Four Ways Residential Habilitation Helps People with Developmental Disabilities
Residential habilitation services can offer your family member the opportunity to learn at her own pace as she explores tasks and situations that might have seemed out of her reach before. With the help of RHS experts, your family member doesn’t have to let her developmental disability get in the way of living her life. She can be far more independent than she or you ever expected would be possible.
Learning to Use Transportation Options
In cities with ample public transportation options, your family member may be far more mobile than you might have dreamed she could be. The key is to learn how to use those transportation options properly and in the best ways for your family member. Having multiple positive experiences with the help of residential habilitation can mean that your family member is comfortable choosing those options in the future when she needs to go somewhere.
Learning to Navigate Necessary Life Tasks
So many life tasks can be complicated for people with developmental disabilities to master. These skills can be mastered, but it usually takes time, repetition, and patience. Some of the tasks that your family member might need help with could include cooking simple meals, going to the bank successfully, doing laundry, and so much more.
Learning Social Skills and Developing Relationships
Making friends and engaging in social activities can be so much more difficult for someone with developmental disabilities. RHS can help your family member to learn how to manage those interactions in a way that makes sense. Practicing and role playing can help immensely, especially when your family member feels safe in the interactions.
Encouraging New Activities and Growth
There are consistently opportunities for your family member to learn and to grow by trying new challenges, but that can be scary. Having someone that she trusts who can encourage her to take those risks safely can make all the difference. Your family member can then start to reap even more benefits as she stretches and grows. She may start to embrace new opportunities and decide to see what else she can do, too.
Developmental disabilities don’t have to keep your family member from experiencing life as fully as she possibly can. With the help of residential habilitation services, your family member can climb out of her shell a little more and feel comfortable facing just about any challenge that life might throw her way.
If you are considering Down syndrome resources in Brownsburg, IN, please call the caring staff at RSI Cares. Serving Greater Indianapolis Area. Call for Immediate Info & Assistance: 317-471-0750.
As a practicing Registered Nurse, Etelka was keenly aware of a void in quality patient care that could be provided in the home. She embarked upon a journey to develop a home health care agency that would exceed all expectations and become a trusted partner to physicians and patients.
A Distinguished Career From Nurse to Director of Nursing to President of Home Services Unlimited
Etelka’s distinguished career followed a logical progression to her position as President of Home Services Unlimited. She graduated as a nurse practitioner with a Bachelor of Nursing (RN) in 1972 from Meshgorya University in the Ukraine, close to where she lived with her family. She married her husband Phil in 1973 and decided in 1977 that they would relocate to the United States to be closer to family and to come to this land of opportunity. With an eagerness to continue her budding career, Etelka sat for and passed her Boards in the U.S. in 1979.
A Love and Talent for Working with the Elderly
Etelka began her nursing career in the U.S. at Colonial Crest, now part of Golden Living, where shewasthe In-service Coordinator, the Director of Training and Education and Director of Nursing, a position she occupied for several years.
With a group of partners, she co-founded Adept Corporation, which operated group homes for the mentally challenged. The business was successful and in 1996, Etelka sold her share to return to her roots, caring for the elderly.
In January of 1997, Etelka opened Home Services Unlimited as a fully licensed business to provide home health care. In her quest to learn to do better for her patients, she had already obtained a Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHA) in May of 1990 from the College of St. Francis. As President of Home Services Unlimited, Inc., Etelka guides the trusted, experienced care model Home Services Unlimited uses to continue providing excellent home health care.
Giving Back to the Community of Indianapolis
Volunteering for community services is a high priority for Etelka. Her memberships include the Indiana Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Executive Women in Health Care and the Indiana Association for Home and Hospice Care, where she is a member of the Board of Directors.
Etelka has also served on the Board of Directors with Hooverwood Home, a highly regarded geriatric facility, since 1997 and as the President for 2005-2006. Through her community work, she has received several awards and accolades, including the Nora McFarland award in 2002, from the Indiana Association of Home and Hospice Care.
Etelka was honored as a “Health Care Hero” by the Indianapolis Business Journal. The issue can be read online here:
http://mags.ibj.com/activemagazine/welcome/html/ibjhch.html.
After clicking on the link, then click on the image of the issue’s front page. After that, you can browse through the issue or click in a box near the top of your internet browser to adjust the page to 17, which is where Etelka’s article appears.
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