Community Program

The Jes­sica & Friends Com­mun­ity Pro­gram ser­ves speci­al needs in­dividu­als who live with fami­ly mem­b­ers with­in the com­mun­ity. A prima­ry goal of this pro­gram is to as­s­ist in­dividu­als, and sup­port the fami­ly in ways that en­able the pro­gram par­ticipant to learn and apply approp­riate soci­al and life skills that en­able them to live fully in­teg­rated lives with­in the com­mun­ity. We also re­cogn­ize that caregiv­ing is a stress­ful, 24/7 ac­tiv­ity, with few op­por­tunit­ies for rest and re­laxa­tion. For these famil­ies we pro­vide in-home re­spite care.

The Home and Com­mun­ity Pro­gram con­s­ists of three prima­ry ser­vices:

• Habilita­tion Ser­vices are de­sig­ned to help in­dividu­als ac­quire, main­tain, or im­prove life skills neces­sa­ry to live in the com­mun­ity, to live more in­depen­dent­ly, or to be more pro­duc­tive and par­ticipato­ry in com­mun­ity life.

• Re­spite Ser­vices pro­vide qual­ity, short-term care for in­dividu­als so that fami­ly caregiver(s) may have a break from the caregiv­ing ac­tivit­ies they nor­mal­ly pro­vide. Both hour­ly re­spite care and 24-hour re­spite care are of­fered, the latt­er al­low­ing for the re­gular caregiv­er in the fami­ly to get away.

• Com­pan­ion Ser­vices are of­fered to in­dividu­als with an in­tel­lectu­al dis­abil­ity over the age of 18 who re­quire super­vis­ion and as­sis­tance to en­sure their health and safety. Com­pan­ion Ser­vices are also used to super­v­ise in­dividu­als dur­ing socializa­tion or non-habilitative ac­tivit­ies. Com­pan­ions super­v­ise and pro­vide as­sis­tance with daily li­v­ing ac­tivit­ies in­clud­ing groom­ing, health care, household care, meal plann­ing and pre­para­tion, and socializa­tion.