Hattie Larlham

Hattie Larlham is a non-profit organization that provides services to more than 1,500 children and adults with developmental disabilities. In 2011, the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary. Named after its founder, Hattie Larlham, the organization is headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio, in Summit County. Dennis Allen has been the organization’s CEO since 1988.

History

Mrs. Hattie Lena Gadd Larlham created Hattie Larlham in 1961, and legally established the Hattie Larlham Foundation in 1963. She became inspired to action when, as a nurse, she experienced first-hand the lack of specialized care available for children with developmental disabilities. She took a neighbor’s child who was born with inoperable hydrocephalus into her home to provide care for the child. Not long after, she was caring for ten children in her family’s small farmhouse and soon had a waiting list of 100 children.

Larlham drew national attention for her efforts and eventually served as a disabilities issue advisor to U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Her accomplishments also earned her a place in the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame. She died in 1996 and is buried at the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities.

Hattie Larlham has steadily advanced its efforts throughout the years. Dennis Allen became the CEO of the organization in 1988. During his tenure, Hattie Larlham has grown to provide care to thousands of children and adults with developmental disabilities in Ohio. He has also led the organization in forming social enterprise businesses that provide vocational employment and training to adults with developmental disabilities.

In 2015, Hattie Larlham officially expanded its services to central Ohio when the Association for the Developmentally Disabled (ADD) became part of the organization.

Mission

Hattie Larlham strives to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities and their families through a commitment to comfort, joy and achievement.

Services

Core services

Hattie Larlham is a nonprofit organization that serves children and adults with developmental disabilities. The organization is headquartered in Twinsburg, Ohio. Services encompass medical, vocational, recreational and residential, including foster care and respite/home care services. Hattie Larlham provides residential care to both children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Hattie Larlham administers residential care for children with disabilities at the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities in Mantua, Ohio. Adult residential care is dispersed across several community homes located throughout Northeast Ohio.

Hattie Larlham offers employment opportunities to people with developmental disabilities through its social enterprises, including Hattie’s Café & Gifts, Hattie’s Doggie Day Care & Boarding, Hattie’s Gardens, Hattie’s Assembly and Hattie’s Vending. Employees earn minimum wage.

Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities

Hattie Larlham provides care for the most medically fragile people with disabilities that it serves at the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities in Mantua, Ohio. In 2008, Hattie Larlham completed a three-year, $16-million dollar renovation and expansion of the Center.

Among its features, the Center has a theater room, a warm-water pool and a multisensory room, as well as a wheelchair-accessible outdoor playground and indoor play space.

Dr. Richard Grossberg is the Hattie Larlham medical director. Under his direction, three shifts of medical staff at the Center administer care 24 hours per day, seven days a week. In 2009, Grossberg earned a Crain’s Cleveland Business Health Care Heroes Award for his work caring for people with developmental disabilities at Hattie Larlham.

Among the specialized services Hattie Larlham delivers at the Center, licensed therapists perform on-site physical, occupational and speech therapy to residents.

Hattie Larlham uses physical therapy to develop mobility in residents.

Hattie Larlham’s occupational therapy focuses on movements that improve residents’ ability to carry out daily living activities such as playing with adapted toys, self-feeding, bathing and dressing. Some occupational therapy is performed in the on-site pool, including passive aquatic therapy exercise. Therapists lift the residents into and out of the water with a Hoyer lift that is attached to the pool.

Through speech therapy, Hattie Larlham helps residents develop communication skills. This therapy is also used to determine safe food consistencies for oral intake. Some residents are evaluated for olfactory and taste stimuli as well.

Hattie Larlham’s Nutrition Services department and speech-language pathologist prepare meals for residents at the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities that they customize to meet the nutritional needs of each resident.

