The right person's house can be a home to others

Mar. 25—A solution may be in someone's home.

Mosaic is willing and wanting to find those homes.

The South Central Iowa office of Mosaic located in Osceola strive to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities with hopes of giving them greater independence and closer to the community.

Mosaic's Community Relations Manager Alena Phillips explained Mosaic's history and purpose. Mosaic is the largest faith-based care provider for adults with disabilities in the U.S. among 13 states with about 7,500 clients. Osceola is one of four offices in Iowa.

"We are not a place where people are coming to our group home. We are reaching out across the state and provide host-home services," she said.

Mosaic's clients are people with brain injuries who may have been born with the disability or was the result of an accident during their life. Those clients can be benefited by living with others. The minimum age of clients is 18. Phillips said there are many stories of how their clients get involved in their host-home providers. But there is some compatibility work done first.

"We ask a series of questions about daily life," she said about the potential host-home provider. "We ask about their home. Do they have an available room. The client must have their own room with a locking door to make them feel like they have their own safe place."

Mosaic also records the number of other people living in the house including relationship and ages.

"We take all of that into consideration," she said.

Phillips said a host-home provider can have up to two clients at the same time.

"That is a huge factor. We need to know who else is living in the house. Do the others feel comfortable with all the people in the home since it is their home too?"

The lifestyle of the home residents, and the home itself, are also considered. Phillips said if the host family has a high school student who plays sports, the schedule of the family will be reviewed. The same goes with a typical family farm with responsibilities outside the home at various times of the day.

"We have to get to the nitty gritty," she said. "Then we get a feel of what the person (host-home provider) is comfortable. Do they want someone who can walk on their own? Is the home accessible to a wheelchair? Are the clients non-verbal? We get a feeling for what experience they have with the disability and what they are comfortable with. It is a 24/7 job. It can be taxing if it is not the right match."

Phillips said the clients are typically referred to from the state. The client's family or guardian may also be looking for an agency to help with the client.

"We make a profile for the client to be served. Who are they comfortable with? Do they have good experiences with grandparent-like people? Maybe they are not good with kids. We consider all of that."

The first visit between client and host-home is informal, like in a restaurant or a public place. That is when introductions are made. Phillips said it is usually a series of visits, seven is common, before a decision is made between Mosaic and the host-home provider.

"Not all of those visits are the same," she said as the visits progressively get more in-depth.

"You get a feel for the first few times you meet," she said.

Phillips expect a transition time for both the host and client, but the goal is for the two be together for a long as possible.

"One of our providers has reached 12 years," she said. "We want people to make this a career."

She knows of one host whose spouse died. The client was the man's best man at his second wedding.

"It's not just a job, not just an income. It is somebody who you love and care for," Phillips said. The host-home receives 70% of the Medicaid income and Mosaic receives 30%.

Phillips said Mosaic has regularly scheduled appointments to make sure the client and host are comfortable with each other. If the client has a change in their condition, requiring a different level of care it will assist.

"These are transitions anyone woudl go through in their life. There are people who live with their elderly parents, they didn't want them in a home. Think of this as a natural transition. We are able to take those things in consideration."

Mosaic provided a story of one of its hosts and clients. Chato Malone's life didn't start out very well. Sadly, he was a victim of parental abuse—his parents allegedly withheld food from him, and his father was reportedly a practicing alcoholic who was prone to fits of rage. Eventually, citing the need to protect Chato, the state removed him from his home to place him in the care of his grandmother.

But then his father also moved into his grandmother's home. "I don't know what happened to Chato's mother, but the state then removed him from his grandmother's home as well once his father moved in," said Steve Golly, who, with his wife Cammy, has been Chato's host home provider for more than a year. "It must have been awful for him, because no one in his family is allowed to contact him, nor is he allowed to contact his family."

Living in a series of group homes beforehand, Chato met Autumn Reisetter, a former Mosaic staff member, when he was 7 years old. At 10, he met Autumn's husband Keith. Truly caring about him, the couple advocated to become Chato's guardians versus being a ward of the state, which he was at the time.

"We knew we could do a much better job of mentoring and coaching him to grow—to ensure he would be a priority," said Keith.

As Chato became more independent, he began to express the desire to move to Mosaic's most popular residential supports service, called Mosaic at Home: The person served shares a home with a Mosaic host home provider who helps the person become an active member of the household and his or her community. Mosaic at Home is a highly personalized service, because great care is taken to match the individual to the provider.

In the meantime, Steve and Cammy were already Mosaic at Home providers for Ronald Sonnenburg. "We love Ron being with us so much, we decided to build a house to accommodate serving another person," said Steve. "The previous place was a two-bedroom home; this new one is four and has plenty of space for everyone."

Since moving in, one of the things the Gollys have helped Chato with is getting healthier and losing weight. "Chato had a heart attack when he was only 16 from improper eating and no exercise," remarked Steve. "When he came to live with us, he weighed 396 pounds. At his last doctor's visit, he was down to 324, and his goal is 250. He now looks 100 percent better—he's come a long way, and we're proud of him."

Steve added, "To exercise, he walks two times a day around what we call the 'big block,' which is three thousand to four thousand steps."

According to Steve, Chato's social skills have greatly improved as well. "He used to sleep a lot. He's really made leaps and bounds in getting his life organized and to live a full life. Now he just likes to go! We do all sorts of things together, such as shopping and eating at restaurants."

The Gollys love to travel. Chato was able to move in and join the Gollys and Ron on their annual trip to Wyoming and South Dakota, where they saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Shoshone National Forest, Yellowstone and more.

"I haven't traveled anywhere, so I wanted to try it," said Chato. "I saw a lot of animals and buffalo. It was really fun."

"We purposely visited Crazy Horse, because Chato has a Native American background," said Steve. "We wanted him to understand and be proud of this part of his heritage."

"He's also part of our family now—just the same as Ron is," said Steve. "We love him just as much, and our kids and grandkids love him, too." The Gollys have 15 grandchildren.

The feeling is mutual, which became apparent on their first Christmas together. "Chato had never bought anything for anyone before, but wanted wanted do so for his new family," said Steve. "He may have had only $6 per gift, but the grandkids were so happily surprised. We looked at Chato while they opened his presents, and he was absolutely just beaming with joy."

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