New Initiative at Janus Changes Perspective on How to Serve Consumers

​​Despite day services coming to a halt the last few months at Janus Developmental Services, Inc., staff took on the challenge of providing virtual services, typically through zoom.  What started in week one with two staff and a few participants, grew tremendously in the weeks to come, with eventually 15 staff reaching over 20% of all participants typically enrolled in services. The remainder of participants received weekly phone calls to check in on how they were doing, and to hear a familiar voice.

​Participants with the zoom classes had the opportunity to choose from several activities of which to participate virtually with friends and peers.  Staff delivered activity kits to the front doors of participants on Mondays of which to use during the zoom classes that week.  Examples of activities included:

• Group socialization games (i.e. Hangman, Would You Rather?, I Spy, UNO, Charades, Pictionary, etc.)
• Fitness (i.e. chair exercises, exercises using household items i.e. soup cans or water bottles, etc.)
• Cooking (i.e. Making energy bites, popsicles, fruit kabobs, mini pizzas, etc.)
• Art projects (i.e. canvas painting, made lanterns out of popsicle sticks, etc.)
• Science experiments (i.e. sink or float?, Using paint on hands to demonstrate how germs transfer from hands to other surfaces, etc.)
• Nature (i.e. making bird feeders, planting flowers, etc.)

​Feedback on this initiative has been so positive, that Janus intends to blend virtual services with their traditional day services as services re-open. This will provide for a different way of providing services for individuals who have not returned to services during the initial re-opening.
 
For more information on this new program at Janus, please contact Megan Isaacks, Manager of Quality and Social Services, at [email protected], or Abbie McIntyre, Manager of Client Services, at [email protected], who will be happy to fill you in on this new program they started.