In addition to delivering these services, the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities is an approved pediatric ventilator care provider by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. The ventilator program is intended to be a transition from hospital to home for children dependent on mechanical ventilation. While at the Center, children in the ventilator program participate in activities that include attending school, physical and speech therapy, Hattie’s Creative Arts, swimming and sensory exploration.

In 2014, Hattie Larlham upgraded to a new bulk oxygen supply system at the Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities. With a 1,500 gallon main tank and a 260 gallon reserve tank, the system guarantees consistent oxygen supply for children and adults with chronic respiratory issues.

Beyond medical care, therapy, nutritional services and ventilator services, Hattie Larlham facilitates socialization opportunities for people with developmental disabilities at the Center. In the spring, the organization hosts a themed prom for residents. The 2014 theme was Willy Wonka, and the 2015 theme is Harry Potter. Every Christmas, Hattie Larlham arranges for the children at the Center to meet Santa Claus.

Additionally, Hattie Larlham also brings in volunteers to the Center to interact with the residents. The organization also facilitates a card buddies program by which volunteers send greeting cards and postcards to people with developmental disabilities at Hattie Larlham’s residential facilities. In 2013, volunteers dedicated 8,595 hours to the Center.

Brands

Creative Arts

Hattie Larlham Creative Arts gives participants with developmental disabilities the opportunity to communicate through artistic expression. Participants work with trackers (professional artists). The trackers become an extension of the artist by asking a series of yes-or-no questions that allow the tracker to carry out the specific intent of each artist. Through the process, participants improve their ability to communicate.

The artists receive all proceeds from the sales of their artwork. Pieces of art from the program have sold for as much as $2,000.

The artwork is also displayed at various events, galleries and exhibitions each year. Works from Creative Arts have appeared at the Eells Gallery at Blossom Music Center, the Taste of Hudson and the Eden Art Fest in Naples, Florida, among other locations.

In 2013, artwork from Hattie Larlham Creative Arts was juried into the Orange Park Art Festival in Jacksonville, Florida, and into the Gulf Coast Fine Art Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, solely on its merits with no special consideration given to the fact that the artists had developmental disabilities.

On March 15, 2013, the Naples Art Association allocated space in its main gallery to host a special reception for Hattie Larlham Creative Arts in Naples, Florida.

Later in 2013, artwork from Hattie Larlham Creative Arts was featured at the University Hospitals Humphrey Atrium Gallery. The exhibition was the fourth Hattie Larlham Creative Arts show sponsored by University Hospitals.

Hattie’s Café & Gifts

Hattie’s Café & Gifts is a chain of cafes in Northeast Ohio that employs people with developmental disabilities. The cafes sell fair trade coffee, fresh baked goods, sandwiches and gifts.

On September 21, 2010, Hattie’s Café & Gifts expanded to include Hattie’s Café & Gifts Bakery – a storefront bakery in Akron, Ohio that produces all bakery items sold at each Hattie’s Café & Gifts location across the region. Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic assisted with the ribbon-cutting at the grand opening event.

Hattie’s Café & Gifts Bakery relocated to a new storefront at Canal Place in Akron, Ohio on October 29, 2014. The new location includes a seating area for customers, sells lunch items and has a smoothie bar. The employees with developmental disabilities who work at this location serve customers, make fresh baked goods, fulfill gift basket orders and prepare boxed lunches for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

In early 2015, Hattie’s Café & Gifts received a Proclamation of Recognition for its service to the Summit County Courthouse and the Summit County community. Hattie’s Café & Gifts has maintained a café in the Summit County Courthouse since 2011.

Hattie’s Café & Gifts finished in the top five of voting for the best coffee shop in the Akron-Canton area on the Fox 8 Hotlist in 2009. Two years later, Hattie’s Café & Gifts was named the Hudson Business of the Year. In 2014, Hattie’s Café & Gifts Bakery was nominated in the 2014 Beacon’s Best Annual Contest in the Best Bakery/Cakes category.

