February 23, 2024 • 31 mins
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On this episode of "The Nathan Markley Show," Nathan talks with Seth Salois, the Community Liaison at The Forgarty Center, about the work they are doing to make community connections and get people out in the community. To learn more and contact Seth visit Fogarty Center's website at https://fogartycenter.org/community-connect/ or email ssalois@fogartycenter.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello everyone, Welcome back to anotherepisode of The Nathan Markley Show.
(00:02):
I’m Nathan and I'm here with Seth Saloisfrom the Fogarty Center.
And now what you doSeth at the Fogarty Center?
So my jobtitle is called the Community Liaison.
So I work with developing
memberships, clubs, activities,you know, integration to the community
and in kind of building out our relationshipsfor the people that we support.
What is the Fogarty center?
So we support individualswith developmental disabilities,
(00:25):
but we're so much more than thatin terms of what we do.
We do have a residential program,so we have 17 group homes
that are kind of scattered across the state.
A lot of them are in the northern partof the state.
We have, I believe, three that are downin like the Barrington area, Warren area.
We have a a Day program, North Day programthat is based out of North Providence,
Woonasquatucket avenue.
(00:46):
We have a South County Day programthat's right off the URI
campus, which is in the same buildingas our children's portion of what we do.
There's a lot of other,you know, employment and direct service.
And there's a lot of there'sa lot of components that
I'm even just kind of learning about myself.
But to me, what I really wanted to do withthis position is have it not just be
(01:07):
I just help residential, I help this.
And I think with people's ability and staffand my supervisor Heather and David Reece,
who is just incredibleat bringing a community together.
I think if I'm helping residentialwith something will maybe day
program can be a part of that and we make itin the timeframe that fits for them
(01:27):
or with children.
So I think we try to give everyone, Hey, thisworked, how can we make this work for you?
It may not lookthe same could be the same program.
But how do we make it work for you?
And I think getting feedbackand asking questions and helping out
and learning about the programs.
I'm always learning every dayabout different things that we do and,
you know, and funding and opportunitiesand what we're trying to accomplish,
(01:50):
I think, as an organization is important.
But I thinkultimately when it comes down to it
and we've seen this when supports neededthose program walls aren't there.
And I think we come together as a community,as an organization, and we do what's best
for whoever needs that support.
And I think for me,
that's been a glowing aspectof being a part of Fogarty and what we do.
(02:10):
it's allowed me to be successfulin what I'm doing
because I know that I have the supportand if I need questions answered
or if I need something,
there's so many people I can go to and I canI can take from their knowledge
and learn from them too.
So you have a transformation projectat the Fogarty Center.
Can you tell us a little about that?
Sure.
when I came in, I startedand it was October of 2022.
(02:34):
And obviously part of my jobin general coming in through the grant
was to really kind of establishand with the position being very, very new,
you know, from kind of ground upwas really establishing relationships
in the community and being able to open upopportunities for the people that we support
in terms of, be able to go
in the community and develop relationshipsand having opportunities to experience
(02:56):
things that, you know, all of usshould have an opportunity to experience.
So it was really about,
you know, kind of starting therein building something from scratch.
I've worked in, in behavioral healthfor over 25 years,
but strangely enough,I had started at the Fogarty Center
as a direct support professionalwhen I was in college.
So all four years, anytime I was I was homeon break or summer breaks, things like that.
(03:20):
I always work 40 hours And, you know,I got to kind of learn about,
building relationshipsand those opportunities.
And that was early onand there was between 97 and 2001.
So I've kind of found my way back to Fogarty,which has been great,
hands down, the best experience that I had,you know, working in the field.
And it's something I feel like over 25 yearsI'll be able to to bring a lot of the,
(03:44):
you know, the skillsand the and the information in
and the building relationships over that timeperiod to kind of what this job is now.
So youhelp individual adults with disabilities.
Can you give us some examples of stuffthat you've done?
So my goal starting with the positionand it was funny
when I got hired, I before I even started,
I really kind of my brain went runningon what we could create and what it could be.
(04:08):
I think for me, what it really wasand I came recently,
I work for the Rhode Island ArmyNational Guard.
I worked in the substanceabuse and suicide prevention programs.
So one of the things we did
and we and I think was extremely effective iswe went out to our community providers.
We met them face to face.
You know, we talked with them We learnedabout their programs, how they work.
We met the front desk staff,the people who were there, who,
(04:30):
you know, the people that we were supporting.
We we're going to see firsthand and developthose relationships to a point where we're,
you know, first name basis.
When I called somebody up,we had already established a relationship.
So to me, it's it's never about justwriting the email or making the phone call.
It's about going to our community providers,about going to our organizations
and giving them the opportunityto kind of show off their shiny toy
(04:53):
a little bit and get excitedabout what they do
and then kind of ballparkon what opportunities
we could have as an organizationfor the people that we support.
And I always kind of use thiswhen I go and talk to people.
So I don't just want to bewe have a membership.
We go, we do the thing, and thenwe take our ball and we go home with it.
To me, especially in Rhode Island,
I think it's important to to really cultivateand build relationships
(05:16):
because we'reall kind of intertwined at points.
So if we have a membershipwith somebody, it's
not just we get to go to the zoo,we get to go to the park,
we get to go to the aquarium, or whateverit may be.
It's if we're doing this, how can we getinvolved to help you build out your programs,
like, for example, Save the Bay.We've have a great relationship with them.
They're going to be opening a new aquariumand a whole new kind of complex.
(05:36):
And we've had discussions with themabout being able to go in before
that opens up and having our participantsgo in and put eyes on and have conversations
with the peoplewho are opening up to make it inclusive
and to, you know, show the pathways of howit might not be building
an entire building to make it inclusive.
But maybe it's lighting,maybe it's sound, maybe it's just,
you know, understanding of of what people'sneeds are to make it truly inclusive,
(05:59):
but not with like a big spotlightover the top of it.
It should be for anybody.
And I think
building out those relationships,having those conversations
and knowing that there's a relationship
that goes both ways, I think for me, it'sbeen a really important thing in building
off of this grant and buildingrelationships and opportunities.
We built with Audubon; I sat down withtheir education department for like an hour.
(06:21):
We built up programing based upon,you know, our needs.
But things that they could implementinto their overall programs for anybody.
So it's something that they're lookingforward to being able to kind of utilize
in their membership packagethat wasn't necessarily there before.
We're using our our skills
and all the all the wonderful resources thatwe had from Fogarty and all the knowledge
and the wonderful individuals
(06:41):
that we support,they're able to give back to these programs
and build something biggerand better for everybody.
Yeah, that's great workbecause not a lot of places out
there are accessible and there's peoplethat can't get out who would love to go
to Save the Bay or Auduboncan't because they're not accessible.
And you come along, the Fogarty Center
(07:01):
come along to helping them, and say,this is what we can do,
this is what you can do to make accessibleso you can get more attraction
and more people.
To your point, I think accessibility isis different for everybody.
So it could be wheelchair based,it could be sound based,
it could be a lot of different things.
And I think if if we can educateand we can build that community,
that's a really important thing.
(07:22):
And I think off of,
you know,a lot of the memberships in the clubs
and the things that we've been ableto build with the grant,
the most important thing for me goingis that I didn't want the grant to be like,
okay, you know, we know how much we have.
