Author: Joel Feick

Harry Russell has been working his entire adult life. Then at 60, he had a stroke.

Harry says, “My left hand went numb; I felt off.”

He’d been working as a cook at Jack’s Place in Flushing when the owner noticed Harry looked slightly different.

Harry says, “He said nothing is good about it; you need to go to the hospital.”

After an emergency stay at Hurley Medical Center, Harry was eventually released to a Montrose nursing care facility, Medi-lodge.

According to Harry, “It was scary facing a lot of strangers, but they cared for me and didn’t judge me. I just went through a catastrophe, and now I’m trying to piece everything together”.

After 15 months at Medi-Lodge, Harry wanted to move on with his life.

Harry says, “I want out; Medicaid would help if I’m out.”

His social worker contacted Caley Iverson at the Disability Network to help.

He was also assisted by Sarah Cheek, NFT Lead, from TDN.

Caley says,” Our NFT department is a Medicaid-based program where people come from a nursing home or hospital; we get them housing and ramps.”

Harry needed just about everything.

Caley said,” He needed accessible housing, a ramp, household items, groceries, furniture, pretty much everything. He was starting over”.

Harry is settled into a Flint apartment and now faces a lot of physical therapy. He hopes to walk again soon and get his old job back at Jack’s Place.

Caley adds, “He’s so excited to return to the community.”

Harry says, “If it wasn’t for the Disability Network, I don’t know where I’d be.” 

If you know someone in a nursing care facility who wants to move on to a more independent life, please get in touch with The Disability Network at 810-742-1800.

Inside Flint’s Longway Planetarium.

It’s thrilling, it’s dramatic…

   But it might be too loud or hard to watch for some groups of people. So the good people of Longway have special events every month that are “sensory friendly”.

  Longway Planetarium’s Market Manager Anne Mancour says  “We turn the lights up a little bit and the sound down a little bit. Guests who aren’t used to sitting down for 45 minutes are able to get up and walk around”.

      The shows are for anyone who wants a more “chill” planetarium experience. It’s also designed for specific groups.

   According to Mancour,  “It’s typically for someone with sensory issues like a child with autism or someone on the autistic spectrum or have sensitivity to loud noises or flashing lights”.

     Why does Longway do this?

     “Our mission is to be accessible and inclusive to the community, so we want to make it something everybody can do” says Mancour.

     The next Sensory show is on Saturday, March 11, from 11 – 11:45am.

It’s called Secrets of the Universe. 

      With Genesee County residents getting 50% off, and military and teachers getting in free, it may be one of the best bargains in town.

       In Secrets of the Universe, show-goers are taken back to within a millionth of a second after the Big Bang. Award-winning IMAX documentary filmmaker Stephen Low takes audiences on an exciting science journey to Geneva, Switzerland, home to the massive Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the largest and most complex scientific instrument humans have ever built at nearly 17 miles around and buried 500 feet underground.

   All Longway Planetarium shows are 50% off for Genesee County residents: $4 adults, $3 seniors 60+, and $3 youth ages 2-11.
      
Sensory-Friendly Planetarium Shows at Longway Planetarium are funded in part by the Genesee County Arts Education and Cultural Enrichment Millage.

If you’ve ever strolled through the Flint Institute of Arts, you may have wondered what’s the story behind all those cool, incredible works of art. To explain specific pieces, the FIA has started Coffee with a Curator. It’s free to Genesee County residents, along with free coffee.

This month, the lectures will now include an ASL interpreter. Marissa Pierce, FIA Director of Development, says, “We wanted to reach out to the deaf and hard of hearing community because we feel it’s important here at the FIA to reach out to ALL members of the Genesee County Community.”

It’s all part of making the FIA more inclusive. According to Pierce, “We want them to come and have an amazing experience without any barriers.”

The first lecture comes from a part of their collection that’s really old, from the 1600s.
The first lecture is on March 14 from 10:30 to 11:30 in Isabell Hall at the FIA. It features Imperial Robes from the Qing Dynasty.

The robes are heavy and quite ornate. The story behind them, featuring the emperor that demanded they be worn, is all part of the lecture by Associate Curator Rachael Holstege.
“It’s a great opportunity to learn more about our permanent collection and pieces that have been with us a very long time,” says Pierce.

According to the FIA website, during the Qing Dynasty, all aspects of court attire followed strict guidelines laid out by the emperor. There were clear rules on what to wear on different occasions, what color you wore, and what designs could be worn. This talk will look at several imperial robes in the FIA’s collection, including two that are currently on view in the Arts of Asia gallery.

ASL Interpretation is made possible by the Ford Foundation Equity Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

Looking to have an ASL interpreter at your upcoming events, conferences, concerts, or performances? Reach out to Communication Access Center to schedule interpreting services by calling 810.239.3112.

Inside a garage, sparks are flying while Flint-area students are transforming a rusted-out shell of a 1934 Nash into a thing of beauty.

   Beauty is a relative term.

   The students with disabilities are part of a summer-camp called Detroit Muscle Driven, sponsored by the Disability Network and Detroit Muscle.

 It’s a follow-up to the successful Wrenching for the Future program where students create a “rat rod”, a drivable, garage sale on wheels. It’s one part welding lesson, one part camaraderie and 2 parts creativity.

   42 year old Mike Chamber of Corunna says he’s participating to learn how to be a welder and that he ‘likes to grind”.

   The leader of the program is Richard Fruin, who’s become sort of a godfather of rat rods. Fruin has a national following, especially in Midwest states including Nebraska. He says he’s being inducted into the Rat Rod Hall of Fame. (yes there is one)

   He’s shepherding the work by the students on what will be called The Nasty Ash Rat, a Nash convertible. He expects to display the vehicle at this year’s Back to the Bricks in August.

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Sixteen-year-old Mimi Lucio, a junior at a local high school, says she just learned not to share personal information on Instagram. Lucio is one of about a dozen Genesee County youth who learned about digital citizenship during a special presentation during “Camp of Life”. It’s a two-week summer camp for students with disabilities hosted by The Disability Network. 

These teens from across the county are building friendships, learning new skills, and having fun in an inclusive environment. They are learning independent living skills and recreation activities that will follow them into adulthood.

Camp leader, Meghan Slaght,  says they’re also learning about gardening, how to shop for groceries, and cooking. They’ll also learn emergency care from a nurse. Later, they’ll operate a kayak on a Clio-area lake. 

Lucio, who wants to get into cosmetology, says the camp is a cool way to relax, make friends and meet new people.

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