Hattie's Vending

Hattie Larlham launched a vending services company in on Feb. 11, 2010 that employs people with developmental disabilities. Their job responsibilities include filling the vending machines and ensuring that the machines are functional.

The vending machines used by Hattie’s Vending are leased in collaboration with AVI Foodsystems, Inc. Hattie’s Vending currently services nearly 100 machines in Akron, Ohio, Cleveland, Ohio and surrounding areas.

Hattie's Doggie Day Care & Boarding

Hattie’s Doggie Day Care & Boarding is a pet boarding operation with locations in Cleveland, Ohio, North Canton, Ohio and Twinsburg, Ohio. These facilities offer day care and long-term boarding for dogs, as well as grooming services. Employees with disabilities care for the animals as they work alongside professional job coaches.

Hattie’s Doggie Day Care & Boarding began with a location in Green, Ohio and expanded to a second site in Twinsburg, Ohio in August 2010. In May 2011, the Hattie’s Doggie Day Care & Boarding in Green moved to a larger facility near the Akron-Canton Airport in North Canton, Ohio.

A third Hattie's Doggie Day Care & Boarding opened near Cleveland, Ohio on May 14, 2012. The 5,300-square-foot facility is the largest Hattie’s Doggie Day Care & Boarding to date. It is located just two miles from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and within walking distance of the Brookpark Road Rapid Transit Authority (RTA) station.

In 2010, Hattie’s Doggie Day Care & Boarding finished in the top spot of the Best Boarding category in the Fox 8 Akron-Canton Hotlist, as voted by the community. In 2014, Hattie’s Doggie Daycare & Boarding was nominated in the 2014 Beacon’s Best Annual Contest in the Best Boarding and Best Grooming categories.

Hattie's Gardens

Hattie’s Gardens is a work training program that employs adults with developmental disabilities. The employees with developmental disabilities learn sustainable, chemical-free growing practices such as crop rotation to prevent soil depletion, composting, using beneficial insects to manage crop-damaging insects, spreading mulches to suppress weeds and using disease-resistant cultivators.

Hattie’s Gardens maintains garden locations at Old Trail School in Bath, Ohio and the Akron Zoo in Akron, Ohio. Both gardens are organically certified by the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA).

Hattie’s Gardens at Old Trail School is a collaboration between Hattie Larlham, Old Trail School and the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. More than 100 guests and dignitaries attended an unveiling ceremony for the garden on May 16, 2013. In addition to employing people with developmental disabilities, Hattie’s Gardens at Old Trail School serves as a learning center for Old Trail School students and engages them in the entire food cycle. Old Trail School also serves produce from Hattie’s Gardens in school lunches.

A little less than a year after the garden at Old Trail School opened, Hattie Larlham officially announced Hattie’s Gardens at the Akron Zoo in April 2014. The garden was formally unveiled at a morning press conference and an evening ribbon cutting on September 23, 2014. The area where the garden is located was previously a food desert, meaning that no fresh produce was available for sale within a mile of the site. To create the garden, Hattie Larlham turned vacant lots owned by the zoo into sustainable gardening space.

According to a press release by Hattie Larlham, the partnership between the two organizations began through a shared vision to make fresh, local food more readily accessible to surrounding residents. Hattie Larlham also cited that Hattie’s Gardens at the Akron Zoo further integrates people with developmental disabilities into the community.

From May through October, Akron residents are able to purchase the produce at a farmstand operated by Hattie’s Gardens, which is less than a half-mile from the Akron Zoo. Additionally, the Akron Zoo uses the garden produce at its Komodo Kingdom Café – the first 4-star, green-certified restaurant in any zoo or aquarium in North America.

In November 2014, the Plain Dealer reported that Hattie Larlham will open the North East Ohio Food Hub and Workforce Development Center near the site of Hattie’s Gardens at the Akron Zoo. The food processing hub will employ people with developmental disabilities in collecting, washing, preparing, flash freezing and packaging produce.