We bought it down per person or we cankind of use we didn't just want to be like,
all right, well you get to just go to the Yor you just get to go to the zoo or you.
So we said, Alright,
let's take it and let's see what we can do
(07:44):
with these community providers sowe can stack these memberships or activities.
So people have four or five or six differentthings that they can go out and experience.
Because I think with this too,there's, there's a longevity to it also.
If you're looking at it from,you know, people will look at it
from like an IEP standpointor a paperwork standpoint.
And those are words on a page.
But I think if we give people opportunitieswith these activities,
(08:07):
we now start to understand and really funneldown to individual interests
rather than that being a large collective.
Now we're able to understandthat maybe this person
who's never had this opportunity to do thisnow loves animals or they like to do,
you know, we have a placecalled the Creative Reuse Center
where it's recycling in arts and craftsand things like that.
Maybe they their skill set is built for that,but they never had the opportunity.
(08:28):
So I think as we create these opportunities,what we're really doing is we're allowing
people opportunities of interest.
And then from there maybe it builds up tovolunteer, maybe it builds up to employment.
And now, now we're really funneling downfrom a larger collective
down to where I think everything should be is
everything should be individualizedbased on the person.
(08:49):
So what if they don't have those experiences?
We don't know if they like themor if they don't like them,
or maybe they might like itif it's a different scenario or a time.
Those are things that we can donow, we have those opportunities
we didn't have before,you know, with the grants. Awesome.
How have you connectedpeople in their communities?
I think one of the biggest things,and I think was a great thing
when I first started, is I got to takea class on person center planning.
(09:12):
So to me, I think it was really identifying,
you know, a person's,you know, their social support
and structure of what they already knew,what was already there.
And it's reaching out to people and it'stalking to people and seeing who they know,
what their experiences are, what worked,what didn't work, and building from there.
So I think if you go out to the community
and you have relationshipsthat are already built,
you know, I say to our houses,a lot of times, you know,
(09:35):
if we're not in a siloand we're not all on individual islands,
you could be a seven minute drivefrom another house or another program.
But maybe that program
has had an experience that the other househas never had or doesn't even know exist.
So if we start to build within our Fogartycommunity and we're communicating, connecting
and that we're building outto a larger community,
what I start to find is that, oh you know,so-and-so at MacColl YMCA, oh yeah.
(10:00):
for example,we're working with the Providence
organization in their community,a person that I'm speaking to
is also the sports director at MacColl YMCA.
So now you're like, I know this person hereand that person there.
So if I need somethingor if I'm trying to create something,
I can position myselfto ask people who have had the experience.
And I think for me,I've gotten a lot of amazing feedback
(10:23):
and resourceand support from the people at Fogarty,
you know, especially, you know,my boss, Heather and our associate directors
and all of our program managersand all the way up,
you know, Kiernan O’Donnellwho's been a huge support
for me from the day program and employment.
It's really learning from them
and taking what they were working on
and putting it on my timeplate and going out there and expanding,
(10:45):
you know,the avenues that they've already created.
It's sometimes you got to reinvent the wheel,sometimes you just have to expand
how many wheels are kind of choosing,you know what I mean?
So I think building out of those communities,going out face to face and meeting people
and not just sending an application throughemail scan, going out, handing it to them
and being shaking their hand and saying hiand show me around.
(11:06):
Old school way before technology. Yeah.
And I think there's a lot of peoplewho are excited to do a lot of things.
I think one, they don't
may not know where to go with it,how to build it out,
or it might seem largerthan what it really is.
And I think toyou start to get people excited
about what they do again and why they do it,
and it doesn't just become somethingthat's ones and zeros.
And I think when we do that, they realizethat their programs building with ours.
(11:30):
And I think ultimately for me,
I would love Fogarty
to set the example of best practices on howto build those relationships in the community
and how to be able to build off of each otherand have those those opportunities,
not just for Fogarty, which I think is great,
there's so many other organizationswho are supporting so many of the people.
And I think if we'recollectively going about it the right way,
(11:50):
then establishing those relationshipsthe right way, it's good for everybody.
And I think ultimatelythat should be really the goal Cool.
Have you experienced any challengesthrough this project, experience?
Every day, every single day.
There are challenges because I thinkwe're human beings and I think there's a
I think there's a very important wayof corresponding with people
(12:11):
and communicating with peoplewhere you have to respect their time.
You have to really respect the work
that they're doingand the opportunity that could be there.
And I think that understanding that goingin, what I try to do, and especially for us
when we're doing events on our end too,I try to make it be where the paperwork's
done, everything's taken care of peopleget to show up and do the fun thing.
(12:34):
People get the show up
and do the thing that's interesting to them,with all of the behind the scenes waiting.
So if you show up and you paperwork's rightor you got your waivers done and it's in a
you know, it's in a folder, like for example,we do Sail To Prevail
And they were kind of busting me up at Sail
To Prevail ship, becausewhen I showed up, I had Fogarty folders.
You know, all of the waivers are typed out.
And they were like,
(12:55):
usually we're waiting,
having the like, print up waivers, so people,when they get here and things like that.
And for us
when I did that, joking aside,
you know, when they had a cancellation,we were the first people they contacted
because we'd showed upand it was go do the thing.
So I think our staff, our program managersand our wonderful staff that that work with,
you know, the people that we support,
I think they're starting to seethat the stress that comes from all the back
(13:20):
end of things that need to happenfor these events to happen.
They're seeing thatwith what we've built out,
we've been able to they show upand do what they need to do and enjoy it.
And now you're building experiencesand you're building memories
and you're building a lot of those thingsbetween staff and participants.
And I think that only creates more cohesionin that relationship and within that house,
within that program.
(13:41):
But it's not always easybecause we realize we're working with people
who have businesses, who have needs,
we're working with participantswho now have needs, need support certain way.
So I think you have to take thatinto consideration.
You got toyou have to be understanding of what that is.
And, you know,
human nature can make things difficult,but you do the best you can
to maintain that relationship. Yeah.
(14:01):
And trying to get things in order,be prepared before you go somewhere,
it's always nice to have,
it makes things much easier for example,we did a big event with
Save the Bay, we had like 60 of us,that one between staff participants.
And I, you know, I took pictures.
I got aerial views of where parking was.I had it set up.
You know, we when we got there, everyone knewto get there at this time early.
(14:23):
So it wasn't justwe get there and do the program.
It's people could get there,get in, get settled.
Then they can start the program.
Because, you know, dependingon the need of the support that's there.
I think anybodywho would go into an experience
like that in your rushedyou're off a van, and then start
the thing, it takesyou time to get comfortable in that.
So we kind of preparedfor that in the back end.
(14:44):
And I literally walked inwith a folder of 60 waivers.
They had a whole list of all the attendeesand who they were on both boats,
and we handed it to them and it wasit was done.
So when you help helpprepare the participants
wherever you do, do you do like mock eventsor whatever, to help them?
For some individuals they tend to.
(15:06):
The unknown can be scary for them.
How do you help them with that?
So a couple of things that I'll try and dois, you know, when I go out,
like I went out to Save the Bay beforeeven did it, I met with their staff.
