Unique day program seeking funding

Yarmouth Life Skills for disabled adults opened late last year on the upper floor of the old warehouse on Hawthorne Street. Funding for the organization is provided entirely by the caretakers of the clients.

“Throughout the province, in each county, there is at least one (government funded) day program for disabled adults that provides day programming for lower functioning clients,” said Fevens.

“Yarmouth County is the only county that does not. We find this to be very unfair and discriminatory.”

Although there are other organizations operating in Yarmouth County that serve disabled adults, none are offering the specialized instruction that serves these clients best.

Darrell Foster is the executive director at K Nickerson Adult Service Centre. Their clients possess the skills required to construct wooden pallets and other products.

He says that Life Skills can address the higher needs population for the developmentally delayed that they historically haven’t been able to do.

“Generally speaking we are a 1:8 best client ratio. Life Skills is likely dealing with that sector of similar population that requires more like a 1:3 or maybe even a 1:1 sometimes. It’s a higher needs client group,” he said.

“We just don’t have the resources to expand to provide services to higher needs clientele.”

Foster says a few years ago he had a waiting list that was pushing 50 and that the majority of people were clients presenting versatile needs for programs that K Nickerson didn’t offer.

“It’s nice that there will be another option for them, the people with these versatile/higher needs that may be benefiting from life skills concentration rather than a vocational model like we have here,” he said.

Art Surette, district manager with the Department of Community Services, says Fevens has approached them seeking funding. All he could tell her was that the services for adult day programs were being reviewed province-wide. He supports the need for their facility.

“What we did was meet with the organizations in the Yarmouth area that provide day programs like YACRO, the K Nickerson Centre, and West Nova Inclusive Employment Society. We wanted to ascertain that the programs that they have would not be able to provide for these people. We were told that yes, there is a gap in the system.

“What we found is the same thing they are telling us. The programs that are available are not really geared towards their clients.

“What I have done with that information is I’ve forwarded it to our regional administrator indicating that, looking to see if they could be provided with some funding to run their day program because they are basically running kind of on a shoestring budget. We certainly are looking at their request and hope to hear something positive in the near future,” he said.

He added that he had spoken with those who had conducted the province wide survey and that they indicated Yarmouth is not the only county in the province that does not have programs.

“But we are one of them that does not have a program to meet the needs of these high-needs individuals,” he said.