‘Breaking the cycle’

♦ Center for Independent Living offers support services and technology.

It’s easier today for residents in Rome and neighboring counties to live independently, thanks to services and technology provided by the Northwest Georgia Center for Independent Living.

The center, located at 527 Broad St., in Rome, is more than ever equipped to help elderly people and those with disabilities reclaim their independence, which allows them to live freer lives.

Christina Holtzclaw has been participating in the organization since its inception in 2004, and is the current executive director. What started off as a satellite center of an Atlanta nonprofit organization turned into its own entity in 2011, and currently serves the largest population second to Atlanta. Its services stretch all the way to the Tennessee line and cover 15 counties, Holtzclaw said.

Interestingly enough, Holtzclaw added that the recent pandemic made it a bit easier to offer some of their services, since new technology and applications were developed to connect people who couldn’t gather in person.

The center’s goal is to create opportunities for people who have disabilities. One way they promote independent living is by making communities accessible, through building ramps and working with architects to make homes easier to navigate. The center’s office is a great model of an accessible building. The doors are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, there is assistive technology sprinkled around in almost every room, and it all sits on one level.

Also, they have a demo room lined with shelves of colorful tools that are specifically designed to make life easier. For example, they have stabilizing spoons for people with tremors and braille labelers for those who have vision impairments.

However, Core Service Peer Support is the most utilized assistance the center provides. Independent Living Coordinator Quinn Durrant said peer supporters are individuals who help consumers fulfill their goals. They assist in completing tasks and talk consumers through difficult decisions or ideas.

What makes the center’s program unique is that all peer supporters are certified through the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, Holtzclaw said. Durrant added that consumers can easily communicate what they need when they have someone who can relate to their experience.

“Everyone here is a certified peer supporter and actually, in some way or another, has a disability of some kind,” Durrant stated. “It actually makes it easy in a lot of ways to be empathetic and be able to understand where people are coming from. Many of us have had similar struggles as well.”

Additionally, the independence center works hard to ensure resources reach far into the communities they care for. To do this, they provide a variety of services that range from giving out emergency backpacks to providing money management and employment classes to prisoners who are reentering the community, Holtzclaw said. She also works with employers to make workplaces more accessible, by demonstrating assistive technology like the Go Vision, a large screen that magnifies documents to help those with vision impairments.

Moreover, Project Manager Jill Baldwin provides assistance to elderly people looking to transition from nursing homes to live on their own.

“We support them first by helping them make the decision to leave, because that can be a pretty daunting task,” Baldwin said. “We provide resources for housing ... and we support them for at least a year afterwards.”

Many elderly are retired and out of the workforce, so this ensures they can privately live in the comfort of their homes while having access to affordable services.

“When people come to us and they’ve been referred, and referred, and they end up back in the same spot — what we actually hope to do is to break the cycle,” Holtzclaw said. “We don’t want them to leave empty handed. We want to make sure they have useful resources.”

Each employee is eager to help their community because they have been through similar situations, said Erna Dobbs, information and referral coordinator. Holtzclaw also hopes to increase the number of people the center helps.

Those interested in finding out more about the center’s services and resources can visit online at nwgacil.org or call 706-314-0008.

Contributed Northwest Georgia CIL Assistant Director Kathy Baker (left) and Quinn Durrant, an independent living coordinator, demonstrate how a faux money set can be used to sharpen learning skills.

Contributed Quinn Durrant shows how the GoVision magnifier works in the center’s Assistive Technology Lab.