They showed me all around.
I went on the on the boats, saw the boat,what the boat looked like and everything.
I took pictures, I took videos.
And when I sent out the email, Say, Hey,who wants to go?
I attached all those things.
(15:27):
So you couldphysically look at a video of seeing,
this is what it looks liketo get on the boat on the ramp.
This is the program.
These are the classrooms that we're goingto, you know, have activity in.
And then half the groups herehave the group goes on the boat.
So I think that,
I would even
as go as far as if somebody really neededto feel more assured about something
to do a drive run. To say, hey,can we come down.
(15:49):
And you know, just to make sure that a personhas the experience that they need
if they need to go and put eyes on itspecifically and physically
without seeing a video or pictures,something like that.
And that goes for staff, too,because of this parking
considerations is a lot of different thingsto take into consideration.
So, you know, we're talking aboutdoing some volunteering with a place
called the Pawtucket Backpackers.
(16:10):
And we have
you know,they have videos of what they're doing,
but we do have some individualswho would probably benefit from going
and instead of just doing it,being able to go and see the process first.
So it's really just, I think, understandingand I think organizations,
I think they appreciate that because I thinkthey really want to show what they do
and they want to give some of the opportunityto do that
(16:30):
in the most comfort that we can provideso that it's enjoyable and it's
it is what it's supposed to be.
So I think asking those questions beforehandand doing your prep work for staff to
it makes it I think it makes it easierand more enjoyable.
Yeah.
it is.
Knowing what to expect is always easierto Yeah, absolutely.
And you probably get more people involved to,they know what to expect to.
(16:51):
There’s alot of people probably don't, say,Yes, I'm going to do this because they don't,
their unsure, the unknownand it might be scary.
I think the word I like to useis expectation.
Expectationthat’s the word I was looking for.
So for me with, you know, with thesethe wonderful organizations that we work with
when they're working with meor they're working with Fogarty
you know,
when I talk for what best practices,I always try to set that expectation
(17:14):
that they know what they're gettingwhen they're getting it.
And I think the same thing goesfor the people that we support.
And I think staff, too, as you know,
I built outand this is literally ground up from,
you know,I do so many different things to showcase
I do a monthly newsletterthat has all of our events in it
and picturesand all these wonderful things that we do.
I do a spotlight
on on a person that we support every monthfrom all the different programs to show, hey,
(17:37):
this person works.
They go out, you know, theythey love going shopping, they like dressing.
if they had all the money in the world,they would go to Hong Kong for vacation.
You know,all those different things to showcase.
But I think ultimately for me, it'syou need to set an expectation.
And I think there's a level of ease
with organizationsif they know what to expect from you,
they know that you're going to haveyour paperwork.
They knowthat you're going to show up on time.
(17:57):
They know that you're going to do the thing.
But on the opposite side of that, to staffand the people that we support know
that when they show up,they're going to be taken care of.
They're going to be put in the best handspossible.
It's going to be comfortable,it's going to be enjoyable,
and it's going to be somethingthat's an experience that they won't forget.
And hopefully will want to do more ofand do more of it together.
And I've really tried to set thatstandard for us.
(18:18):
And I think with this grantand what we're doing,
I would really like to setthat best practice of this is how you do it
to build that relationship innot just for now, but to build it out
with longevity. Awesome.
Is there any other commentsor anything you want to share with us
that we haven't covered?
I think just that I think it's importantthat we really continue to build off
(18:40):
of what this grant represents andwhen the opportunities that it's given us.
And I think it's very important thatwe continue to build out into our community
and establish those relationshipsand have that that two way street.
Because I think there's a lotof organizations down from libraries to,
you know, your Audubon’s,your Save the Bays, you know, your YMCA’s.
(19:02):
Your things like that.
Where I think that people have a thirst ofbuilding out their programs to be inclusive.
And that doesn't mean it's in a silowhere you have a
you know, a light over the top of it.
But I think it anybody could benefit frommaybe some of those things.
But I think having the ability for the peoplethat we support to educate and to show
(19:24):
what that means and what it looks likeand not just from a staff perspective
And with these experiences,I think having these opportunities
and having more time to build these outI think is going to be nothing but great.
And like I said to me,I think it's important to really show
a best practice of doing thingsbecause I think
if we're if Fogarty doing thingsthe right way
(19:47):
and we can showcase what other people can doin other organizations,
we can really build out
so many more opportunitiesif we're were working in a cohesive manner
with all these wonderful organizations.
Plus, we're a small stateso people know people.
And I think it's great that we can buildthat social capital with that
and we can really to expand on possibilitiesfor everybody so.
(20:07):
I'm very proud.
I know we're all very proud of whatwe've been able to do with this grant.
I hope that we can continue because it takestime.
We've opened these doorsand I think we opened some amazing doors.
But it takes timeto build out these relationships
and these experience thisand to really flourish them down to
to somethingthat's very individualized for everybody.
So I hope that we have the opportunityto continue to do this on a larger scale,
(20:31):
because we've already seen
just the difference I think from the feedbackI've gotten in the change
and what we've done as an organizationI think has been spectacular.
And there's so much morethat we can do to going forward.
You know, I looked at Audubons because
I think Audubon is a great opportunityto see what we what we do
and what's available in in our state.
(20:52):
their main
their business obviously in Smithfield, butthey have multiple areas where you can learn
and they have so many different experiences.
And I think meeting with the EducationDepartment and sitting down,
talking with them and having our pads outand really ballparking things,
you know, they're very open to building outevents and activities
and more than what they're their membershipsI think represent.
(21:13):
And I think that's another thingwith a lot of memberships
is that it's not just what's on paper.
it's what's possible I mean, Save the Bay,I think is a really shining example.
And I know that we when our CEO David,he was so floored with
what he learned that daythat I think a lot of people don't understand
the work that's being done around the statewith Save the Bay and Audubon.
(21:36):
You know, my relationship with the YMCA’sthey've been nothing but wonderful
to work withand want to build out those relationships.
One of the things we're building on rightnow, building out a music therapy class,
a gentleman who's been doing drum therapyfor over 30 years, I contacted him.
We started kind of gameplanning and ballparking with them
what that might look like.
And I'm like, hey,instead of just you come to our center
(21:56):
and we do the drum thing, it's like, Well,why don't we contact MacColl?
What, do you have classroom available?Yeah, sure. Okay.
What do you need it?
Two Thursday’s a month between this timeand this time.
Great,come on in. This is how we'll set it up.
So now we have three community connectionscoming together.
And I think for us, like quick stories,not obviously I won't give any names, but,
you know, we've had somea lot of new individuals come to Fogarty
(22:18):
that we really had to learn, you know,the ins and outs, the things they enjoyed,
their experiences as a person.
And we've been ableto utilize these memberships
where we, you know, an individualmight have not a wanted to go out first
or was having difficulty with transitionto a new house or something like that,
you know was able to use one ofthese memberships to go to like Capron park,
(22:41):
or Roger Williams park.
And go outand never knew that the person loved animals.
And all of a sudden it opened a doorway.
It opened an interest to nowthat focus expanded to
now I'm going out to eat with other housesor with my housemates or now
I can take my family and go do these thingsand expand on something that's now new
(23:04):
and you can let that blossom.
