What Is Residential Habilitation?
Habilitation is a little different from rehabilitation, although they sound very similar. With rehabilitation, someone is regaining skills that they lost. But habilitation is about learning new skills, particularly ones that allow that person to function as a part of normal daily life, and mastering those skills. There may be more than you think under the umbrella of residential habilitation.
Help Developing Activities of Daily Living
Activities of daily living, or ADLs, can be a difficult skill for people with developmental disabilities to master. These types of activities could involve learning to deal with household tasks, making meals, and dealing with personal hygiene tasks. Many of these tasks are made up of many steps that have to be done in a particular order and that can be difficult for someone who is also dealing with a developmental disability. Repetition and assistance both help a lot.
Assisting with Self-care
There’s more to self-care than just activities of daily living, and RHS can help your family member to learn about that, too. Learning what it looks and feels like when self-care is being taken care of properly can be incredibly helpful for your family member. Residential habilitation specialists understand that this isn’t easy, so they’re patient with the repetition.
Help Developing Communication Skills
Communicating what your family member needs and wants is part of living in society, but that can be another set of skills that feel impossible to master. Residential habilitation specialists can show your family member how to communicate when situations are going well and when they’re not going so well. This can be invaluable.
Socialization Assistance
Being part of a community involves social experiences, but for someone with developmental disabilities, those encounters may not have always gone very well. Along with communication skills and other skills, socialization tools and help can make this a lot easier. It might take time, just like other skills, though.
But That’s Not All
There’s so much more that your family member might need specific help mastering, though. Everyone is different and has different skills and abilities that factor into what needs to be learned. RHS can help with learning so much more, like how to deal with mobility issues, motor development, and household management.
Habilitation is about helping your family member to develop the skills necessary for daily living. These skills might not come easily to your family member, but that doesn’t mean they’re impossible to learn and even to master.
If you are considering residential habilitation in Speedway, 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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