ELLSWORTH — A growing number of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) want more personalized services in a smaller setting. Recent data shows 24/7 shared living services often improve people’s physical health, bring greater mental and emotional wellbeing, offer more enriching relationships and give them more choices for where they live and with whom.
All of these happen through Ellsworth-based nonprofit Mosaic in North Central Kansas with their shared living support service, called Mosaic at Home, one of its most popular and growing support service lines.
According to Mosaic in North Central Kansas Executive Director Mike Jones, “Through this service, the person with IDD shares a home with a Mosaic independent host home provider—also called a contractor—who helps the person become an active member of the household and the greater community.”
To meet the growing desire for shared living services, Jones adds Mosaic is actively expanding Mosaic at Home—which has been offered for more than 30 years in some markets—in Kansas and across the nonprofit’s 13-state network.
Locally, Teresa Perez has served 44-year-old Debbie Palmer in her home since 2017. They had met each other at high school when Perez was a functional learning educator and Palmer was a 16-year-old student. It was then when Perez started working with her not only in, but outside of, the classroom.
“When I met Debbie’s mom Marilyn, we really clicked. You could really see the love she had for Debbie – you could literally feel she wanted the best for her–and she was trying so hard to ensure Debbie would be taken care of for the rest of her life,” said Perez. “As a mother of three, that went straight to my heart.”
“At one point during our relationship, Marilyn asked me to be Debbie’s guardian,” added Perez. “I told her ‘as long as you have a home and a family, I don’t want to do that.’ But I also promised her Debbie would always have a home.”
Sadly, Palmer’s mom passed soon thereafter in 2002, leaving her elderly father to take care of her. As he grew older, it became an impossible task. He wanted his daughter to be with Perez.
“It was time. We decided as a family to bring Debbie home, and because of her previous, frequent visits, my husband Abel and our kids already considered her part of our family,” said Perez. “Abel said it was the right thing to do because I loved her, and my kids pleaded, ‘Mom, Debbie needs to be with us.’”
According to Perez, Palmer has gone through a remarkable transformation since Perez has shared her home with her.
“She didn’t like to be around large groups of people, and now she just loves it when our kids and grandkids come to visit all at once. She especially loves being at the packed dinner table with all the lively conversation,” said Perez.
Perez added although Palmer was considered to be nonverbal, she’s now forming some words. “We were driving and the radio was on. When we came to a stoplight, Debbie put her hands on her heart and said, ‘Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy on me.’ Then a song with those lyrics started to play, and I realized she knew the song just by its intro! To me, it was a miracle she was able to say that many words in a row.”
Palmer has also learned how to shop at the grocery store, where before, she didn’t like going. “I show her cards with pictures of grocery items while forming their names slowly, and that helps her pick them out. Sometimes, when we get to the check-out, I’ll notice a few extra items in our cart, and I’ll amusingly say to myself, ‘mmm, I wonder how that got in there?’ But it makes me happy, because she’s now expressing not only her needs, but her wants.
“While Mosaic pays me to be a home provider for someone with disabilities, I am not in this for the money–and anyone thinking of becoming a shared home provider should definitely not be in it for the money. She’s done so much for my kids and grandkids by teaching them tolerance and inclusiveness. Debbie gives me purpose knowing I am contributing to someone else’s quality of life. She gives me a reason to not focus on what I couldn’t do, but to focus on what I can.”
If you’re interested in Mosaic at Home as an independent provider or as a service for someone with IDD, contact Molly LaMere, Director of Mosaic at Home, at Molly.LaMere@MosaicInfo.org or by phone, 970-415-0304.