So I think the membershipshave really created that
and what I've been able to dois been able to go back
and get feedback about these experiences
and see the picturesand see all these different things.
We had an individual, we had at biomes,which is down in North Kingston.
Individual who went to one to the biomesand just
fell in love with the lights and the colorsand all the sea life and learning about them.
(23:26):
And it just expanded and opened upthat person's horizon to try other things.
And one of the thingsI try to stress to staff
and to our participants and you know whatI try to kind of pump up to these events is,
hey, if you're going to go outand do something,
you don't have to do the whole thing.
So if you can get 15 minutes out of it,maybe that 15 minutes becomes successful
and maybe then it becomes a half an hour.
(23:47):
Or maybe you go to the high schoolfootball game,
but you don't sit in the standsbecause maybe it's too much at first,
but maybe you bring some chairs
and then you get to go to the concessionstand
and then the next time you go, insteadof staying for half or a quarter,
maybe stay for the whole game,or maybe you go into the stands now
because now you're buildingfrom a level of success.
And I think what that does isand this is my point to to needing more time
(24:07):
to be able to utilize these membershipsin funding like this.
I think to me, it's importantwhen we get to that point.
What it doesis it allows that to be this success.
And now we put that in our belt, right?
But now that person is like, Well,that went really well.
Maybe I'll try thatand then maybe I'll try that.
And I think as we start to build outwhere it's not stressful and it's not
or we have tickets for the,you know, Thursday the third,
(24:30):
if someone's sick or somethinghappens, we're going to know.
We go, okay,Do we have staff on that day? Yes.
But is there a better daythat it might work for everybody?
Yeah ok, let's do it that day.
You know,so I think those experiences doesn't mean
you have to climb the whole mountain.
I think with everyone.
And we build up to the individualthought on things, right?
Yeah, we go.
All right,so maybe we try a half an hour today,
(24:52):
and maybe that person five years ago hada bad experience, but maybe it was a bad day.
Or maybe something happened two days agoand it wasn't about the event.
It was just the combination of that, right.
So we need to try.Maybe it's better during the day.
Maybe they feel more comfortable atnighttime, half an hour build up that time.
It doesn'thave to be the four hour excursion.
And I think the more that we do that,
(25:13):
we're building from a place of success,a place of comfort, like we talked about.
How do we how do we make a personfeel comfortable going to an event?
But now it's starting to open upthat catalog of possibility, right?
So the more opportunities
we have, the more we were able to drill downto that individual interest.
And maybe that inI don't to look at it from an ISP standpoint,
(25:34):
but maybe the words in the page
build out to maybe,maybe I want to volunteer,
maybe I want to start my own businessbased on this interest
or maybe I want to go work or,you know, do something else.
Or maybe I just want to I just feelcomfortable with the membership and going.
But if they don't know that they don't havethe opportunity to do it at their pace and
and what meets their expectation, I thinkwe were crossing things off too early.
(26:00):
And I think that's a to me,that's a good way of approaching it myself.
So. Yeah.I can relate to some of what you said.
When I was in collegeat Roger Williams University.
I joined the radio station there.
Now I had a podcast before just as interest,but after I joined the radio station, that's
when I really felt like I love audio, lovetalking and interviewing and doing the setup
(26:21):
and so that's why I decidedto start a business podcasting and do that.
But yeah making those connects,being out and going places, you find
things you like and thingsyou never thought you would be doing.
I'm amazed that every day I come in to workand I can truly say I love coming in every
single day. And it took me 25 yearsto be able to say that.
(26:43):
But I learned something newfrom a different person each day,
whether it's a staffor it's a person that we support.
And it's something that might be somethingthat I can't do.
Or maybe it's something that I
never understood that way, and maybe it'sbetter for me to know it in that in that way.
So I think as we havethese opportunities, we're able to
to really build out these experiences.
(27:05):
I think organizations will start to see thatas something it's a business, right?
But at the same time, if that businesscan be can serve in a different way
and they realize that it doesn'thave to be a building with massive ramps
or all the, and maybe it is that,
but maybe it's just it's lighting, maybe it'smusic, maybe it's, you know, just approach.
(27:25):
Maybe it's whatever it is, maybe it's comfortof being able to go early to see it.
You know, I think if businesses know
that and organizations knowthat they're getting something,
we're getting something and we're buildingwithin a larger community in the whole state.
And I think that's it's best servedif we do it that way.
And one of the things I like about,I just interview Best Life,
(27:46):
about this transformation projectwhere everyone,
agencies, getting people outside the house,instead of staying inside the house
and not be social.I mean yeah you can be social on technology.
Now I'm a big tech geek.
Me too.
But, I've realized that I spent in the pastI spent too much time on my phone
and it's not good for you.
It's not good for your mental health, it’sbad for your eyes and everything.
(28:08):
So being out outside. Go, get out.
Connect with people is better,going back before smartphone and before that.
Is always good.
And that's one thing I likeabout what you guys doing
when you get thisget them out in the community.
It's personal relationships,personal connections.
It's seeing someone's face and being excitedto see them or knowing what you're
what you're getting from them, you know?And I think that's that's so important.
(28:30):
And I think if you don't take the time to dothat,
you know, we getwe kind of get wrapped up in the rat
race of emails and text messagesand, you know, things like that or, you know,
God forbid, another another Zoom meetingif we don't have to, you know.
But I think all those things fall in linewith a good level of communication.
But I think you should always startface to face and having those conversations.
I think these grants also came inat a right time because after COVID too
(28:54):
we went fromeveryone was locked in their houses.
We were on our own islandsand very comfortable with that.
Bringing people back.
And that's another point to quick is that
I think COVID made us very comfortableon our own island because we felt safe.
We felt comfortable.
But I think it takes time for us to startfeeling comfortable to build out of that.
And I think we can't you can't speed that up,but you have to give opportunity
(29:16):
and it can’t,
And that was like,
I go back to stacking those membershipsand clubs and things like that.
If you just know the YMCA well,then you're just that's what we do.
But if you get to experiencefive or six different things
and then you get to go to clubsand you go to meetings and you meet people
and now you're developing relationshipsthat are outside
the realm of the people that are thereto support their natural relationships
(29:36):
the way the way it should be, right?
So if we have those opportunitiesand and it's six or seven different things,
you don'tyou don't know what's going to happen
when a person experiences thoseand it doesn't matter who it is.
So I think the grant has been greatat doing that.
And I think if we had the opportunityto do that on a larger scale with more time,
I think all it's going to do is blossomand we're going to be really be able to
(29:57):
to drill down to people's individual interestand go forward from there.
Yeah, using the technology and everythingwe have bring not
technology and technologytogether to help make it even better.
Yeah, no, I agree 100%.
Yeah.
So if someone wants to get contact with youand the work you do Fogarty Center,
how would they go about doing that?
(30:18):
So email would be good.
What’s your email? It's a SSalois,so it's SS.
AL OIS. at Fogarty Center dot org.
So people can reach me there.
We do have a portion.
If you go to the Fogarty Center's website
where that does it one of the dropdown’sso you can find me on there.
But basically if you need me
(30:40):
call up Fogarty, they'll find me,trust me and I'd be more than happy to,
to talk with anybodyand show them kind of what we're doing.
