Mayor Steve Black supported by a large contingent of staff and clients of Community Living Timmins declared May 2017 to be Community Living Timmins month.
“On behalf of the city of Timmins I hereby declare the month of May 2017 as Community Living Timmins month,” proclaimed Mayor Steve Black.
On hand to support Mayor Black’s proclamation were people who receive help from Community Living.
“It was very important to recognize how much Community Living helps me every day,” said Danny Crowley, a person who receives services from Community Living Timmins.
“I’ve learned many things like doing maintenance and things that are fun to do such as fishing and going to see movies,” added Crowley, who also has participated in the Special Olympics mentions bowling as his favourite sport.
Community Living Timmins provides services to support independent living, based on the needs of the person.
For someone who is more capable that might been going over their home or apartment and helping once or twice a month.
For someone who is more severely disabled Community Living provides accommodations in group homes with staff on hand to assistance the people in their care.
Community Living Timmins currently has five group homes around Timmins. They serve 150 people in Timmins. Their main office is on Brousseau Avenue, and through their SIL Support Independent Living program also attend to people who live on their own in the community.
The aim of Community Living Timmins is to provide support so its members can live healthy lives in the community.
“Having an Active Living Program, as is offered by Community Living Timmins, means that our clients are able to be equal with other residents of Timmins and, participate in events and live independent lives,” said Manuel St. Jean, support worker for Community Living Timmins.
“At Community Living Timmins, we support independent living by people, who have some form disability whether it is developmental, perceptual, physical or mental,” explained St. Jean.” “We cater from one end of the disability spectrum from highly functioning to the other end where a person needs more care.”
“We also provide employment services for those who want to work, and offer daycare services for children of parents with disabilities so they can work if they wish,” added St. Jean.
Recently Community Living Timmins has introduced the Passport Program with funding from the Ontario government.
“Through the Passport program we offer training in recreational pursuits such as fishing, gardening, photography, birdwatching which our clients can participate in the community with everyone else,” St. Jean said
Teaching life skills so a person can live more independent lives is a major focus for Community Living Timmins.
“We recently put in a kitchen at our centre on Brousseau where give cooking classes, that has been built for people in wheel chair so they can get around and cook their own meals.” St. Jean gave as an example.
In addition, Community Living Timmins we develop individual life plans that helps us to get to know the individual and help the decide what activities they want to participate in and what skills they want to learn,” said Johanne Rondeau, the Director of Community Living Timmins.
Based on the person-centred plan we develop we aim to help them achieve the quality of life they want for themselves and their families,” stated Rondeau.
“We are very happy that our Mayor proclaimed May as Community Living in Timmins Month,” said Rondeau.
“It is a tremendous organization with a lot of tremendous people working and volunteering there meeting the needs of great segment of our community,” Mayor Black said. “As you saw today their members have had a lot of fun today visiting city council and participating in the proclamation.”
“At the City of Timmins, we do our part to make this city accessible to people with disabilities through our Municipal Accessibility Committee that reviews developments and event proposals to make sure they are accessible,” noted Mayor Black.
“We even have an entire accessibility committee set up specifically to help us plan our Days of Stars and Thunder this summer to mark Canada’s 150 anniversary,” added Mayor Black.
“I strongly believe that it is important for us to be as inclusive as possible as a community,” Mayor Black emphasized.
