Butch: The Caffeinator

Like coffee?  Well, if you work in Wendell Foster’s Campus (WFC) Administration building, you’d better!

Skylar’s vacation and Becky’s Holiday World adventure are just two of several mini-success stories happening on Campus after WFC and its staff experiences a paradigm shift of thinking around person-centered service.  Empowered, staff is asking person-centered questions of themselves and of each other on behalf of the individuals that we closely work with and serve on a daily basis.  We are encouraged to find ways to help them shift from a “service” life, which places focus on organizational services for them, to that of living more of a community life, which places the individual within the community doing what is important to them as an active participant and contributor.  We each have several communities:  work, social, religious/spiritual, ethnicity, familial, school, just to name a few; and if something happens to us, our community would miss us.  CEO Terry Brownson says WFC will have accomplished its goal; we will know that we achieved success in integrating those we serve into the community when members of our community notice one’s absence and reach out to express concern and inquiry.

Everyone in Owensboro knows Butch, the man always with a friendly “Hello, young man” or “Hello, young lady;” the man with a big smile, a loving and generous heart, and a carefree spirit. Everyone knows Butch because Butch knows no strangers.  Butch has been a part of the Wendell Foster’s legacy in some way, shape and form since he was a young child.  He attended school here when it was the “Spastics School and Home.”  As a young adult, he attended the day programs the Fosters offered, and in the last three years, he has called our Campus home. Butch loves WFC and the people who work here saying, “Wendell Foster’s been good to me.”  Butch keeps busy in his independent and very active life.  He goes to church at St. Joseph & Paul’s where he is hospitality minister.  He is a regular at the Elizabeth Munday Center.  Every day, Butch makes his rounds throughout the Campus, from the other Supports for Community Living house through the Centre Point Cottages, to say hello, spread good cheer, and keep in the know of what’s going on.    When in the Admin building, it wasn’t unusual for Butch to check on his “sweetheart” Lindsay and enjoy a cup of coffee too.

Last year, Butch wanted a cup of coffee in the Media Room in our Admin building but the pot was dry.  While it is unclear who initiated this process, a staff member came into the Media Room looking for coffee just as Butch was trying to figure out what to do about the empty coffee pot.  This chance moment initiated what would become a person-centered opportunity.  Rather than just make it for him, the staff member showed Butch how to do it himself: where the coffee pouches are stored; how much water to put in the pot; where to pour the water; and what button to push to get it started. Over a period of a few weeks, several different Admin staff members would walk Butch through the process until he had it down pat.  Butch enjoyed the sense of autonomy of making himself a cup of coffee.

Butch relished the new task so much so that he seized an opportunity to contribute to the Wendell Foster's community he loves so dearly:  keeping us amped up on caffeine!  He made it a part of his daily routine to come over in the morning to get the second pot going to make sure we always had coffee available.  Once a new pot is a-brewing, he goes around informing everyone, “I put on a pot of coffee for yall.”  Even those of us non-coffee drinkers are informed.  Butch says he makes sure we have coffee because we “are good people” and we “work hard.”  It isn’t unusual to see Butch early in the morning, around lunchtime, then again in the afternoon between 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. at which time he’d make the rounds to tell everyone “g’night yall.”

After the first of the year, whatever bug was making the rounds shortly after Christmas caught Butch and put him in bed for two weeks.  After a couple of days, Admin staff noticed the absence of Butch, but we were not alone.  Members from his local church, staff at the Munday Center, and other folks throughout our Campus noticed Butch’s absence!  Lindsay Overby, his caseworker, said her phone rang off the hook as people called checking on Butch and asking about his whereabouts. 

That is what it means to shift a person’s existence from a service life to that of a community life:  when someone or a group of people miss your valued presence.

Butch is now hereby titled “The Caffeinator” because not only does he keep our staff supplied with fresh hot coffee, but because he is always saying “I’ll be back” to check on the pot. 

Thank for the cuppa joe, Butch!

