What a storm! Hurricane Sandy blitzed through the northeastern United States leaving a path of destruction that included statistics you may have never heard: an estimated $25,000,000,000.00 in lost business activity; $20,000,000,000 in property damage; 57,000 utility workers from outside the damaged areas; 79,000 comfort kits distributed by the Red Cross; 15 days of gasoline rationing; 820 mile wide storm; 1.3 million power outages; 20,000,000 tweets about the storm; 12,000 flight cancellations and countless numbers of un-reported acts of compassion for friends and neighbors.
Those unselfish acts of compassion were not without recognition and appreciation at Integrated Resources Inc. Medicaid Waiver In-Home Care Services. While West Virginia was not as devastated as areas hardest hit around New York City, we still experienced thousands of power and phone outages that lasted for several weeks throughout the state. With few exceptions, Integrated Resources In-Home Care providers endured hardship while showing leadership and true compassion to ensure that clients were well cared for and safe.
These care providers and their families were all affected in some way during the course of the storm. All either experienced power outages, impassable or bad roads, fallen trees or wind damage. They were all affected, but so were the people that depended on them for services. For these compassionate care givers the choice was simple. Do what is necessary to make certain that clients were safe! With that attitude, the stories that took place need to be listed in the statistics that made front page news and some of those examples are: One client was inaccessible by car, so the caregiver walked up a snow covered mountain to provide services; Some carried water to the client and then brought the client home with them for the night; Several took pre-emptive measures by making certain that clients had adequate supplies to endure the storm; One caregiver had a tree fall on their home but continued providing services to their client; Some made certain that necessary supplies like water and kerosene were on hand; many continued to work in homes that did not have phone or power even though their own families were also suffering the same hardships.
To all of you, Integrated Resources would like to say thank you for your dedication to health and welfare of the people you serve.
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he West Virginia Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (WVARF) in Charleston WV has chosen Integrated Resources employee Jerry Tolliver as their State Use Employee of the year for 2012. WVARF acts as the liaison between the state Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRP) and the West Virginia State Government. The State Use Program allows CRPs such as Integrated Resources Inc. to provide products and services to state agencies. This in turn helps provide employment for people with disabilities.
Jerry Tolliver is a lifelong resident of Wyoming County, West Virginia. He spent most of his childhood and young adulthood in Maben, West Virginia. He attended school in Mullens, West Virginia until he started work at the House of Wonder Shelter Workshop in 1970. He worked at the Workshop alongside the founder of the Sheltered Workshop, Ms. Elizabeth Williams. With Ms.Williams’s encouragement, Jerry left the sheltered Workshop in 1977 and returned to Mullens High School where he graduated with the Class of 1978. After graduation, Jerry worked doing odd jobs for members of his community such as mowing grass, repairing and general maintenance on cars and simple around the home repairs.
In the summer of 2009, Jerry was hired as a member of the mowing crew on both State Use and Private Contracts at Integrated Recourses, Inc. and in January of 2010 he returned as a participant of the House of Wonder Sheltered Workshop. In his time with Integrated Recourses, Inc. and House of Wonder Shelter Workshop, Jerry has been a model employee and an active member of the community. Jerry always offers to help anyone he feels is in need of some assistance and constantly looking for ways to help others. Jerry is revered by his fellow participants and supervisors in the Workshop for his personality, dedication, enthusiasm and geniality.
Jerry works diligently at any task assigned to him. At Integrated Resources, Inc. Jerry is a jack of all trades: he can operate almost all of the machinery in the Workshop, make handmade crafts, mow grass, and assist in the managing the maintenance of the fleet vehicles and lend a helping hand to anyone in need. Jerry serves two of our state use contracts. He works the river access on the mowing crew and is a custodian at the WVDRS.
Jerry now resides in Mullens where he moved after the death of his parents to assist his sister with everyday living. Jerry is an independent, reliable, giving, upstanding asset to his community and our family here at Integrated Resources, Inc.
Jerry Tolliver is a lifelong resident of Wyoming County, West Virginia. He spent most of his childhood and young adulthood in Maben, West Virginia. He attended school in Mullens, West Virginia until he started work at the House of Wonder Shelter Workshop in 1970. He worked at the Workshop alongside the founder of the Sheltered Workshop, Ms. Elizabeth Williams. With Ms.Williams’s encouragement, Jerry left the sheltered Workshop in 1977 and returned to Mullens High School where he graduated with the Class of 1978. After graduation, Jerry worked doing odd jobs for members of his community such as mowing grass, repairing and general maintenance on cars and simple around the home repairs.
