Dogma in Distress

Mind Combings 4/28/11

Dogma in Distress

            Nothing like turning on your computer to make your problems and dilemmas shrink down to lint pickings. Today’s headlines show the collision of staggering grief and fairytale wonderment: the killer tornadoes rampaging through the plains and southern states versus the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

            I wonder if the obsession with the wedding serves as an emotional safety valve for us media-weary people who have to process the Mass Tragedy du Jour all too many jours in a row. No, I personally am not obsessed with the wedding—I may forget to even watch it—but I will make the attempt, as history will be in the making.

            So turning the giant spotlight into a hearth candle, our personal joys and worries are still here to greet us as we detach ourselves from screens. Mine’s name today again is Raphael.

Maybe I should have named this dog “Enigma.” Yesterday his new veterinary internist (in Atascasdero) listened with her head leaning over her shoulder gazing down at Raphael. I recounted how Raphael had just not snapped out of his trough for the past ten-twelve days, how no therapy seemed to be doing much except in the symptomatic short term.

“So, shall we do it?” She verbally threw up her hands. “Shall we pull him off all of his meds and see what happens? Because I agree with you, Maria. With nine or ten different meds going into him every day, probably none of them is working.

“That is my working theory, unfortunately,” I nodded.                                

“You could leave him here (at their 24-hour hospital). It’d be better. We can observe him closely, and then I will be able to determine which drugs he really needs.”

“Agreed. But not today. How about Monday, when you are in four days straight?”

“Bring him here Sunday night. You can have him back Thursday afternoon.”

            Since then, I have felt an emptiness, like a huge vacuum sucked out my innards, leaving only my battered heart. But I am determined to do this. The price is excellent and the results will tell me a lot more than using that poor dog as a hazardous drug-dumping receptacle. It may give him a better shot at a higher quality of life. Good enough for me.

            So after many self-inflicted maternal guilt trips, I have also decided to spend Monday through Thursday morning in the Bay Area.  I vow to enjoy myself with my beloved Bay Area friends. But as national and world news unfurls, I will be nursing my own little private bubble world, alternately cheering it on and praying it doesn’t burst.    

The Wizard of OPS

 from the virtual pen of Maria V. Eyles

        “When I first started working for OPTIONS,” recalls job developer Yvonne Barabas, “I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I was trying to place my first client in a company in San Luis Obispo, and the CEO and a whole roster of VIPs had gathered to hear me out. Tiptoeing down the long hallway toward the CEO’s office, I felt lost and apprehensive. Then it dawned on me: The CEO is just a little man behind a curtain! He’s human too—just like me, the tin man and the cowardly lion. He has his own flaws, his own strengths.” 

        Inner strengths are what Barabas endeavors to draw out of job-seekers despite seeming obstacles such as physical or cognitive disabilities. Her employer, OPTIONS Family of Services, headquartered in Morro Bay, California, is a non-profit organization which provides positive choices for people with disabilities. Disabilities are often seen as significant barriers to employment, Barabas says. So as Job Developer for OPTIONS, Barabas’ role is to not only advocate for her clients as desirable employees, but also to educate both them and potential employers that these disabilities only present initial barriers, not closed doors.   

         

         Barabas sweeps back her long brown hair and smiles warmly, speaking professionally but from the heart. “At OPTIONS we serve people from a wide range of diversity, from those with cognitive and neurological disabilities to visually and hearing impaired persons.”

        Her face becomes animated. “Oh, are you surprised I used the word ‘diversity’? Usually when people hear ‘diversity’ they think of ethnic diversity—and we have that too. Yet it is interesting to see how many employers don’t view those with different disabilities as part of the diverse population. My job is to educate them.”

       

        Some of  Barabas’ clients at OPTIONS were disabled from birth or youth, but often clients enjoyed many years of normal, active living until some accident or trauma left them physically or cognitively impaired. People of all kinds, including CEOs with master’s degrees. “Suddenly their lives are unrecognizable. And they find themselves unemployed, completely unable to do what they did yesterday.”   Yvonne Barabas’ gaze drops to her hands. “This job certainly puts things in perspective. Everyone is fighting a hard battle.”

