New Horizons Rehabilitation Services, Inc., in Springfield Township is an accredited, not-for-profit organization currently offering services to 130 disabled men and women from the community.
New Horizons provides services that include assessments, evaluations, training, employment services and placement.
Consumers, which is what the men and women at Horizons are refereed to as, generally range in age from 26-77 years old. These people range from severely handicapped to highly functional.
These men and women come to New Horizons via bus from either a group home or their family home. They have to be eligible to receive Medicaid funding.
‘A variety of people come in, some for work, some for socializing,? said Sherry Yokes, senior employment coordinator.
What people do for the six or more hours they spend at New Horizons depends on their assessment and evaluation.
‘For people that are severely handicapped it is just a good way to get them out of the house for a while, get them around other people,? Yokes said.
Socializing occurs in variety of ways. A swing is available outside, as well as flowers that were planted at wheelchair level to be more accessible.
‘Blind Consumers can get right up there and touch and feel the flowers, and they like to get into the dirt so they can feel it on their hands,? Yokes said.
Other activities include field trips to places like the zoo, which is paid for internally at Horizons.
Some Consumers of those Yokes refers to as the ‘more highly functional? are working on a paid military contract to sew and package 12,000 pair of long johns per month.
The workers are paid by New Horizons, who holds the military contract.
‘They work on the packaging, the trim, cuffs,? Yokes explained.
In addition, consumers can be paid to work in enivornments such as DTE, Burger King,Target, and The Palace.
‘DTE and The Palace have been great with helping us find employment. We are really lucky,? Yokes said.
When a Consumer gets a job at places like Target or The Palace, they are assigned an employee from New Horizons that is there to help them through the day. The Consumers are paid hourly wages from the company.
‘We send one person per three or four, just to make sure everything OK,? Yokes said.
New Horizons is even looking towards getting some of their deaf population into the workplace.
‘Right now, we have one official sign person. We are looking for someone who is highly trained in sign language because it wouldn’t be right to send them out to work when they can’t communicate,? Yokes said.
Even with only one official signer, the people have picked up signing very efficiently.
‘They learn from each other, it is really neat. Some of these people have been coming here so long that they have learned from their friends in their groups,? Yokes said.
There is a summer fair approaching on August 5 at 11:30 a.m. The fair will take place at the New Horizons campus and will include the Oakland County Canine unit, a bounce house, dunk tank, clowns and much more. Parents, friends, caretakers and professionals are invited to attend and support the disabled men and women at New Horizons.
New Horizons has been opened in Springfield for 16 years. The program itself has been going for 40 years.
‘It is so fulfilling because people think these people can’t learn, and you just spend time with them, and you would be amazed on how much they can learn,? Yokes said.