SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — “Welcome to my house!” enthused Michael Och as he welcomed South Orange community members into the new JESPY shared aging-in-place house named for him.
The renovated house on Meadowbrook Place in South Orange that is now home to nine JESPY clients was made possible by Och and his family, who funded the organization’s purchase of the house. It is part of JESPY’s aging-in-place initiative to allow adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD, to remain in the community as they get older. The house is the first in the state of its kind, according to JESPY Executive Director Audrey Winkler.
“Our clients can’t always go to a nursing home or other kind of group home,” she said in an interview with the News-Record at the ribbon cutting of the house on Oct. 6. “They’re just not trained to deal with IDD. Not only do they have support here, but we’re building programs for them, like book club, fitness and music classes. And they don’t have to leave South Orange and the place they know so well.”
According to JESPY, people with IDD are living significantly longer than in previous generations. Adults with IDD who are 45 and older are more likely to experience poorer health and earlier onset of age-related conditions, like diabetes and osteoporosis, and they are at a higher risk for mental illness. The shared house and its staff can support the people who live there with services to help with these medical and other issues, and can also help prevent the residents from feeling isolated.
It has been a month since the residents moved into the Michael Och House, and so far they love it. Virginia Fleming has lived in South Orange for 15 years, and living in the house allows her to stay in her hometown while also living around other people.
“I love it here,” she said in an interview with the News-Record at the event. “You’re not alone. I love everyone here. I love the staff.”
Fleming had her own apartment in South Orange before she moved into the Michael Och house. According to her sister, Nancy Fleming, because she, their two brothers and other sister live in different places around New Jersey, the house was the perfect place for Virginia to live.
“We’re grateful that she could stay,” Nancy Fleming said in an interview with the News-Record at the event. “It would have been a big change to move. She really is part of the community here, and they welcome her.”
Virginia Fleming is participating in all the activities at the Michael Och House, and she looks forward to her turn to make dinner every week.
“We have a lot of fun around here,” she said.
There were only about 10 JESPY clients when the organization was founded in 1978, and it has since grown to more than 100. Ellen Warshaw was one of those 10 people, and she has been with JESPY ever since. She also moved into the Michael Och House.
“It’s been very nice, I have friends my own age,” she said in an interview with the News-Record at the event. “Where I lived before, I was the oldest one so I had a hard time.”
Warshaw described how JESPY helps its clients; staff members teach them to cook, clean, do laundry, use public transportation and find a job, which Warshaw is currently doing.
“The neighborhood is quiet and peaceful,” she said. “I have a bigger room and a bigger closet. The staff is wonderful. They make me feel better if I’m having a bad day and they comfort me.”
South Orange Trustee Steve Schnall spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, joking that JESPY clients are often the only audience members at Board of Trustees meetings.
“I have loved living near all the JESPY clients,” Schnall said. “It’s such a great indication of how JESPY is not just in our community, but a part of our community.”
JESPY Board President Ronald Brandt welcomed community members and residents’ families to the house at the event.
“The ‘Y’ in JESPY stands for youth, and here we are opening this house for aging in place,” he joked. “If there are people who would like to help put up the next house, we would like to talk to you. It is needed.”
Photos by Amanda Valentovic
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