When Executive Director Nikki Byrd started with the nonprofit organization, it was as the Day Program Director in 2011. Open Arms Care had been in operation for more than 20 years at this point, serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing community homes as Intermediate Care Facilities. The organization fulfilled a need to house residents after three major institutions across the state closed in the late-80s. Today, Open Arms Care provides lifelong housing and daily care to upwards of 300 Tennesseans and is the largest private intermediate care program in the state.
Currently, Open Arms Care serves approximately 80 residents in Knoxville across 14 homes, and they are always in need of help and support from the community.
What’s the mission of Open Arms Care?
We provide care for individuals in a community setting. My youngest is eight years old and my oldest is 78. It gives them an ability to live outside of home but not in an institution. The way I explain it to parents is that they get a lot of help from the school system, but once their kids reach 22, they still need help. It’s like letting them go to college. You’re still involved as much as you wish to be, but we are here to provide medical care and active treatment, to teach them things, and to help them become as independent as they are able. That’s what’s different from a nursing home. Clients need to be learning new skills and maintaining their capabilities. We have physical therapy, speech and occupational therapy, and licensed behavioral analysts who assess clients annually or more frequently if needed. We meet and put together an Individual Support Plan, which encompasses all of that.
How are the homes designed?
The homes look as normal as possible, so they are in neighborhoods in and around Knoxville. The four-bedroom homes are about 2600 square feet and the eight-bedroom homes are around 5500 square feet. They are usually side by side so they can share a driveway. We’ve rebuilt the homes in the last few years and took great effort to make them as typical and as nice of a home as you would want. But we took time to adjust the bar in the kitchen so someone in a wheelchair can access it. The bathrooms are accessible, and the hallways are a little wider. We don’t want these homes to look institutional. We want the clients to feel at home. They really like decorating their own bedrooms.
What does everyday life look like for clients?
There are staff who are there 24/7–the direct support staff. The ratio of staff to clients depends on need, so for a four-bedroom, we want two staff there and a nurse who will float between homes. For the eight-bedroom, we want three or four staff with a nurse who floats. We try to match up clients whose personalities fit well together or maybe it’s more of a kids’ house. Some homes are all men, some are all women. We have meetings about that and talk through everything with guardians and parents.
The enrichment center is on Ball Camp Pike where clients can come for all kinds of activities based on levels the clients can accomplish. They have crafts or music therapy, or we’ll have a petting zoo come out. They may go for a picnic or the zoo or go bowling, so we’re coordinating with everyone and their doctor’s appointments. We’ll get together to watch a UT football game, or we’ll meet at one of the homes to grill out.
How can the community support Open Arms Care?
We’d love anyone who’d like to volunteer at the enrichment center, anyone with special talents like art or music, anyone who wants to donate to our foundation, anyone who is caring, compassionate, and has a heart for helping others. Honestly, the clients have more to give than people give them credit for. They give more to us than we give to them. It’s a blessing to work with them and be a part of their lives, so much more than one would think. Though they may be nonverbal, I have some who communicate with their eyes, and they have something to say. It takes some patience and time to develop those relationships, but they have a lot of love to give.
Learn more at OpenArmsCare.org.
We’ve rebuilt the homes in the last few years and took great effort to make them as typical and as nice of a home as you would want.
Honestly, the clients have more to give than people give them credit for. They give more to us than we give to them.