{"id":11295,"date":"2024-06-26T15:25:18","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T15:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graceworks-old.citizen55.com\/?p=11295"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:18:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:18:27","slug":"enhancedliving-2023annualreport-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/enhancedliving-2023annualreport-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering Individuals to Age in Comfort \u2013 Graceworks Enhanced Living"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Several adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who live in Graceworks Enhanced Living<\/a> homes have resided with us for more than a decade. The houses have become their homes and staff have become like family. For many individuals served, that also means they prefer to be able to live their entire lives in their homes and have the ability to receive therapy, medical care, and even hospice support in a familiar environment.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cMany of the individuals we serve don\u2019t have outside family,\u201d said Jack Wooldridge<\/strong>, Graceworks Enhanced Living Services Manager. \u201cWe serve many residents for years and we become their family. That comfort of having people around them that love and serve them is important to us all.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Arminta Gautam<\/strong> takes that creed to heart, making sure that every individual served can age safely and with dignity. Arminta has been the group home manager at the Greenleaf home in Dayton for the last six years and has a remarkable way of building more than a team among the staff of direct support professionals \u2014 she\u2019s built a family.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Douglas Sword<\/strong>, a longtime member of that Greenleaf family, loved making the staff laugh and enjoyed spending his days at the Greenleaf home trying new foods, completing word puzzles, and listening to rock music. Greenleaf was the place Doug felt comfortable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As Doug\u2019s health began to decline, Arminta stepped in to advocate for him. And when he needed more support, Arminta brought hospice care into the Greenleaf home so he could remain in a familiar setting surrounded by the people who care, enabling him to live out the last weeks of his life as he chose.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\u201cWe kept him secure and happy by providing for his needs in the home instead of moving him elsewhere,\u201d said Jack. \u201cWhenever he was at the hospital or appointments, he couldn\u2019t wait to get home. Once we were able to put needed services in place, we advocated for him so he could stay home where he was most comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

From making sure the right equipment was in Doug\u2019s room to preparing homemade dinners for Doug and those supporting him, Arminta went above and beyond to ensure Doug was able to spend his final days in safety, comfort, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 knowing he was loved.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe culture Arminta has created in the home keeps the staff highly engaged,\u201d said Jack. \u201cShe provides that level of care that really can\u2019t be taught. Her staff sees her willingness to go the extra mile and they want to provide that, too. She\u2019s an excellent example of a home manager who wants to provide remarkable experiences for others every day.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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“<\/em>We become the voice for residents when they no longer have that. Doug was his own guardian and was a good advocate for himself, but it was an honor for me to advocate on his behalf. I knew him and his wants and his needs, so being able to advocate for our individuals is an honor.”<\/p>\r\nArminta Gautam, Home Manager, Graceworks Enhanced Living<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

See more stories in Graceworks’ 2023 Annual Report: Remarkable People<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout Graceworks Enhanced Living, homes are filled with love, care, and family. For many individuals served, that also means they prefer to be able to live their entire lives in their homes and have the ability to receive therapy, medical care, and even hospice support in a familiar environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11303,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13,1],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-11295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enhanced-living","category-graceworks","category-news","tag-graceworks-enhanced-living"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11295"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11663,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11295\/revisions\/11663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graceworks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}