This is been great.
Thank you Seth for joining and I Thank you,wish you luck, so much for having me.
on your project.Thank you so much. And have fun.
Hello everyone, Welcome back to anotherepisode of The Nathan Markley Show.
(00:02):
I’m Nathan and I'm here with Seth Saloisfrom the Fogarty Center.
And now what you doSeth at the Fogarty Center?
So my jobtitle is called the Community Liaison.
So I work with developing
memberships, clubs, activities,you know, integration to the community
and in kind of building out our relationshipsfor the people that we support.
What is the Fogarty center?
So we support individualswith developmental disabilities,
(00:25):
but we're so much more than thatin terms of what we do.
We do have a residential program,so we have 17 group homes
that are kind of scattered across the state.
A lot of them are in the northern partof the state.
We have, I believe, three that are downin like the Barrington area, Warren area.
We have a a Day program, North Day programthat is based out of North Providence,
Woonasquatucket avenue.
(00:46):
We have a South County Day programthat's right off the URI
campus, which is in the same buildingas our children's portion of what we do.
There's a lot of other,you know, employment and direct service.
And there's a lot of there'sa lot of components that
I'm even just kind of learning about myself.
But to me, what I really wanted to do withthis position is have it not just be
(01:07):
I just help residential, I help this.
And I think with people's ability and staffand my supervisor Heather and David Reece,
who is just incredibleat bringing a community together.
I think if I'm helping residentialwith something will maybe day
program can be a part of that and we make itin the timeframe that fits for them
(01:27):
or with children.
So I think we try to give everyone, Hey, thisworked, how can we make this work for you?
It may not lookthe same could be the same program.
But how do we make it work for you?
And I think getting feedbackand asking questions and helping out
and learning about the programs.
I'm always learning every dayabout different things that we do and,
you know, and funding and opportunitiesand what we're trying to accomplish,
(01:50):
I think, as an organization is important.
But I thinkultimately when it comes down to it
and we've seen this when supports neededthose program walls aren't there.
And I think we come together as a community,as an organization, and we do what's best
for whoever needs that support.
And I think for me,
that's been a glowing aspectof being a part of Fogarty and what we do.
(02:10):
it's allowed me to be successfulin what I'm doing
because I know that I have the supportand if I need questions answered
or if I need something,
there's so many people I can go to and I canI can take from their knowledge
and learn from them too.
So you have a transformation projectat the Fogarty Center.
Can you tell us a little about that?
Sure.
when I came in, I startedand it was October of 2022.
(02:34):
And obviously part of my jobin general coming in through the grant
was to really kind of establishand with the position being very, very new,
you know, from kind of ground upwas really establishing relationships
in the community and being able to open upopportunities for the people that we support
in terms of, be able to go
in the community and develop relationshipsand having opportunities to experience
(02:56):
things that, you know, all of usshould have an opportunity to experience.
So it was really about,
you know, kind of starting therein building something from scratch.
I've worked in, in behavioral healthfor over 25 years,
but strangely enough,I had started at the Fogarty Center
as a direct support professionalwhen I was in college.
So all four years, anytime I was I was homeon break or summer breaks, things like that.
(03:20):
I always work 40 hours And, you know,I got to kind of learn about,
building relationshipsand those opportunities.
And that was early onand there was between 97 and 2001.
So I've kind of found my way back to Fogarty,which has been great,
hands down, the best experience that I had,you know, working in the field.
And it's something I feel like over 25 yearsI'll be able to to bring a lot of the,
(03:44):
you know, the skillsand the and the information in
and the building relationships over that timeperiod to kind of what this job is now.
So youhelp individual adults with disabilities.
Can you give us some examples of stuffthat you've done?
So my goal starting with the positionand it was funny
when I got hired, I before I even started,
I really kind of my brain went runningon what we could create and what it could be.
(04:08):
I think for me, what it really wasand I came recently,
I work for the Rhode Island ArmyNational Guard.
I worked in the substanceabuse and suicide prevention programs.
So one of the things we did
and we and I think was extremely effective iswe went out to our community providers.
We met them face to face.
You know, we talked with them We learnedabout their programs, how they work.
We met the front desk staff,the people who were there, who,
(04:30):
you know, the people that we were supporting.
We we're going to see firsthand and developthose relationships to a point where we're,
you know, first name basis.
When I called somebody up,we had already established a relationship.
So to me, it's it's never about justwriting the email or making the phone call.
It's about going to our community providers,about going to our organizations
and giving them the opportunityto kind of show off their shiny toy
(04:53):
a little bit and get excitedabout what they do
and then kind of ballparkon what opportunities
we could have as an organizationfor the people that we support.
And I always kind of use thiswhen I go and talk to people.
So I don't just want to bewe have a membership.
We go, we do the thing, and thenwe take our ball and we go home with it.
To me, especially in Rhode Island,
I think it's important to to really cultivateand build relationships
(05:16):
because we'reall kind of intertwined at points.
So if we have a membershipwith somebody, it's
not just we get to go to the zoo,we get to go to the park,
we get to go to the aquarium, or whateverit may be.
It's if we're doing this, how can we getinvolved to help you build out your programs,
like, for example, Save the Bay.We've have a great relationship with them.
They're going to be opening a new aquariumand a whole new kind of complex.
(05:36):
And we've had discussions with themabout being able to go in before
that opens up and having our participantsgo in and put eyes on and have conversations
with the peoplewho are opening up to make it inclusive
and to, you know, show the pathways of howit might not be building
an entire building to make it inclusive.
But maybe it's lighting,maybe it's sound, maybe it's just,
you know, understanding of of what people'sneeds are to make it truly inclusive,
(05:59):
but not with like a big spotlightover the top of it.
It should be for anybody.
And I think
building out those relationships,having those conversations
and knowing that there's a relationship
that goes both ways, I think for me, it'sbeen a really important thing in building
off of this grant and buildingrelationships and opportunities.
We built with Audubon; I sat down withtheir education department for like an hour.
(06:21):
We built up programing based upon,you know, our needs.
But things that they could implementinto their overall programs for anybody.
So it's something that they're lookingforward to being able to kind of utilize
in their membership packagethat wasn't necessarily there before.
We're using our our skills
and all the all the wonderful resources thatwe had from Fogarty and all the knowledge
and the wonderful individuals
(06:41):
that we support,they're able to give back to these programs
and build something biggerand better for everybody.
Yeah, that's great workbecause not a lot of places out
there are accessible and there's peoplethat can't get out who would love to go
to Save the Bay or Auduboncan't because they're not accessible.
And you come along, the Fogarty Center
(07:01):
come along to helping them, and say,this is what we can do,
this is what you can do to make accessibleso you can get more attraction
and more people.
To your point, I think accessibility isis different for everybody.
So it could be wheelchair based,it could be sound based,
it could be a lot of different things.
And I think if if we can educateand we can build that community,
that's a really important thing.
(07:22):
And I think off of,
you know,a lot of the memberships in the clubs
and the things that we've been ableto build with the grant,
the most important thing for me goingis that I didn't want the grant to be like,
okay, you know, we know how much we have.
We bought it down per person or we cankind of use we didn't just want to be like,
all right, well you get to just go to the Yor you just get to go to the zoo or you.
