Published: July 28, 2007 11:24 pm      

Group home being constructed for Peak Community Services

By MELISSA SORIA

Pharos-Tribune staff writer



Six women will move into a new group home Peak Community Services started constructing in early July. The home is expected to be completed in October.

The house is located on the 1200 block of Woodlawn Avenue and will be identical to a group home recently constructed at 19th Street and Erie Avenue.

This will be the fourth group home built in Logansport for Peak Community Services. The organization has two male group homes and one group home for women in Logansport. In Winamac, there is one male group home and a female group home.

The purpose of the homes is for individuals to gain skills in independent living, increase socialization skills, live and work with peers in a homelike environment and transition to community living. Individuals participating in the organization’s supervised group living programs are adults diagnosed with developmental disabilities.

According to Peak Community Services, developmental disabilities are attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of both. The disability results in substantial limitations in three or more of the following seven areas of major life activity including self-care, receptive and expressive language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living and economic self-sufficiency.

The group living program is based on individual needs. Anita Kline, manager of supervised group living, said the length of stay in the homes depends on each person. Sometimes it takes a few years for individuals to make the transition to community living, while others may stay in the group homes for the remainder of their lives.

“They stay as long as they have skills and needs to be met,” she said.

The group home on Woodlawn Avenue will have three large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining area, kitchen in the middle of the house, two living rooms and front porch.

“Each home has a coordinator to help manage that house,” Kline said. The house provides 24-hour assistance and is handicap accessible.

Individuals living in the home work six hours a day in the workshop in the Peak Community Services building on Woodlawn Avenue.

Kline said while in the house, individuals learn how to cook, do laundry, handle money and banking services, and access services in the community.

“We let them be as independent as possible,” Debbie Hipscher, group home coordinator, said.

The construction of the group home was approved just before the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration declared a moratorium on the building of additional group homes in the state due to budgetary concerns.

There is a waiting list of 16 people who have an interest in living in a group home, Kathi Thompson, director of development and communications, said.

Currently, Peak Community Services serves 200 individuals in Cass, Pulaski and surrounding counties. The agency provides employment and vocational, educational, residential as well as supported living programs.

Peak Community Services is funded through Medicaid as well as donations.

Melissa Soria may be reached at (574) 732-5143 or via e-mail at melissa.soria@pharostribune.com