       

        Almost instantly the passionate fire rekindles her smile. “What I love about my work is that it forces me to be constantly creative. There is no set program. I work personally with each client on a   case-by-case basis. OPTIONS goes far beyond organizational bureaucracy: We believe that compassion and vocational success cannot be ‘canned’.”

        “Earning my clients’ trust takes enormous creativity. I need to figure out where the client is now and use that key information for understanding them now. Often, for example, they are in deep grief over their physical loss, so the first thing I must do is walk through the grieving process with them, at their pace. Then I need to get very creative. First I find out everything I can about their background including their medical history. What is her passion? What motivates him? Why does this client decide to get up each morning? Communication is the key to all this.”

        Barabas admits that even being able to communicate with people with certain disabilities can be a daunting project of its own. 

        A number of years ago she served a young man whom a car accident left paralyzed from the neck down. Unable to speak, he could only touch his head to a pad on the side of his wheelchair’s headrest, which would activate a computer screen. Painstakingly he would then visually choose letters from the alphabet, and by tapping his head, he could spell words—one letter at a time. Eventually Barabas learned that this young man’s passions were motorcycles, music and computers.

        “Something clicked with me and I contacted an employer in north county. We spoke about my person served and the employer invited him to an interview. The employer was astounded by my clients’ extensive knowledge. At the end of the hour, the office staff was hanging on every word coming from that computer screen.”

        Then Barabas had another client with a different set of problems, a female in her late forties who bounced in and out of jail. Discouragement had her down. But Barabas saw something in this client which provided a ray of hope.  “She really needed a life make-over—so I worked with her and helped her achieve one.”  Patience and optimism won out again for Barabas. The client has been responsibly employed for some months. But there is more. “This person served recently called us at OPTIONS bubbling over, ‘This is the first time my kids have actually called me Mom!’”

        Barabas’ talents have allowed OPTIONS to place clients in all kinds of jobs around San Luis Obispo (SLO) and Santa Barbara Counties—in retail, hospitality, business offices, nurseries, farms, medical establishments, warehouses, and in transportation. OPTIONS was responsible for an impressive 5.3% of all placements for the developmentally disabled population in the State of California between July 2006 and June 2008.

        “If I could speak to every employer in SLO County, I would first tell them that hiring through us is virtually the same as the usual ways of hiring people. I send them well-qualified individuals with all the supports they could need. And we already know their backgrounds in depth, unlike people who walk in off the street.”

        “Then I would pick up my megaphone and tell them how our clients can be huge assets to their workplace or company. Our clients possess uncanny diligence, patience and a strong desire to succeed. In fact, they change the whole workplace dynamics in a positive way. For example, just by quietly showing up every day and on time and working diligently, they grab the attention of the other employees. They see that our workers have many more challenges to just get up out of bed in the morning—but, on the other hand, they do not complain. They may have to ride on a bus for hours to get there, but they walk in with a smile. Our clients are so happy and grateful to work and be productive.”

        Barabas sits very straight, speaking clearly and charmingly yet confidently. Surely she could convince anyone of almost anything without megaphones, curtains, or tricks. “Furthermore, there are other benefits and incentives for our local employers. In many cases, we provide on–the-job-training (OJT) for our placed clients. Not only does this save the employer time and money, but while on OJT, a percentage of the client’s wages will be supplemented.”

        In addition, employers of OPTIONS clients receive tax incentives, the 8850 tax credit which is in place for those who hire the disabled, veterans and other special populations.  Yet the best part is that OPTIONS will provide a job coach for the new employee if he or she needs help adapting to the work environment and vice versa. This covers cultural as well as physical issues. 

        For example, perhaps the boss is frustrated with a hearing impaired employee because the employee does not seem to comprehend or hear him. Yet maybe the solution is that the employer is not making sure she is facing the worker so that the employee can read her lips. “Since the hearing impaired world is a culture unto itself, we consider this a cultural difference. But no matter—all the supports are in place for both our clients and their employers to the degree needed, if any. How many other job seekers have that? Everything is geared to have this worker succeed.”

        Yvonne Barabas’ own success is not something she takes for granted. To be an effective job developer in today’s economy, between the high unemployment rate and the State of California’s shortfall, is that much more difficult.

