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Hope Enterprises adjusts to meet needs in the now

In the process of getting the services they offer up and running, Hope Enterprises is accommodating its clients in a new way, basing services and supports on what the people they serve need at the moment, according to Rob Labatch, president and CEO at Hope.

“We’re looking at enhancing people’s lives, which is our mission,” he said. “Whatever they would need at this point, we’re trying to meet that individual’s needs.”

Labatch admitted that in the process a lot of individuals might not know what their new wants or needs are.

“We’re trying to perform whatever their outcomes are. If it is to get into the community, or maybe it’s to attend someplace or go grocery shopping, we’re trying to meet those individual outcomes,” he added.

Labatch said that because many of the people that Hope serves are in a population with compromised medical issues, they are hesitant to join some of the activities that they could be involved in. He stre He also noted that Hope is following all the CDC guidelines and even more because of dealing with individuals with health issues.

Throughout the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hope Enterprises has continued their support of individuals with disabilities in group homes and direct services in the community, according to Labatch.

Between 130 to 140 individuals benefit from the services the group offers through their residential and community services programs.

“A lot of that is in the group homes,” Labatch said. “If folks have job coaching and those types of things, we’d still be supporting them if they’re back to work. And we also support people who are living independently. We had continued to support them throughout the pandemic,” he said.

Labatch noted that some of the services have begun to open again.

Prior to the pandemic, Hope had served as a stopping place for people participating in day services in the community. These services included such things as social or educational activities as well as volunteering at the SPCA or the Food Bank and employment options.

Now, Hope is looking at how those activities can be done without the facility being a part of the process. This could mean that Hope would work out the logistics if someone wanted to volunteer at the local food bank or attend an exercise program, without having Hope as a home base.

Maxworx, which offers an integrated workforce through Hope in the industrial and custodial fields, has actually seen an increase in demand of their cleaning and sanitizing services during the pandemic.

“We used to run a workshop and the workshop was where people were paid sub-minimum wage…but you received dollars. You were actually paid by the state for pre-vocational services,” Labatch said.

He explained that the workshop was discontinued in 2015 when Hope launched Maxworx and hired a lot of the people who had worked in the workshop so that they could continue working. He noted that it is run as an independent business venture for Hope with an integrated staff comprised of both people with and without disabilities.

“Maxworx isn’t exactly a program. It’s actually our staff that work in that department…they do some manufacturing, so you could consider them like a Shop-Vac or those kinds of things on the manufacturing side,” he said.

“We did all the safety precautions as in manufacturing and the distancing and the reduced shifts,” Labatch said, detailing the precautions taken during the pandemic to ensure workers’ safety.

“They did reduce production for a month or so, but they still were doing manufacturing through that,” he added.

The custodial side of Maxworx has actually seen an increase in demand from businesses that did not close during the shutdown and had a need for increased cleanings.

“We have places that didn’t close that still needed cleaning. And we also have a fogging machine that we had bought prior to the pandemic. So, that’s been booming,” he said.

Hope also operates an early intervention program for children birth to age three, who have developmental delays or disabilities. Labatch indicated staff in those programs are just started to do some home-based work. During the shutdown the service was offered through telehealth.

“Our special instructor in the Williamsport area was doing telehealth with the families of the infants and toddlers. Just within the last couple weeks they’re now, depending on what the circumstances are with the families and their comfortability level, doing some face-to-face sessions with them in their home,” Labatch said.

The WIC offices in Williamsport and Lock Haven are operating with limited clinic hours so that food cards can be recharged.

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