Independent Living of the Genesee Region

In February 2018, an Independent Living Specialist (ILS) at ILGR started working with "VB", who was interested in moving to a new place, but not in working, because she was receiving Unemployment Insurance payments. The ILS encouraged her to consider going back to work, as Unemployment wasn’t much money, and would not last forever. In the course of discussing different jobs that she might be interested in, the ILS explained that our consumers hire our Personal Assistants (PAs) but WNYIL pays them. VB went on a few interviews for different kinds of work, including doing laundry at a nursing home, and a factory, ultimately being hired at the nursing home. After working there for a few weeks, she decided just doing their laundry wasn’t enough for her; she felt she had more to offer to people then just washing clothes. She remembered we had talked about the PA positions and approached the ILS about them. Staff linked consumer up with our Taking Control PA Coordinator.  VB attended the orientation and handed in everything required for her to become a Personal Assistant. She now works about 20 to 30 hours per week and has been a PA since April 2018.