Linda's Story
Linda R. is learning to crochet.
It’s something she’s always wanted to do. She hopes to finish the purple purse she’s working on before Christmas, so she can give it to her sister as a gift.
Her REDIlives staff helped her get started. “She needs someone to sit with her while she’s doing it,” Nanette says, “to follow the pattern.”
Nanette is the service supervisor for Linda’s home. Helping clients like Linda accomplish their goals is her favourite part of the job. “That’s my biggest thing, getting them achieving something that they wish to do,” she says. “Everything that we work on doing, once they’ve accomplished it, it’s like, holy cow, you know, we did it! It’s nice to see the smile on their face.”
REDIlives provides 24/7 support to individuals in their own homes. The program is designed to enable individuals to live in a group setting in their community. To Nina, the program’s manager, the REDIlives’ ultimate purpose is the same as the agency’s - to help clients find freedom through independence. “Our goal is to ensure that each individual [we support] feels at home in their residence and valued as a member of their community,” she says. “This is achieved through an approach that encourages and supports the individuals to live a life of their choosing. We work closely with individuals and their families or guardians to identify their goals and the steps needed to achieve them.”
Linda has been part of the REDI community for over 30 years. For the last decade, she has lived in her REDIlives-supported group home. She enjoys living in community. “I have my friends here and everything,” she says.
Nina knows this is no accident. “We try to match each individual's interests and hobbies when making a decision on where they are going to live and who they’re going to live with,” Nina says. “Individuals and their families or guardians are included in these decisions.”
Linda also enjoys the company of the staff working in her home. “My staff are nice,” she says. “Nanette’s a nice lady. When I have problems I can talk with her.”
Nanette says Linda thrives on her time alone with staff. “She gets half an hour of one-on-one time in the evenings, and she chooses to play cards,” she says. “That time that she gets [with staff] is a real benefit to her.”
Staff also help Linda stay close to her family, something that is very important to her. Two of her siblings live in Alberta, and she connects with them regularly. “Her brother will come and take her out for supper, coffee, or just out for a drive,” Nanette says. “She talks to [her sister] 16 times a day on the phone - literally. They sit on the phone at night and watch Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and all that, just watching the show, listening to it with the phone hanging on their ears.”
Don’t let her love of game shows fool you, though. Linda spends most of her time exploring Medicine Hat on public transit, chatting with neighbours at Tim Hortons, learning new skills with her REDIworks staff, or browsing through shops at the mall. “I go for coffee every day,” she says. “I go down to REDI Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every Wednesday, we go grocery shopping, we go to the bank, and we [do] my personal shopping.”
For the most part, Linda navigates the community independently. “She eats lunch and then leaves, jumps on the bus and goes to do what she wants,” Nanette says. She wants to help Linda find independence in all aspects of her life. “She’s working on her writing and learning money,” she says. “Crocheting was her goal she made this year.”
It took some encouragement for Linda to try something new. “She always said that she wanted to do it,” Nanette explains, “but when you’d ask her it was, ‘No, no, no.’ Now that staff have started it for her, she brings it out every day. It’s a big thing for her.”
“I do it by myself,” Linda says now with pride. She’s not the only one who feels that way.