        “I consider myself very fortunate to be employed, especially at such an amazing organization as OPTIONS. And here I am trying to get people off subsidized incomes, yet the job market is so tight. The truth be told, no person served at OPTIONS wants to remain on government assistance. Their motivation to work is great. They want to contribute their talents, to be productive—to have purpose. They want the same things I want. The same things you want.”

        In order to do her job well, Yvonne Barabas practically lives in her car. “But we live in such a beautiful area that I don’t mind.  Certainly there are times when the stress and pressure get to me. But I rely on my faith, the invaluable things my clients teach me, and the wonderful people I work with.”

        Barabas allows herself a giggle. “No, certainly I am not the Wizard of OPS! Together we all make a fabulous team—no one of us sticks out.”

       

        Then Barabas is handed a description of Dorothy Gale found on the Answers.com website: “[Dorothy] is brave, smart, compassionate, selfless, and encouraging to other members of the traveling party.”

       

        Yvonne Barabas hands it back, laughing. “Oh, I don’t even own a pair of red shoes!”

        Maybe Ms. Barabas needs to go home and re-check her wardrobe closet.

________________________________________________________

OPTIONS Family of Services is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this month. To learn more about what they are doing right, please contact Erin at 805-772-6066, ext. 100 or visit their website at www.optionsfs.org

Maria V. Eyles aka Maria C. Vidale, The Wizard of OPS, Copyright  2009                                            
The Polished Page, Writing and Editing Services

The Virtual Pen, Blog:  http://mariaveyles.blogspot.com/

A Reverse Account

From The Virtual Pen of Maria V. Eyles

          Financial tools are helpful in not only aiding us to understand our relationship to money, but also our relationship to ourselves in the world. You’ve heard of the “reverse mortgage,” a financial tool that allows many seniors to stay in their homes mortgage-free. Undoubtedly this lessens their fear of being old and helpless in a volatile world economy. Well, I’ve perfected a tool called the Reverse Savings Account. A reverse savings account can bring you lowered anxiety and increased confidence  in your understanding of exactly how the world economy works in a way very personal to you.

          A reverse savings is free and readily available to almost everyone!
But first you will need a few preliminaries: a limited income; a dwindling savings account; and some dire or impending emergency expense such as major car repairs, expensive medical treatments or dental work, or perhaps an explosion of broken appliances.

          In addition to these, there are two other important elements needed to achieve a true reverse savings. The first is a source of chronic economic drainage. Though I am sure many examples have already flooded your mind, I will throw out a brief list: a child anywhere from ages 1 day to 45 years old; a jalopy; several pets from the rescue center; a freeloading relative; a friend who constantly borrows.

Besides these siphons of savings, the element of surprise is mandatory. Surprise elements such as unexpected lay-offs; notice to vacate; a 300% jump in tuition, rent or HOA dues; or one of my favorites—a lapsed insurance policy, or its equivalent, The Fine Print,—all these guide you quickly to your goal of a reverse savings account. 

Now let me explain exactly how the reverse savings works using a true example from my own past two weeks. First, I learn that I need a crown on my molar. If I wait much longer, there will be the added bonus of a root canal. The crown requires a down payment of $600. So I decide, over the course of three sleepless nights in which I dream of my teeth falling out in a homeless shelter, to bilk $300 from my IRA and to extract the other $300 from my checking account.

Note carefully that this act of pulling out and setting aside money for a Special Purpose will inevitably trigger a deluge of unexpected expenses and bills—the drainage and surprise elements we talked about—often within hours. This sets the reverse savings laws of physics in motion. For I blundered upon this little known law that parallels the adage, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” It is “The World abhors an excess.” Lo, now you are armed with the scientific theory behind the reverse savings.

So we collected the $600 on the Friday before the Monday dental appointment. Second step: On Sunday night my big toe swells up, turns red and throbs angrily. Therefore, we do-si-do our dentist with our podiatrist, even though it hurts to dance, and on Monday morning, the podiatrist numbs then cuts out my ingrown toenail. Yes, you may have noticed that a side feature of the reverse savings account is a psychic portent that somebody or other is going to stick one or the other end of your body with lidocaine on a Monday morning, no matter what.

