If you win the lottery......

If you win the Powerball Lottery tonight and need an investment for all that money, I have a plan.  I have a dream for a residential facility for adults with mental disabilities.

I envision a dormitory-type facility.  The top floor would have single rooms that share a jack-and-jill bathroom.  The rooms would be large enough to house a queen size bed, a dresser and chest of drawers, small refrigerator, microwave, table with 2 chairs, love seat, recliner, and a television.  The bathroom would have a vanity, toilet, and a bathtub (which can have a bench or stability bar if necessary).  There would also be an office at the end of the hall for staff.

The next two floors could have single rooms that have their own bathrooms.  These rooms would be smaller and more expensive than the rooms with a shared bathroom.  These rooms would be large enough to hold all the other furniture as the upstairs rooms, but may only hold a double bed.  Also, to save space, the bathrooms may only have a stand up shower instead of a bathtub.

The ground floor will be the hub of activity.  It would house a commercial kitchen and dining room with several tables.  The kitchen would be professionally staffed and serve 3 meals a day.  There would be four therapy rooms; one for speech, one for OT, one for music therapy, and one for physical therapy.  We would employ full-time therapists to meet the needs of the residents.  A recreation room would house a large tv with video games, a couple of couches, tables and chairs for games, and shelves of books.  An exercise room would have various exercise equipment and an indoor trampoline.  A snack shop would be available for the residents to purchase snacks to practice their money skills.  We would have a heated pool in the back, an adult size playground, trampoline, and basketball hoops.  There would also be a physician's assistant on duty at all times.  The director would have an office along with a conference room.

The basement would house a commercial laundry room for residents and a separate laundry room for the facility.  It would also have storage facilities for the residents and the therapists.  The staff locker room would be downstairs as well.

The facility would be fully staffed 24 hours a day.  A resident can have 1-1 staff if needed.  A resident would have scheduled activities.  These could include speech therapy, OT, music therapy, working in the kitchen, doing chores in the facility, having a supported job outside of the facility, taking group or individual outings.  Each resident will have a staff member who is in charge of his/her "team" and daily schedule.

I know that the trend is moving towards special adults living in houses that are staffed 24/7.  I think this would be more beneficial because so many opportunities for socialization would be available.  There would also be so many activities to keep everyone active and making progress.

This is my dream living situation for Nate and Noah.  All I need is money, an architect, and a large plot of land.