So we said, Alright,
let's take it and let's see what we can do
(07:44):
with these community providers sowe can stack these memberships or activities.
So people have four or five or six differentthings that they can go out and experience.
Because I think with this too,there's, there's a longevity to it also.
If you're looking at it from,you know, people will look at it
from like an IEP standpointor a paperwork standpoint.
And those are words on a page.
But I think if we give people opportunitieswith these activities,
(08:07):
we now start to understand and really funneldown to individual interests
rather than that being a large collective.
Now we're able to understandthat maybe this person
who's never had this opportunity to do thisnow loves animals or they like to do,
you know, we have a placecalled the Creative Reuse Center
where it's recycling in arts and craftsand things like that.
Maybe they their skill set is built for that,but they never had the opportunity.
(08:28):
So I think as we create these opportunities,what we're really doing is we're allowing
people opportunities of interest.
And then from there maybe it builds up tovolunteer, maybe it builds up to employment.
And now, now we're really funneling downfrom a larger collective
down to where I think everything should be is
everything should be individualizedbased on the person.
(08:49):
So what if they don't have those experiences?
We don't know if they like themor if they don't like them,
or maybe they might like itif it's a different scenario or a time.
Those are things that we can donow, we have those opportunities
we didn't have before,you know, with the grants. Awesome.
How have you connectedpeople in their communities?
I think one of the biggest things,and I think was a great thing
when I first started, is I got to takea class on person center planning.
(09:12):
So to me, I think it was really identifying,
you know, a person's,you know, their social support
and structure of what they already knew,what was already there.
And it's reaching out to people and it'stalking to people and seeing who they know,
what their experiences are, what worked,what didn't work, and building from there.
So I think if you go out to the community
and you have relationshipsthat are already built,
you know, I say to our houses,a lot of times, you know,
(09:35):
if we're not in a siloand we're not all on individual islands,
you could be a seven minute drivefrom another house or another program.
But maybe that program
has had an experience that the other househas never had or doesn't even know exist.
So if we start to build within our Fogartycommunity and we're communicating, connecting
and that we're building outto a larger community,
what I start to find is that, oh you know,so-and-so at MacColl YMCA, oh yeah.
(10:00):
for example,we're working with the Providence
organization in their community,a person that I'm speaking to
is also the sports director at MacColl YMCA.
So now you're like, I know this person hereand that person there.
So if I need somethingor if I'm trying to create something,
I can position myselfto ask people who have had the experience.
And I think for me,I've gotten a lot of amazing feedback
(10:23):
and resourceand support from the people at Fogarty,
you know, especially, you know,my boss, Heather and our associate directors
and all of our program managersand all the way up,
you know, Kiernan O’Donnellwho's been a huge support
for me from the day program and employment.
It's really learning from them
and taking what they were working on
and putting it on my timeplate and going out there and expanding,
(10:45):
you know,the avenues that they've already created.
It's sometimes you got to reinvent the wheel,sometimes you just have to expand
how many wheels are kind of choosing,you know what I mean?
So I think building out of those communities,going out face to face and meeting people
and not just sending an application throughemail scan, going out, handing it to them
and being shaking their hand and saying hiand show me around.
(11:06):
Old school way before technology. Yeah.
And I think there's a lot of peoplewho are excited to do a lot of things.
I think one, they don't
may not know where to go with it,how to build it out,
or it might seem largerthan what it really is.
And I think toyou start to get people excited
about what they do again and why they do it,
and it doesn't just become somethingthat's ones and zeros.
And I think when we do that, they realizethat their programs building with ours.
(11:30):
And I think ultimately for me,
I would love Fogarty
to set the example of best practices on howto build those relationships in the community
and how to be able to build off of each otherand have those those opportunities,
not just for Fogarty, which I think is great,
there's so many other organizationswho are supporting so many of the people.
And I think if we'recollectively going about it the right way,
(11:50):
then establishing those relationshipsthe right way, it's good for everybody.
And I think ultimatelythat should be really the goal Cool.
Have you experienced any challengesthrough this project, experience?
Every day, every single day.
There are challenges because I thinkwe're human beings and I think there's a
I think there's a very important wayof corresponding with people
(12:11):
and communicating with peoplewhere you have to respect their time.
You have to really respect the work
that they're doingand the opportunity that could be there.
And I think that understanding that goingin, what I try to do, and especially for us
when we're doing events on our end too,I try to make it be where the paperwork's
done, everything's taken care of peopleget to show up and do the fun thing.
(12:34):
People get the show up
and do the thing that's interesting to them,with all of the behind the scenes waiting.
So if you show up and you paperwork's rightor you got your waivers done and it's in a
you know, it's in a folder, like for example,we do Sail To Prevail
And they were kind of busting me up at Sail
To Prevail ship, becausewhen I showed up, I had Fogarty folders.
You know, all of the waivers are typed out.
And they were like,
(12:55):
usually we're waiting,
having the like, print up waivers, so people,when they get here and things like that.
And for us
when I did that, joking aside,
you know, when they had a cancellation,we were the first people they contacted
because we'd showed upand it was go do the thing.
So I think our staff, our program managersand our wonderful staff that that work with,
you know, the people that we support,
I think they're starting to seethat the stress that comes from all the back
(13:20):
end of things that need to happenfor these events to happen.
They're seeing thatwith what we've built out,
we've been able to they show upand do what they need to do and enjoy it.
And now you're building experiencesand you're building memories
and you're building a lot of those thingsbetween staff and participants.
And I think that only creates more cohesionin that relationship and within that house,
within that program.
(13:41):
But it's not always easybecause we realize we're working with people
who have businesses, who have needs,
we're working with participantswho now have needs, need support certain way.
So I think you have to take thatinto consideration.
You got toyou have to be understanding of what that is.
And, you know,
human nature can make things difficult,but you do the best you can
to maintain that relationship. Yeah.
(14:01):
And trying to get things in order,be prepared before you go somewhere,
it's always nice to have,
it makes things much easier for example,we did a big event with
Save the Bay, we had like 60 of us,that one between staff participants.
And I, you know, I took pictures.
I got aerial views of where parking was.I had it set up.
You know, we when we got there, everyone knewto get there at this time early.
(14:23):
So it wasn't justwe get there and do the program.
It's people could get there,get in, get settled.
Then they can start the program.
Because, you know, dependingon the need of the support that's there.
I think anybodywho would go into an experience
like that in your rushedyou're off a van, and then start
the thing, it takesyou time to get comfortable in that.
So we kind of preparedfor that in the back end.
(14:44):
And I literally walked inwith a folder of 60 waivers.
They had a whole list of all the attendeesand who they were on both boats,
and we handed it to them and it wasit was done.
So when you help helpprepare the participants
wherever you do, do you do like mock eventsor whatever, to help them?
For some individuals they tend to.
(15:06):
The unknown can be scary for them.
How do you help them with that?
So a couple of things that I'll try and dois, you know, when I go out,
like I went out to Save the Bay beforeeven did it, I met with their staff.
They showed me all around.
I went on the on the boats, saw the boat,what the boat looked like and everything.
I took pictures, I took videos.
And when I sent out the email, Say, Hey,who wants to go?