Hattie’s Assembly

Hattie’s Assembly offers product and service solutions to community businesses while providing work training to people with developmental disabilities.

In the spring of 2014, Bearacade partnered with Hattie’s Assembly to assemble its door control system that is designed to protect people in lockdown situations. Since the partnership began, Hattie’s Assembly has produced thousands of the safety devices. Bearacade Cofounder and CEO Bill Cushwa and Hattie Larlham Vice President of Vocational and Enterprise Services Dotty Grexa discussed the partnership in June 2014 on Ray Horner’s Morning Show on 1590 WAKR.

Habilitation programs

Constant Companions

Constant Companions is a Hattie Larlham program that improves the lives of people with disabilities through contact with animals. People with disabilities learn life skills while developing a bond with and learning about the animals they care for.

Constant Companions maintains locations in Green, Ohio, Twinsburg, Ohio, Evendale, Ohio, and Middleburg Heights, Ohio. The Middleburg Heights location is the newest addition to the program. It opened on December 5, 2011.

In 2009, both Hattie Larlham Doggie Day Care & Boarding and Constant Companions were recognized with the Green Chamber of Commerce Vision Award for the programs’ accomplishments in the community.

Community programs

Volunteering

In 2010, volunteers contributed more than 13,010 hours toward the mission of Hattie Larlham.

Volunteers regularly assist the organization with special events, fundraisers, landscaping, home improvement projects, recreational activities, day camps, administrative tasks and friendship volunteer opportunities.

The Center for Community Solutions selected Hattie Larlham volunteer, Patricia Cole, as one of Greater Cleveland’s “Most Treasured Volunteers.” Cole, who has Asperger's syndrome, volunteers more than 100 hours per year at Hattie Larlham, assisting others with disabilities.

Many of Hattie Larlham’s student volunteers come from Kent State University. In recent years, Kent students have volunteered more than 1,000 hours at Hattie Larlham. In 2009, Kent State University honored Hattie Larlham as an “Outstanding Community Partner” for providing Kent State students with volunteer opportunities.

Hattie's Preschool

Hattie’s Preschool is a year-round child care service for children ages 3 to 5 years old that is licensed by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and follows the HighScope Preschool Curriculum.

Children have supervised access to an outdoor playground, an indoor swimming pool and 7,000-square-foot play area. They also use educational technology, such as iPads.

Summer camps

Hattie Larlham provides integrated summer camps in the community for children, teens and adults with developmental disabilities. In 2015, Hattie Larlham will host camps at Old Trail School in Bath, Ohio and at the Akron Rotary Camp in Akron, Ohio.

Research

Hattie Larlham regularly takes part in research projects that aim to improve the care of people with developmental disabilities. Hattie Larlham participates in areas of research including clinical care, applied therapy and assistive technology.

Some of Hattie Larlham’s research partners have included Akron Children’s Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, The University of Akron, The University of North Carolina and University Hospitals of Cleveland.

One of the studies Hattie Larlham participated in focused on cerebral palsy. Richard Grossberg, MD, FAAP, Hattie Larlham medical director, conducted the study with other researchers across the United States to examine the growth and nutrition of children with cerebral palsy. The results indicated that children living in facilities have better growth and nutrition than children living at home with cerebral palsy. The Journal of Pediatrics published the study.

Grossberg also co-authored an article examining secondary transmission of varicella vaccine virus in a chronic care facility for children that the Journal of Pediatrics published.

CEO

In 2011, Allen was selected as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Northeast Ohio Finalist. Later in the year, he received the prestigious FirstMerit Legacy Award on behalf of Hattie Larlham. In recognition of this accomplishment, the October Akron/Canton edition of Smart Business magazine featured Allen on the cover. In 2012, he was a Pillar Award for Community Service finalist in the category of nonprofit executive director of the year, for which he again featured on the cover of Akron/Canton Smart Business magazine, as well as on the cover of the Cleveland edition.

External links

• Official website