.<br />
During a recent visit, three of the production supervisors<br />
— Chris Bergeson, Leaharay Smothers and<br />
Sandy Turner — were just finishing up their shift for<br />
the day.<br />
Turner obtains job contracts for Kainos. She says,<br />
“My job is getting contracts, to look at possible business<br />
and to contact businesses. People are very supportive<br />
in the community. For example, over there is<br />
a job from a company called Busy Bunny. <strong>The</strong>y supply<br />
small wooden sculptures that bunnies need in<br />
order to keep their teeth sharp. We pack them in<br />
boxes. Busy Bunny has been in business 21 years.<br />
We do all their tagging and then deliver it to their<br />
warehouse.”<br />
Turner continues: “Right now in-house there are<br />
eight contracts for about 55 clients. <strong>The</strong>y show up<br />
on regular business hours, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. <strong>The</strong><br />
rest of the staff is here from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. We give<br />
our clients safety training and job skills.”<br />
Participants may stay as long they like, to ensure<br />
they have the necessary skill levels and the confidence<br />
needed to find work in the community if they<br />
so desire. Frisch says, “Our programs are all individualized.<br />
Some clients come here and simply ask us to<br />
find them a job. It’s also a developmental facility for<br />
all their needs. It’s all for adults. We provide vocational<br />
training. <strong>The</strong> clients work a normal day. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
bring their own lunch. <strong>The</strong> whole focus of this building<br />
is a job shop. Here, we provide work for 55<br />
clients. We have another 55 clients who work at<br />
Albertsons, Kohlweiss Auto Parts and the Boardwalk<br />
From that point on, the onus was on federal and<br />
state governments to provide care and training for<br />
people with developmental disabilities. Most of this<br />
care, however, was administered through confinement<br />
in deplorable state hospitals.<br />
California’s legislation took a huge leap forward,<br />
when Republican Assemblyman Frank Lanterman<br />
persuaded Gov. Ronald Reagan to sign the<br />
Lanterman Act in 1969. Lanterman, the son of a<br />
wealthy Los Angeles County physician, was horrified<br />
that over 30,000 people with developmental disabilities<br />
were interned in state hospitals. His legislation<br />
guaranteed that the developmentally disabled would<br />
have a right to social services to assist them to live<br />
the most independent and productive lives possible<br />
and that the disabled would be allowed to live with<br />
ANDY FRISCH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF KAINOS, AND BERT VERGARA, VOCATIONAL SERVICES MANAGER, ARE JOINED<br />
BY JULIA LINDSTRON AND HER MOTHER JACKI. JULIA HAD JUST COMPLETED HER FIRST DAY AT VOCATIONAL SERVICES.<br />
WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.NET