I attached all those things.
(15:27):
So you couldphysically look at a video of seeing,
this is what it looks liketo get on the boat on the ramp.
This is the program.
These are the classrooms that we're goingto, you know, have activity in.
And then half the groups herehave the group goes on the boat.
So I think that,
I would even
as go as far as if somebody really neededto feel more assured about something
to do a drive run. To say, hey,can we come down.
(15:49):
And you know, just to make sure that a personhas the experience that they need
if they need to go and put eyes on itspecifically and physically
without seeing a video or pictures,something like that.
And that goes for staff, too,because of this parking
considerations is a lot of different thingsto take into consideration.
So, you know, we're talking aboutdoing some volunteering with a place
called the Pawtucket Backpackers.
(16:10):
And we have
you know,they have videos of what they're doing,
but we do have some individualswho would probably benefit from going
and instead of just doing it,being able to go and see the process first.
So it's really just, I think, understandingand I think organizations,
I think they appreciate that because I thinkthey really want to show what they do
and they want to give some of the opportunityto do that
(16:30):
in the most comfort that we can provideso that it's enjoyable and it's
it is what it's supposed to be.
So I think asking those questions beforehandand doing your prep work for staff to
it makes it I think it makes it easierand more enjoyable.
Yeah.
it is.
Knowing what to expect is always easierto Yeah, absolutely.
And you probably get more people involved to,they know what to expect to.
(16:51):
There’s alot of people probably don't, say,Yes, I'm going to do this because they don't,
their unsure, the unknownand it might be scary.
I think the word I like to useis expectation.
Expectationthat’s the word I was looking for.
So for me with, you know, with thesethe wonderful organizations that we work with
when they're working with meor they're working with Fogarty
you know,
when I talk for what best practices,I always try to set that expectation
(17:14):
that they know what they're gettingwhen they're getting it.
And I think the same thing goesfor the people that we support.
And I think staff, too, as you know,
I built outand this is literally ground up from,
you know,I do so many different things to showcase
I do a monthly newsletterthat has all of our events in it
and picturesand all these wonderful things that we do.
I do a spotlight
on on a person that we support every monthfrom all the different programs to show, hey,
(17:37):
this person works.
They go out, you know, theythey love going shopping, they like dressing.
if they had all the money in the world,they would go to Hong Kong for vacation.
You know,all those different things to showcase.
But I think ultimately for me, it'syou need to set an expectation.
And I think there's a level of ease
with organizationsif they know what to expect from you,
they know that you're going to haveyour paperwork.
They knowthat you're going to show up on time.
(17:57):
They know that you're going to do the thing.
But on the opposite side of that, to staffand the people that we support know
that when they show up,they're going to be taken care of.
They're going to be put in the best handspossible.
It's going to be comfortable,it's going to be enjoyable,
and it's going to be somethingthat's an experience that they won't forget.
And hopefully will want to do more ofand do more of it together.
And I've really tried to set thatstandard for us.
(18:18):
And I think with this grantand what we're doing,
I would really like to setthat best practice of this is how you do it
to build that relationship innot just for now, but to build it out
with longevity. Awesome.
Is there any other commentsor anything you want to share with us
that we haven't covered?
I think just that I think it's importantthat we really continue to build off
(18:40):
of what this grant represents andwhen the opportunities that it's given us.
And I think it's very important thatwe continue to build out into our community
and establish those relationshipsand have that that two way street.
Because I think there's a lotof organizations down from libraries to,
you know, your Audubon’s,your Save the Bays, you know, your YMCA’s.
(19:02):
Your things like that.
Where I think that people have a thirst ofbuilding out their programs to be inclusive.
And that doesn't mean it's in a silowhere you have a
you know, a light over the top of it.
But I think it anybody could benefit frommaybe some of those things.
But I think having the ability for the peoplethat we support to educate and to show
(19:24):
what that means and what it looks likeand not just from a staff perspective
And with these experiences,I think having these opportunities
and having more time to build these outI think is going to be nothing but great.
And like I said to me,I think it's important to really show
a best practice of doing thingsbecause I think
if we're if Fogarty doing thingsthe right way
(19:47):
and we can showcase what other people can doin other organizations,
we can really build out
so many more opportunitiesif we're were working in a cohesive manner
with all these wonderful organizations.
Plus, we're a small stateso people know people.
And I think it's great that we can buildthat social capital with that
and we can really to expand on possibilitiesfor everybody so.
(20:07):
I'm very proud.
I know we're all very proud of whatwe've been able to do with this grant.
I hope that we can continue because it takestime.
We've opened these doorsand I think we opened some amazing doors.
But it takes timeto build out these relationships
and these experience thisand to really flourish them down to
to somethingthat's very individualized for everybody.
So I hope that we have the opportunityto continue to do this on a larger scale,
(20:31):
because we've already seen
just the difference I think from the feedbackI've gotten in the change
and what we've done as an organizationI think has been spectacular.
And there's so much morethat we can do to going forward.
You know, I looked at Audubons because
I think Audubon is a great opportunityto see what we what we do
and what's available in in our state.
(20:52):
their main
their business obviously in Smithfield, butthey have multiple areas where you can learn
and they have so many different experiences.
And I think meeting with the EducationDepartment and sitting down,
talking with them and having our pads outand really ballparking things,
you know, they're very open to building outevents and activities
and more than what they're their membershipsI think represent.
(21:13):
And I think that's another thingwith a lot of memberships
is that it's not just what's on paper.
it's what's possible I mean, Save the Bay,I think is a really shining example.
And I know that we when our CEO David,he was so floored with
what he learned that daythat I think a lot of people don't understand
the work that's being done around the statewith Save the Bay and Audubon.
(21:36):
You know, my relationship with the YMCA’sthey've been nothing but wonderful
to work withand want to build out those relationships.
One of the things we're building on rightnow, building out a music therapy class,
a gentleman who's been doing drum therapyfor over 30 years, I contacted him.
We started kind of gameplanning and ballparking with them
what that might look like.
And I'm like, hey,instead of just you come to our center
(21:56):
and we do the drum thing, it's like, Well,why don't we contact MacColl?
What, do you have classroom available?Yeah, sure. Okay.
What do you need it?
Two Thursday’s a month between this timeand this time.
Great,come on in. This is how we'll set it up.
So now we have three community connectionscoming together.
And I think for us, like quick stories,not obviously I won't give any names, but,
you know, we've had somea lot of new individuals come to Fogarty
(22:18):
that we really had to learn, you know,the ins and outs, the things they enjoyed,
their experiences as a person.
And we've been ableto utilize these memberships
where we, you know, an individualmight have not a wanted to go out first
or was having difficulty with transitionto a new house or something like that,
you know was able to use one ofthese memberships to go to like Capron park,
(22:41):
or Roger Williams park.
And go outand never knew that the person loved animals.
And all of a sudden it opened a doorway.
It opened an interest to nowthat focus expanded to
now I'm going out to eat with other housesor with my housemates or now
I can take my family and go do these thingsand expand on something that's now new
(23:04):
and you can let that blossom.
So I think the membershipshave really created that
and what I've been able to dois been able to go back
and get feedback about these experiences
and see the picturesand see all these different things.
