This week, Seeach Sod establishes two new apartments with 12 residents, 6 of them new members of our Residential Homes Programming. There was a week lapse of slow acclimation to prevent a sudden change, but within a week, the residents were comfortable in their new abode. The integration process was built on an individual level for each resident to cater to his/her specific needs. As for our protocol, nothing has changed with the way we open a home. Scheduling and agendas are formulated with the residents full participation as well as their parents involvement. The residents choose their own furniture and interior designs for the apartments. Their bedding, furniture, curtains, pictures, light fixtures and colors of the walls are chosen by the residents according to their likes and dislikes; after all…it is their home. The beginning stages of the opening days heavily involved the parents for this new stage in their lives, with tremendous preparation and training by the group home staff.
The two new apartments include:
An apartment on Zaritzky St. in Ramot - for young women, aged 13 to 17, who are classified as low-mid functioning.
An apartment on Wallerstein St. in Ramot- for young men, aged 23-30, that are intellectually disabled yet high functioning. The uniqueness of this apartment is that they are heavily integrated, with in all aspects of life, in the community. They take public transportation, attend community services and stores and attend the homes of neighbors and community figures.