In the summer of 2009, Jerry was hired as a member of the mowing crew on both State Use and Private Contracts at Integrated Recourses, Inc. and in January of 2010 he returned as a participant of the House of Wonder Sheltered Workshop. In his time with Integrated Recourses, Inc. and House of Wonder Shelter Workshop, Jerry has been a model employee and an active member of the community. Jerry always offers to help anyone he feels is in need of some assistance and constantly looking for ways to help others. Jerry is revered by his fellow participants and supervisors in the Workshop for his personality, dedication, enthusiasm and geniality.
Jerry works diligently at any task assigned to him. At Integrated Resources, Inc. Jerry is a jack of all trades: he can operate almost all of the machinery in the Workshop, make handmade crafts, mow grass, and assist in the managing the maintenance of the fleet vehicles and lend a helping hand to anyone in need. Jerry serves two of our state use contracts. He works the river access on the mowing crew and is a custodian at the WVDRS.
Jerry now resides in Mullens where he moved after the death of his parents to assist his sister with everyday living. Jerry is an independent, reliable, giving, upstanding asset to his community and our family here at Integrated Resources, Inc.
Integrated Resources Inc.
Welcomes Mischelle Williams
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ntegrated Resources Inc. of Maben WV takes great pride in welcoming Mischelle Williams to its staff. Ms. Williams joined IRI as the new Human Resources Director in November 2012.
Ms. Williams was born and raised in Southern WV. She graduated from Clay Co. High School and attended WVU Institute of Technology where she obtained a B.S. Degree in Health Care Administration. During her eight years of employment with the WV Department of Health and Human Resources as a licensed social worker, Mischelle attended Marshall University Graduate School where she earned her MS in Industrial Employee Relations.
Mischelle comes to Integrated Resources Inc. from Raleigh General Hospital, where she held the position of Recruitment Manager for seven years.
For 30 years Earl Smith has been the Executive Director of Integrated Resources Inc. Integrated Resources Inc. has served the intellectually and/or physically challenged in Wyoming County since 1966. Integrated Resources Inc. was founded in 1966 as the House of Wonder by Elizabeth Williams.
Under the vision, guidance and innovation of Mr. Smith, Integrated Resources became a premier service provider throughout the state of West Virginia. He implemented policies and instituted programs designed not only to generate income for the center, but also to employ more people with disabilities than ever before. Under his leadership Integrated Resources Inc. participated in the state use program, providing custodial services and products throughout the state. Integrated Resources also operates a fully functioning woodworking shop that not only produces wood crafts, but also high quality kitchen cabinetry and elaborate entertainment systems.
For many years Integrated Resources has manufactured and sold products throughout West Virginia and in markets as far away as Asheville, North Carolina. For the past 10 years the participants at Integrated Resources Inc. have supplied Magic Mart Department Stores with approximately 30,000 tomato stakes annually in twenty-five stores across four states! They have also supplied another 3,500 tomato stakes to local hardware stores. The workshop recently completed a project for the Norfolk Southern Railroad by replacing old metal lockers with new cabinet grade wooden lockers.
Integrated Resources also provides services in the following areas: to Aged and Disabled and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Members under the Medicaid Waiver Program; temporary employment and leased employment services; commercial and residential mowing services and vocational services in conjunction with the WV Department of Rehabilitation. Recently, IRI secured a grant to build a new facility and provide comprehensive community support services to people in Wyoming County.
Earl is an innovator and methodical thinker. His desire to save a badly needed institution from certain closure to a thriving integral part of the Wyoming County community makes Earl unique. While many would have walked away from that challenge, Earl focused on saving the workshop and providing employment for people with disabilities. From an organization that started with a dozen workshop participants and a couple of staff, Integrated Resources now employs approximately three hundred people state wide.
The vision of Elizabeth Williams was “do something nice for someone before you die”. Earl carries that vision as the objectives of Integrated Resources Inc; to assess the needs of individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities and provide them with appropriate vocational training. Integrated Resources Inc. strives to seek out and develop new products and new markets in which to showcase the talents of workshop participants and to continually train new skills. The woodworking program enriches the lives of these individuals by helping them to escalate their self-worth and self-esteem. Earl’s dedication assures that these individuals have the opportunity to become productive integrated members of society.