We had an individual, we had at biomes,which is down in North Kingston.
Individual who went to one to the biomesand just
fell in love with the lights and the colorsand all the sea life and learning about them.
(23:26):
And it just expanded and opened upthat person's horizon to try other things.
And one of the thingsI try to stress to staff
and to our participants and you know whatI try to kind of pump up to these events is,
hey, if you're going to go outand do something,
you don't have to do the whole thing.
So if you can get 15 minutes out of it,maybe that 15 minutes becomes successful
and maybe then it becomes a half an hour.
(23:47):
Or maybe you go to the high schoolfootball game,
but you don't sit in the standsbecause maybe it's too much at first,
but maybe you bring some chairs
and then you get to go to the concessionstand
and then the next time you go, insteadof staying for half or a quarter,
maybe stay for the whole game,or maybe you go into the stands now
because now you're buildingfrom a level of success.
And I think what that does isand this is my point to to needing more time
(24:07):
to be able to utilize these membershipsin funding like this.
I think to me, it's importantwhen we get to that point.
What it doesis it allows that to be this success.
And now we put that in our belt, right?
But now that person is like, Well,that went really well.
Maybe I'll try thatand then maybe I'll try that.
And I think as we start to build outwhere it's not stressful and it's not
or we have tickets for the,you know, Thursday the third,
(24:30):
if someone's sick or somethinghappens, we're going to know.
We go, okay,Do we have staff on that day? Yes.
But is there a better daythat it might work for everybody?
Yeah ok, let's do it that day.
You know,so I think those experiences doesn't mean
you have to climb the whole mountain.
I think with everyone.
And we build up to the individualthought on things, right?
Yeah, we go.
All right,so maybe we try a half an hour today,
(24:52):
and maybe that person five years ago hada bad experience, but maybe it was a bad day.
Or maybe something happened two days agoand it wasn't about the event.
It was just the combination of that, right.
So we need to try.Maybe it's better during the day.
Maybe they feel more comfortable atnighttime, half an hour build up that time.
It doesn'thave to be the four hour excursion.
And I think the more that we do that,
(25:13):
we're building from a place of success,a place of comfort, like we talked about.
How do we how do we make a personfeel comfortable going to an event?
But now it's starting to open upthat catalog of possibility, right?
So the more opportunities
we have, the more we were able to drill downto that individual interest.
And maybe that inI don't to look at it from an ISP standpoint,
(25:34):
but maybe the words in the page
build out to maybe,maybe I want to volunteer,
maybe I want to start my own businessbased on this interest
or maybe I want to go work or,you know, do something else.
Or maybe I just want to I just feelcomfortable with the membership and going.
But if they don't know that they don't havethe opportunity to do it at their pace and
and what meets their expectation, I thinkwe were crossing things off too early.
(26:00):
And I think that's a to me,that's a good way of approaching it myself.
So. Yeah.I can relate to some of what you said.
When I was in collegeat Roger Williams University.
I joined the radio station there.
Now I had a podcast before just as interest,but after I joined the radio station, that's
when I really felt like I love audio, lovetalking and interviewing and doing the setup
(26:21):
and so that's why I decidedto start a business podcasting and do that.
But yeah making those connects,being out and going places, you find
things you like and thingsyou never thought you would be doing.
I'm amazed that every day I come in to workand I can truly say I love coming in every
single day. And it took me 25 yearsto be able to say that.
(26:43):
But I learned something newfrom a different person each day,
whether it's a staffor it's a person that we support.
And it's something that might be somethingthat I can't do.
Or maybe it's something that I
never understood that way, and maybe it'sbetter for me to know it in that in that way.
So I think as we havethese opportunities, we're able to
to really build out these experiences.
(27:05):
I think organizations will start to see thatas something it's a business, right?
But at the same time, if that businesscan be can serve in a different way
and they realize that it doesn'thave to be a building with massive ramps
or all the, and maybe it is that,
but maybe it's just it's lighting, maybe it'smusic, maybe it's, you know, just approach.
(27:25):
Maybe it's whatever it is, maybe it's comfortof being able to go early to see it.
You know, I think if businesses know
that and organizations knowthat they're getting something,
we're getting something and we're buildingwithin a larger community in the whole state.
And I think that's it's best servedif we do it that way.
And one of the things I like about,I just interview Best Life,
(27:46):
about this transformation projectwhere everyone,
agencies, getting people outside the house,instead of staying inside the house
and not be social.I mean yeah you can be social on technology.
Now I'm a big tech geek.
Me too.
But, I've realized that I spent in the pastI spent too much time on my phone
and it's not good for you.
It's not good for your mental health, it’sbad for your eyes and everything.
(28:08):
So being out outside. Go, get out.
Connect with people is better,going back before smartphone and before that.
Is always good.
And that's one thing I likeabout what you guys doing
when you get thisget them out in the community.
It's personal relationships,personal connections.
It's seeing someone's face and being excitedto see them or knowing what you're
what you're getting from them, you know?And I think that's that's so important.
(28:30):
And I think if you don't take the time to dothat,
you know, we getwe kind of get wrapped up in the rat
race of emails and text messagesand, you know, things like that or, you know,
God forbid, another another Zoom meetingif we don't have to, you know.
But I think all those things fall in linewith a good level of communication.
But I think you should always startface to face and having those conversations.
I think these grants also came inat a right time because after COVID too
(28:54):
we went fromeveryone was locked in their houses.
We were on our own islandsand very comfortable with that.
Bringing people back.
And that's another point to quick is that
I think COVID made us very comfortableon our own island because we felt safe.
We felt comfortable.
But I think it takes time for us to startfeeling comfortable to build out of that.
And I think we can't you can't speed that up,but you have to give opportunity
(29:16):
and it can’t,
And that was like,
I go back to stacking those membershipsand clubs and things like that.
If you just know the YMCA well,then you're just that's what we do.
But if you get to experiencefive or six different things
and then you get to go to clubsand you go to meetings and you meet people
and now you're developing relationshipsthat are outside
the realm of the people that are thereto support their natural relationships
(29:36):
the way the way it should be, right?
So if we have those opportunitiesand and it's six or seven different things,
you don'tyou don't know what's going to happen
when a person experiences thoseand it doesn't matter who it is.
So I think the grant has been greatat doing that.
And I think if we had the opportunityto do that on a larger scale with more time,
I think all it's going to do is blossomand we're going to be really be able to
(29:57):
to drill down to people's individual interestand go forward from there.
Yeah, using the technology and everythingwe have bring not
technology and technologytogether to help make it even better.
Yeah, no, I agree 100%.
Yeah.
So if someone wants to get contact with youand the work you do Fogarty Center,
how would they go about doing that?
(30:18):
So email would be good.
What’s your email? It's a SSalois,so it's SS.
AL OIS. at Fogarty Center dot org.
So people can reach me there.
We do have a portion.
If you go to the Fogarty Center's website
where that does it one of the dropdown’sso you can find me on there.
But basically if you need me
(30:40):
call up Fogarty, they'll find me,trust me and I'd be more than happy to,
to talk with anybodyand show them kind of what we're doing.
This is been great.
Thank you Seth for joining and I Thank you,wish you luck, so much for having me.
on your project.Thank you so much. And have fun.
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