Graceworks Lutheran Services serves older adults and adults with disabilities throughout the community, and often in unexpected ways
While many people know of Bethany Village, a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) in Centerville, fewer are familiar with Graceworks Lutheran Services, the nonprofit that runs it.
Initially founded in 1926 as Lutheran Inner Mission Industries in Dayton, Graceworks serves older adults and adults with disabilities throughout the region. The 100-acre Bethany Village campus—which offers independent living, assisted living, memory care and nursing care—may be Graceworks’ most visible service, but the organization does so much more. Graceworks at Home brings non-medical, skilled nursing and therapy services to seniors who wish to remain living independently in their home. And Graceworks Housing Services provides affordable housing to low-income elderly and disabled people in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio—Graceworks currently manages 18 of these communities.
But Graceworks Enhanced Living—which maintains 45 group homes and two day programs for adults with intellectual disabilities—may be the program that’s most under the radar. And that’s partially by design.
“The state had an initiative to deinstitutionalize adults with disabilities,” says Jackie D’Aurora, vice president of Marketing and Advancement at Graceworks. “In general, about four or five individuals live in our homes. They are a home like any other home in the community. We don’t have signs out in front of them as if they were a business or anything.”
The goal is community integration—to have disabled adults live within a community instead of separately. In the day programs, for example, groups would be taken to Dayton Dragons games, Kings Island or walks through RiverScape MetroPark pre-COVID.
With the onset of COVID-19, Graceworks Enhanced Living and its other programs had to adapt to new guidelines just like the rest of us.
“All of our individuals were back in their homes but used to having a routine and routine is important for these individuals,” says D’Aurora. “How do we keep people engaged and busy and happy? We’ve really had to retool that.”
One way Graceworks did that was by having the community come to them. Donors, volunteers and church groups came out in force to help the organization and those it serves.
“One particular church group… they were looking for ways to give back. They created these activity baskets and they distributed those out to each of these homes so that they really could keep those individuals engaged and busy,” says D’Aurora.
As the number of people who are vaccinated grows each day, D’Aurora and Graceworks are hopeful for a return to normal. But its services have remained important during the pandemic and will continue to be so when it’s over.
“Our volunteer program pre-COVID was really robust. We had people who would visit folks in the nursing home or who wanted to volunteer in other ways. And we needed to suspend that because we were restricting visitation,” she says. As things continue to open up, Graceworks will be looking to bring back in-person volunteers and D’Aurora encourages any who are interested to reach out.
“The more folks can understand and appreciate the connection to older adults or adults with disabilities or the needs that they have,” the better, she says.
