THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609270249
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 154 lines
ONE MORNING Frances Edwards decided it was time to step out of her Suffolk home and into the world. It was time to get a job.
Edwards was 54, a homemaker with no work experience, and she had a ninth grade education. She had a history of serious physical problems and a speech impediment that intensified when she was nervous. All in all, she was not a top job candidate.
``And that was not good for the self-esteem,'' she recalled.
Then Edwards was introduced to Hired Hands & Associates, specialists in supported employment rehabilitation, based in Carrollton in Isle of Wight County.
Tim and Anna Burns founded Hired Hands & Associates seven years ago with the goal of helping people like Edwards and others - with a wide range of physical and/or mental disabilities - compete successfully in the work world.
Edwards, referred to the Burnses by the state Department of Rehabilitative Services, had never heard of Hired Hands, ``but I figured, why not give it a try?'' she said.
Hired Hands claims a 70 percent success rate of clients retaining jobs once they have been placed, an indicator of the care with which HHA employment specialists match clients and jobs.
Tim Burns talked with Edwards, exploring her abilities and interests. ``In our intake interview, we develop a client-centered plan,'' Anna Burns said. ``Our goal is to have the client independently employed and, hopefully, happy on the job.''
Then Burns arranged for a meeting of Edwards and Mark Pratt, manager of Ryan's Family Steak House on Main Street in Suffolk. After discussing what to expect on the interview, Burns accompanied her to meet Pratt.
``I was fearful, excited and extremely uncertain,'' Edwards said, smiling with relief when the interview was over. ``I feel a whole lot better now.''
Although Pratt had no immediate employment offer for Edwards, he was optimistic. ``Disabilities should not interfere with hiring practices,'' he said.
Pratt previouly has hired other workers through supported employment programs and has been pleased with their performance. Nancy Tolliver, a supervisor with Aramark Inc.'s concession operation at Old Dominion University, also has hired several HHA clients on supported employment.
``I have been given many chances in my life, and I would like to continue the chain of chances,'' she said.
For Tolliver, supported employment also makes good business sense. ``This program relieves us of training responsiblities and saves us money on that training,'' she said.
Donna Bowden, coordinator for supported employment with the state Departemnt of Rehabilitative Services, defines supported employment as intensive assistance to integrate a disabled person into a regular, competitive work environment. HHA, like other supported employment organizations, offers clients guidance in seeking and landing a job, as well as on-the-job coaching until the clients are able to perform the job satisfactorily.
Since the mid-1980s the supported employment concept has grown into a valuable part of the state's overall vocational rehabilitation program, Bowden said.
In Virginia, 87 vendors provide supported employment services. In Hampton Roads, Hired Hands & Associates is one of 17 agencies offering similar programs.
Marvelyn Stallins, 42, has missed only one day at Fazoli's, a restaurant at Chesapeake Square, since she began working there as an HHA client last spring.
A Portsmouth resident, she has four grown children and a varied work resume, including jobs as a seamtress, assembler and chambermaid. Recently, numerous physical problems, including asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure, sidelined her until HHA coached her back into the workplace.
``They were with me every step of the way, finding a job and going on the interview and then coaching on the job,'' Stallins said, adding that she caught on to her food-preparation job so quickly that her coach stayed for only one day.
Now Stallins circulates through the dining area, greeting guests while she serves breadsticks and refills the drinks and condiments.
She remembers looking for a job on her own. ``I was a little leery and nervous,'' she said. ``HHA gave me a little boost with the initiative and confidence I needed.''
Another Portsmouth resident, Robert Turner, 35, suffered a stroke three years ago that left him partially paralized on his left side and with no use of his left arm.
After years as a custodian with the city of Norfolk, Turner needed a job. ``I knew there was something I could do, but I just had to find it,'' he said. ``HHA helped me into the swing of things.''
Last March, HHA helped him into a dishwashing job with Fuddruckers at Chesapeake Square, with a job coach at his side for the first several weeks. When the chain was shorthanded in Richmond last week, Roberts volunteered to work there also as needed.
``I am a very determined person with no such thing as `can't' in my vocabulary,'' he said. ``I love a good challenge.''
Tom Stone, a 50-year-old Norfolk native, is an HHA job coach with a lot of empathy for the young man he coached on a job in a Portsmouth pet shop. Stone, an ex-convict who overcame his drug addiction, was an HHA client.
Last winter, Stone was hired, through HHA, as a dishwasher at Old Dominion University with Aramark Inc. Since then, he has earned the respect of his supervisors and co-workers and moved up to a manager's position. He also signed on as an HHA coach.
``We talked and we shared guy stories,'' Stone said. ``It helps raise your level of self-esteem to have someone there telling you you are doing well, that you can do it.''
Now Stone is coaching a hearing-impaired woman who was hired as a food prep worker at ODU through HHA.
HHA began in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1989, when Anna and Tim Burns married. Tim Burns had been a human resources manager for the Marriott Hotel in Times Square. Anna Burns had worked there as a sign language interpreter and had helped develop programs for hiring the hearing-impaired at the hotel.
After their marriage, the Burnses resigned their jobs and lived off their wedding gifts until they found funding for their own business, a job training and placement service originally designed to serve the hearing-impaired.
After three years, the program was prospering, but the Burnses were ready to relocate. Two murders outside of their Brooklyn apartment convinced the couple it was time to leave that city.
Hampton Roads was their first choice for a new home. ``It was not far from the Northeast, but in many ways it is a much more civil area, more affordable, and we liked it,'' Anna Burns said.
After months of commuting to arrange for funding and approval as a provider to the state, the Burnses set up HHA at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Hampton.
After deciding to expand into the area of supported employment, the couple relocated again to Carrollton in 1993. From there, four HHA staffers and 10 coaches serve clients all over Hampton Roads. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos including color cover by MARK MITCHELL
Marvelyn Stallings, 42, has not missed a day of work at Fazoli's
restaurant in Chesapeake.
Marvelyn Stallins, 42, a Portsmouth resident, has missed only one
day at Fazoli's, a restaurant at Chesapeake Square, since she began
working there as an HHA client last spring.
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Tim Burns, right, co-founder of Hired Hands, negotiates with Mark
Pratt, manager of Ryan's Family Steak House in Suffolk, about a job
for Francis Edwards. Hired Hands claims a 70 percent success rate of
clients retaining jobs once they have been placed.\
Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Tom Stone, a former Hired Hands client, has worked his way up to
assistant concessions manager with Aarmark at ODU. The former
convict now coaches other HHA clients.
Graphic
FIND OUT MORE
For more information on supported employment programs, call the
closest office of the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative
Services:
Portsmouth, 396-6875
Norfolk, 858-6710
(Both include TDD.)
Virginia Beach, 552-1860
Regional office, 858-6750
For more information on Hired Hands & Associates, call 238-9400. by CNB