Sid’s Success
Sid is a fun and spunky woman who has Down Syndrome. She began attending CETC’s Summer Program for individuals still in grade school and once she graduated high school she joined our day program. Sid has set many goals with her day programs which have included vocational goals and grew a desire to find employment in the community. Sid loves clothing and looking fashionable and her dream was to work at a clothing boutique. Our Job Developers worked with a local boutique, Roolee, to develop a position that filled a need for them as well as fit the needs and abilities of Sid. Thus began a customized custodial position for Sid. At the beginning of her employment Sid had a job coach with her consistently to help her learn the ropes, and now Sid is thriving on her own.
Independence is extremely important to Sid. She knows her task list by heart and she values the opportunity to complete it on her own. Sid’s job coach does come and check her work for quality at the end of her shift. When she receives feedback from the job coach on how to improve, she does a great job at remembering what she was told and implementing those changes into her work the next time.
Sid’s responsibilities include cleaning the bathrooms, taking out the trash, vacuuming, and sweeping. Sid is motivated to complete these tasks by her reward plan and her desire to help her coworkers.
Sid has been welcomed into the Roolee family with open arms. This has allowed her to create good relationships with her coworkers and makes work a very enjoyable place for her to be. She takes pride in the fact that she gets to help keep the store clean for the employees! We are so proud of Sid for her hard work and passion for her job. It has been a joy to watch her succeed!
Anne’s Success
When Anne joined her host home more than 20 years ago, she had severe health concerns and communication needs. In the past +20 years she has received the necessary support to manage her health, learn new skills and make choices for herself. Anne has learned to use the restroom independently, choose which books she would like to read, movies she would like to watch and is working towards being able to dress herself which is a goal that Anne has.
Anne’s host home mom started as a coordinator at CETC and when there was an opening for someone to host Anne, she took it. Anne has truly become a member of her host home family. She has been able to grow with them and see her host siblings grow up, attend school and get married.
Anne loves anything and everything to do with Disney. She has even been able to go to Disney World and Disneyland with her host family. She loves stickers, animals and going for rides. Anne loves meeting new people and remembers everyone’s name.
A home setting for Anne has been vital for her progression. As additional support to Anne, she attends the CETC day program where she can receive individualized support for her to continue to learn and grow. Her day program staff and host home are able to work together to ensure the best plan possible for Anne and have seen her thrive in her home and in her day program with these appropriate supports.
Sarah’s Success
From the moment she began her post high unpaid internship as a dining room assistant at the Pioneer Valley Lodge assisted living center, Sarah realized that she liked to work with the elderly. She put her whole heart into her work there. Sarah enjoyed setting the dining room tables so that the residents’ meals would be comfortable and pleasant. She loved participating in their regularly scheduled activities. Her dream was to be able to turn that job into a career.
Sarah’s post high enclave was filling most of the needs of the Pioneer Valley dining room, so Sarah’s job developer began to look for similar opportunities with other organizations. The manager of another assisted living center indicated that she would consider creating a position for Sarah, but because of Sarah’s mobility issues, she had concerns about keeping her safe on the job. She requested a written summary of supports needed and the residual concerns of her previous employer. To fulfill this request, the job developer visited the Pioneer Valley Lodge human resource department. The assistant manager began by saying, “Oh, we just love Sarah!” The conversation ended with a commitment by the employer to investigate ways to customize a part time job for Sarah that would complement the work done by the student enclave and benefit the company.
Sarah began employment at her dream job in April of 2018.
Ranny’s Success
Ranny is a young woman who loves getting her hands dirty. Her lifetime vocational goal has always been pulling weeds and working with plants. After several unpaid internships with local farms and greenhouses, she began looking for a permanent job in a dirt-related field.
In January 2018, our Job Developer was able to work with Anderson Seed and Garden and after educating and informing them of the benefits of employing an individual with a disability, they were willing to customize a weeding position for Ranny. To supplement Ranny’s schedule in the winter, Ranny’s boss asked her to help with custodial tasks of cleaning the bathrooms. As time has gone on Ranny’s responsibilities have increased to both weeding and custodial tasks year-round.
Ranny found a love for being employed so much that our Job Developer helped her find a position for the days that she doesn’t work at Anderson’s Seed and Garden. Ranny was soon after employed by Apple Spice Café & Bakery where she is a dishwasher and helps gather dishes and clean the lobby.
Ranny loves working with people, making friends and earning money. Ranny had a job coach with her for many years and through training and support from her natural supports at work and in her day program she has been able to work independently without a job coach and has learned additional skills and formed lasting friendships with her coworkers. We are so proud of Ranny and all the progress she has made!
Kam’s Success
At the beginning of every month our staff walk each client through a client ideas form that supports them in choosing their preferred activities for the month. They have choices of activities, specific lessons they want to teach or topics they would like to learn about and various options for community engagement. Kam is a client who has shown a lot of excitement about this opportunity and suggested that he wanted to teach a class on how to make strawberry smoothies to his peers. This class was a great opportunity for him to share something that he loves and taught him valuable leadership skills. This is one simple example of clients being able to choose how they would like their day program to function.
Denise’s Success
Denise is a friendly lady and has a strong desire to earn money because she loves to throw parties and buy things for herself. Denise has physical limitations that make some tasks difficult for her but her Job Developer worked diligently to customize a position that fit Denise’s abilities and needs. Denise was soon hired by a local boutique warehouse and a job coach supported her to help with any necessary accommodations such as, creating specific accessibility needs for filling soap, putting her gloves on, and changing mop heads. Within a few weeks Denise was able to work without a job coach because of the accommodations. Denise showed a great desire for independence and had a positive and friendly attitude while she learned the new tasks that at first may have seemed difficult but became easier for her with practice. Denise’s supervisor and coworkers are pleased with her work and love having her there as part of the team to make a great business even greater.
Community Involvement
An important aspect of CETC’s programs is collaboration with our community to provide fulfilling and necessary services for the individuals that we serve. A few examples of community collaboration is working with Meals on Wheels for our senior clients to receive nutritious lunch support; Alpine Home and Medical help keep our wheelchairs and accessibility equipment working well; Healthy Relationship classes through Options to Independence and CAPSA outside of our facility; USU Nutritionists who support and direct our lunch program to ensure healthy and nutritious meals; Various businesses in town that provide Career Exploration Meetings which include in person and virtual tours and interviews to encourage employment variance for our clients; volunteer sites such as the Willow Park Zoo, Whispering Canyons, the Humane Society and others; and various community members and groups who provide classes such as yoga, bouquet making, accessible art, educational classes and more. CETC has partnered with our local university, Utah State University, and Americorps to provide opportunities for interns and volunteers to work with us in various capacities. All of these partnerships have elevated our purpose and ability to support our clients. We are always looking for new partnerships and opportunities to support our programs.