Notice that the accidental switcheroo means that the $600 is sitting idly around my checkbook doing nothing. Although it is earmarked for the dentist, it is not actually inside his safe with the daily revenue. No, it is sitting nonchalantly in my account as an excess, the perfect situation for the reverse savings to kick in!

         Because I am lucky enough to have good health insurance, the podiatrist’s visit did not count as a legal reverse account transaction (or R.A.T.). Yet in only hours, the specter of another huge expense arose when my beloved dog, a blue shepadoodle named Raphael, went into a crisis with his chronic immune system ailment. The four-year-old Raphael had been doing fine for almost two months, but this afternoon my skies turned gray-blue, as I rushed my boy up to the veterinary hospital in Atascadero. I had no time to think about the reverse account until it was checkout time.

Imagine my disappointment when the vet’s office visit was compassionately reduced to a mere follow-up, a piffling $29. Hardly enough for the reverse savings to set off. But aha! The treatments and take-home meds came to just under $270! Do you, too, see the pattern here? Hallelujah, three hundred dollars!  Halfway home. (Or homeless.)

The next day brought better health to Raphael, and hassles with the plumber and under-sink leak ($55) and the new dishwasher installation guy (prepaid, sigh!). These latter are still fighting each other, and the boxed dishwasher is still sitting in my office under the office window leak, which adds the thrill of my homeowner’s association involvement to the mix. This ensures me a daily parade of workmen in my condo to keep things entertaining for Raphael. No wonder the guy is sick to his stomach. 

“Mmm,” I mused over my doggie blanket laundry, “I still have $245 left in my checking from the $600 for the dental work. To achieve a true reverse savings, I need another person or source to pillage $250 more from me since technically, you want to go at least five dollars over the original amount. I wonder what…? Oh! That’s it!”

“It” was some kind of sticky liquid seeping over my newly unbandaged ingrown toenail. My excitement grew as I saw “it” was originating from under the clothes washer. Could it be? Could it be…?

Reader, it was motor oil! Gobs of it. Can you believe my luck? A dying washing machine! Whew, right on time, too, and you betcha, it could cost well over $300 to replace.” Wow! I'd better run out and buy a lotto ticket! I speculated cunningly.

Not believing my good fortune, I ran to check out my Home Warranty protection program. Ha! There it was in The Fine Print: “Neither the washer nor dryer are covered in your premium policy.”  Silly me, getting paranoid like that for no reason.

          From this moment, the oiled gears of the reverse savings account zoomed off. Look at how simple the accounting is on a reverse savings! A brand new GE washer from Best Buy ($289), plus sales tax ($50), plus installation and haul-away fees ($69). The only reason I did not jump on the Best Buy extended warranty was that two of Raphael’s four pharmacists called on the cell phone while I was speaking to the Best Buy stereo guy (eh--stereos, washers, vacuums, what’s the difference…) announcing the completion of two of his medications: one at $50, and one at $65. Add this to the $300 vet bill, and my total reverse savings account total was minus $799. All this for very little time or work invested on my part.

         

My goal completed, I  finally staggered into my bathroom. Such relief! Only, when I get up, the toilet seat slides right off the bowl and clanks onto the floor. Dumbly, I pick it up and stash it in the back seat of my car.

On my way to Home Depot, Lester at the gas station is eyeing me strangely. “Hey, lady!" He points the gas nozzle at my face. "Uh, I don’t think that porta-potty is going to work very well there in your back seat. You gotta put something under it, connect it to something.”

I smile smugly. “Little do you know, Lester!”

Lester doesn’t know what you now know, which are the advantages of a reverse savings account: Your confidence in evaluating any financial move or non-move is bolstered by the Excess Law, and you can accurately predict the red side of your ledger from now on. Your anxiety is replaced by the peace of knowing that a Reverse Savings Account stems not from lack of planning, but from A Reverse Savings Economy (ARSE), and toilet seat or no toilet seat, you will always have your ARSE to fall back on.

A Reverse Account by Maria V. Eyles

Copyright March 2011

All Rights Reserved