At ten o’clock on a weekday morning Southland Lanes in Lexington is buzzing with excited bowlers up and down the lanes. At one end a group of people all dressed in the same black shirt prepare for a competitive morning of bowling.
The shirts have white letters that say “Joseph Allen ADHC Bowling Team.”
ADHC stands for Adult Day Health Center which is one of the programs run from a non-profit called Bourbon Heights. The center in Paris offers support for adults with special needs.
59-year-old Sandy Hedges-Livingood, director of ADHC, described the challenges her clients are dealing with.
“It's age 21 and older, it's those with any physical and cognitive issues. Down syndrome, most of the guys in our group have cerebral palsy. Some are more extremes. Probably 80% of mine are not verbal. They may know a couple words. We teach some sign language.”
One of the bowlers is 29-year-old Katrina Miller. She’s endured sixty surgeries and is deaf. Katrina is smiling and can’t wait to start bowling.
Her goal is bowling three strikes which she calls getting a turkey.
“I love it. It's one of my favorite sports. I like trying to get turkeys and trying to beat my friend Jason.”
Her friend Jason Pollitt is nearby and ready for the competition.
“I have cerebral palsy. So, I have muscle issues in my legs, which is why I use a walker so I get around as much as I can, so I do pretty well. Considering where I started from, I do pretty well.”
Jason and Katrina are two of the 27 clients at ADHC. Sandy says she has to turn away people for the program.
“I'm blessed that we're full. I don't have to advertise; I don't have to put a thing out there. I turn at least one or two a week because I don't have the room. I've spoken to our leadership, and hopefully that will, you know, it's a prayer. I've got everybody praying that we get a new building. I don't want anything fancy. I just want to fill the ark like Noah.”
She says adults with special needs are often forgotten or dismissed by many people.
“We don't focus on their disabilities. We focus on their abilities. I want to be an advocate for them, because there are people that don't fight for them, even some of their families don't fight for them. They're not as fortunate as others, and they deserve more than we can give them. So, it's a God thing. He placed me here. I didn't ask for it.”
You can feel the passion Sandy has for her clients, or her “kids” as she lovingly calls them. For 20-years Sandy worked for IBM. It was her dream job, but then she was laid off.
“I needed a plan B quickly. So, I thought, I'll be an ombudsman. Because since I was a child, and I didn't notice it till I got a little older, I am an advocate for people. God gave me that heart to be an advocate for someone.”
That led to becoming a nurse, and then nine-years ago she got a phone call about working at Bourbon Heights with challenged adults. Sandy says it’s turned into much more than a job.
“It's hard to give God control on things, most things. But I laugh every day to him, because when you know you're having a bad day, and they'll go, hey, I love you, or they'll color me a paper, or, you know, right now, I'm injured, and they are all like my nurses. They follow me to the restroom, and they knock and are you okay? And every time I sneeze, are you okay? So, you know this works both ways. They're a blessing to me, and I pray that I'm a blessing to them.”
One of the main focuses of the program is making sure the clients get out in the community.
They are dropped off by family in the morning at Bourbon Heights and don’t leave until 2:30. Weekly field trips like bowling keep them active and energized.
Sandy says it’s difficult when her adults are treated poorly in public.
“What we do is say hey, they don't understand that's not acceptable, but you are who you are. God made you the way you are, so you accept you, and then maybe you know, you can go up and just say hi. I teach them how to speak to people and be polite, not to ever treat them like they're being treated. And they notice it. They truly notice it, and they'll make a comment. And so, we reinforce that, hey, you're just as good as they are, and matter of fact, you're better. You're more special.”
That devotion does not go unnoticed. The mother of Katrina Miller starts to get emotional when asked what Sandy and ADHC means to her family.
Cathy Miller says, “Sandy's meant everything. She gave Katrina a purpose when we moved down here, and something to do. And a loving group has taught her many life lessons and helped them to learn a lot of different things that they wouldn't have gotten to learn if she wasn't part of this group. She played bells. She's gone to the state capitol with this group. They've learned life skills, they've done gardening in the center, just done so much, and it's all because of Sandy. Sandy is the heart behind this whole group.”
The business community in Paris has also taken notice of ADHC.
Bobby Shiflet is the owner of Frames on Main in Paris and praises the work Sandy and her staff are doing.
“She does a job that not many people would do. To be honest with you, I don't think I could do it. I love what she does, and she loves it. I've never seen her without a smile on her face, and she connects so well with those kids and the older adults as well. And I tell her all the time, she's doing God's work, and I have no idea what she gets paid, but I know it's not enough.”
Sandy says one way people can help is by supporting the annual dance called the Blessing Ball.
It’s a prom-like experience for the ADHC clients that will be held this year on September 27th at Leesburg Christian Church in Harrison County.
It’s all part of showing the clients respect and support through the community.
“We go to churches, and we ring handbells, and those churches bless us by passing the plate. We don't ask for it. We've got large corporations here in Paris that are very generous, and they're all faith-based, and they know, for example, we have a prom coming up, and we wear t-shirts, matching t-shirts, because I take about 110 from Bourbon County. All I have to do is say, Hey, would you like to sponsor us? And a check will either be dropped off in 15 minutes or mailed real quick. So that's a blessing, but we have to get them out in the community.”
