20.07.2014 Views

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 ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

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

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!