New House Supports Aging Disabled

Francis Johnson, 84, has mental retardation and developmental disabilities (mr/dd). He has lived in a group home developed by North Coast Community Homes with personal care services provided by Koinonia Homes for over 20 years, and now his home is being demolished to make way for the construction of a new retail mall. He lives with seven other people aged 52 to 91 all of whom have mr/dd.

Aging individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities face the same questions of how to maintain their independence, how to maintain secure housing, how to stay healthy, and how to get help when needed as does everyone who ages. But, they also have greater needs for they depend even more on personal care services, assistive technologies, such as mobility and communication devices, and techniques for maintaining and improving physical as well as mental functioning.

North Coast Community Homes is pleased to announce that a new group home opened in Oakwood Village in April 2008 that has taken into consideration the environmental and individual needs of these older individuals with mr/dd. The building is much more than just a home. It has been developed to enable its residents to live as independently as their level of disability allows. This independence, in turn, assists them to function at their highest level.

The home has been built in agreement with stringent building and safety codes as specified by the state of Ohio. It has eight individual bedrooms, accessible bathrooms, large common kitchen, dining and living rooms to encourage social interaction, as well as staff office facilities for the 24/7 care provider Koinonia Homes, a nonprofit organization that provides residential, community and vocational services to over 190 individuals with mr/dd throughout Cuyahoga County. Safety features, including automated doors, sprinkling systems which activate in case of fire to retard and slow the spread of fire, carbon monoxide alarms and safety locks, have been installed to help insure the safety of these tenants who require additional time to vacate a home in case of emergency.

NCCH is a nonprofit organization that was created to develop and maintain homes for individuals with mental retardation, mental illness and other disabilities. NCCH has 188 homes for 930 individuals with disabilities in Cuyahoga, Lake, Stark and Summit Counties. In 2008 the development of 6 additional rental properties for 4 residents each is being planned in cooperation with the Cuyahoga Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities as part of the settlement of the Martin v. Stickland case.

What distinguishes NCCH from similar housing development organizations is its high standard of safety and quality and its in-house staff of dedicated maintenance and landscape professionals. North Coast Community Homes continually strives to maintain their homes with the same care that the families of their tenants would exercise in their own homes.