In the Next Blog Entry:  To Be Announced

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Roller Coaster Mama

After a yearlong training, Wendell Foster’s Campus (WFC) staff is now even more aware of person-centeredness when serving its individuals with developmental disabilities, and their efforts are paying off.  The journey through this training; this paradigm shift has not always been easy for staff, especially those who have worked with the Campus for more than a decade.  Consistently emphasized was we already do a pretty good job serving individual needs; however, we all were being challenged to raise the bar in how we approach discovering what is important to someone.  More importantly, we were being empowered to step out of our comfort zones to try some new things, things a health care organization might consider risky.  As staff moved into this mindset of person-centeredness, and giving those we serve more choices and options, it seems as if the Universe was lining up opportunities for our staff “to get it.” Some incredible opportunities that support the training that our staff had been undergoing the past several months were presenting themselves.  Becky is one great example.

Every summer, our recreation department (REC) will take small groups of individuals to Holiday World, an amusement and water park that’s an hour from Owensboro in Santa Claus, Indiana. Many of those we serve enjoy the roller coaster and water park rides.  On occasion, REC will bring along someone who is “older” or who doesn’t really like doing the rides, but enjoys watching others, helps with holding bags, and enjoy drinking coke throughout the day.

Late last summer, REC asked Becky, a friendly 68-year-old gal who enjoys being outside and drinking soda pop, if she wanted to go to Holiday World with a group of younger residents with the intent that she could enjoy watching the young daredevils ride and the free Pepsi the park offers its visitors.  Becky had been to Holiday World before, but never had ridden the rides.  She agreed, and off they went to Santa Claus, Indiana.  One of the first rides you encounter at the park is the Lewis & Clark Trail, a leisurely ride in an antique car for the fainter-of-heart park attendees:  flat, slow and easy.  Once they arrived, the staff asked Becky if she wanted to ride, so she could at least enjoy something the park had to offer.  Becky immediately told staff member Jennifer Fitch that she wanted to drive!  Decision made, the two women boarded the antique car and off they went. With Becky in the driver’s seat, hands on the steering wheel and a foot on the gas pedal, Jennifer lightly put her foot onto Becky’s to help control the speed.  Becky chastised her, “Get your foot off of me, Fitch!” and proceeded to drive the car on her own, to Jennifer’s chagrined amusement.

The group next headed to the Liberty Launch, a tower ride that lifts approximately 70’ then suddenly drops at 35 mph; and a favorite ride of several WFC peeps.  When Becky saw the others were going to ride Liberty Launch, she announced she was riding too, even before staff had the chance to ask her!  And ride it she did, along with every roller coaster:  the Raven, the Legend, and even including the roller coaster enthusiasts’ #1 pick of the best wooden roller coaster, the largest one of the park, the Voyage!  This 1.2 mile long, 173 feet high beast of a roller coaster has it all – speed (67.4 mph), three 90 degree banked turns, five underground tunnels, a lift hill measuring 163 mph, and the most air-time of any wooden coaster recorded of 24.3 seconds!  This 68-year-old lady kept pace with the youngsters in thrills; and the staff was simultaneously surprised, baffled and thrilled!

You can bet Becky will be going back to Holiday World again this summer, and of course, she’ll have the choice to ride or not.  The staff realized that just because someone has not shown interest in doing something in the past doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t have a lack of interest later.  We always have a choice to say yes or no; after all, some days we may be in the mood for a roller coaster ride, and others days, not so much.  And once in a while, we will sometimes decide to do something totally wild and different. 

On that August day, Becky decided to mix things up and keep the staff on their person-centered toes and to “roller coast” with the flow!  Cowabunga!

In the Next Blog Entry:  Butch, The Caffienator - ". . . Butch makes his rounds throughout the Campus, . . . .  to say hello, spread good cheer, and keep in the know of what’s going on. . . . . to check on his “sweetheart” Lindsay and enjoy a cup of coffee too."

We want to hear from you! Please share your responses and comments by clicking below on “Comment” – you may post them anonymously or using your gmail.com profile name.

“The educated do not share a common body of information, but a common state of mind.” ~Mason Cooley
Please share our blog with others via Facebook, Twitter, or email! Follow our blog! Click on “Join our Site” below.

Blog content is copyrighted property of Wendell Foster’s Campus for Development Disabilities and Carolyn Smith Ferber (and/or other blog authors). Content may be used, duplicated or reprinted only with the expressed authorization of the Wendell Foster’s Campus. Permission for use, duplication or reprints may be made to wfcampus.org@gmail.com.