Holy Angels offers its residents a variety of social and educational opportunities while providing quality medical care with the help of its nursing and physical therapy staff, and by contract with several consultants including medical, dental and nutritional professionals. Residents participate in several community activities and outings, including field trips to various local attractions and shopping at the mall.

Great Adventures Club (1990)

Great Adventures offers adults with mental retardation, and other interested people from the local community, the opportunity to get together for service, recreational, social, leadership, and spiritual experiences. The club provides an avenue for people to learn from one another. The social club offers Holy Angels a way to provide community outreach and extend its services to individuals and families in need of such support.

Special Education and Habilitative Services at Holy Angels

Active Treatment
Active treatment is meaningful and functional interactions between the staff and the residents. Meaningful and functional denotes that a resident receives interactions that allow him/her to acquire skills to function with as much self-determination and independence as possible. These interactions are provided in both formal (goals) and informal ways – formal in the use of goals and objectives, and informal via daily interactions/activities that support skill acquisition. Active treatment includes, but is not limited to, educational services, health services, physical therapy services, psychological services, communication and dietary services. Special education is a vital component of the all encompassing programming referred to as Active Treatment.

How does Holy Angels ensure quality of programming? With competently trained staff, paraprofessionals and professionals, Holy Angels is able to provide programming based on residents’ individual strengths and needs. Annual surveys and audits through the N.C. Division of Facility Services provide validation of programming.

Special Education
Holy Angels works collaboratively with the Local Education Agency to provide special education services to children ages 3 to 21, in their supportive residential environment. A unique working relationship with Gaston County Schools ensures curricular and administrative support to special educators. Each student’s IEP (Individual Education Plan) is carefully planned to teach skills in the following curricular areas: expressive communication, receptive communication, personal / home management, community skills and vocational skills. Special Education staff address complex needs of students through consultation and support from clinicians in the areas of nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, speech and language pathology, social work, and dietary/nutrition.

Special emphasis is placed on development of each student’s ability to communicate in non-traditional methods such as non-verbal communicative signals or through the use of electronic communication devices. Avenues of accessibility are determined and provided through the use of adaptive devices that allow students to control equipment and toys, thus enhancing a student’s quality of life.

Many learning events are planned with sensory-based outcomes due to a large number of students showing deficits in sensory perception and processing. Special education services at Holy Angels are carefully monitored by the North Carolina Public Schools. Special training and support is provided to special education staff by a variety of sources in order to meet the needs of the students we serve.

Birth to Three Services
Infants and toddlers with special needs are served at Holy Angels Specialized Community Residential Center. A team of qualified professionals works with each family to develop an IFSP (Individual Family Service Plan) paying close attention to development in the following areas: social cognitive, adaptive behavior, communication, motor and family support. Management of health, nutrition, and physical development is carefully orchestrated in a therapeutic setting conducive to early intervention.

Little Angels Child Development Center
Since 1990, Little Angels Child Development Center has been committed to providing quality preschool services to typically developing children and to children with disabilities. Physically located within our specialized community residential center, Little Angels Child Development Center gives employees an option for childcare for their preschool aged children. In this loving and supportive environment, preschool aged residents at Holy Angels have the opportunity to learn and interact with children their own age that are typically developing. Limited slots are available for children from community families with no formal relationship with Holy Angels. Little Angels Child Development Center is monitored and licensed by The Division of Child Development within the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Resources. Little Angels also works with the local “Smart Start” program in order to provide the best care for young children.

Creative Arts Therapy

Holy Angels employs an on-staff creative arts therapist to guide the various programs, services and activities geared to the creative development of its residents. At Holy Angels the Creative Arts Program includes horticulture therapy, massage therapy, music, drama, arts and crafts and the Snoezelen Room.

Snoezelen Room
Step inside a room of light and sound, filled with a sweet aroma and colorful visions. The Snoezelen Room, or sensory stimulation area, provides residents with an inviting and engaging place to spend time with staff and receive therapy. The room – which includes such items as a massage chair, massage tables, bubble tubes with changing colors, aroma-therapy, tactile boards, mirrors and colorful wall kaleidoscopes – also allows residents to choose various activities on their own.

Holy Angels opened its Snoezelen (sounds like snooze-uh-lin) Room in December 1998 with the financial help of members of Power of the Past Tractor Club.

The club, whose members live and work in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County region, includes farmers, landscapers, corporate managers, engineers, and retired truck drivers, searches out pieces of “old iron” or tractor parts and rebuilds the machinery then sells raffle tickets for a chance to win the vintage tractor. The club has rebuilt and raffled six tractors for Holy Angels and they have raised over $100,000 for the Holy Angels Creative Arts program.

Horticulture Therapy Program
Work began in the fall of 1999 to build a 28-foot by 48-foot green house on the Main Campus, and the facility officially opened on September 30, 2000, with a ribbon cutting and a fall plant sale. The green house is the primary space for the Holy Angels Horticulture Therapy Program. A pond with a fountain gives residents an opportunity to engage their senses using water therapy. Residents use adapted hand shovels and other instruments to work in the soil. The green house serves a purpose similar to the Snoezelen Room, except it gives residents the opportunity to engage their senses in an outside setting. Also, for some of the higher functioning residents, the green house will help develop vocational skills.

Holy Angels Dance Troupe

The Holy Angels Dance Troupe began in 1988 as a joint venture between a professional dance teacher in the Belmont community and the director of Physical Therapy. Their main objective was to have fun, exercise, and teach new skills. The participants have learned a variety of dance techniques, which include ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical routines.

The dance troupe performs during the Holy Angels Christmas liturgy and at an annual spring recital. They have also entertained at community functions and at workshops per special requests. Many of the dancers live in the Community Group Homes of Holy Angels, or participate in the supportive living program.

Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is an integral part of each resident’s activities of daily living. Programs and services include spa therapy, splinting, positioning on adaptive equipment, and person centered one-on-one goal work to promote independence. The department works closely with the other members of the interdisciplinary team, which includes nursing, special education, and the case manager.

Extensive training is provided to direct care professionals who in turn use the skills to incorporate the physical therapy principles necessary for the 24-hour care of the population we serve. Orthopedic clinics are coordinated with physicians from Charlotte and Gastonia three times per year. All Physical Therapy staff are licensed to practice in the state of North Carolina.

Nursing

The Holy Angels nursing staff includes registered nurses (RN’s), licensed practical nurses (LPN’s) and trained technicians. This staff is responsible for ensuring the highest quality of life to people with developmental disabilities throughout their life span. Nursing services include medication administration, resident assessments and screening, development of treatment plans and coordination of care with physicians, therapists and other caregivers. Preventative medicine is a key to the nursing success.

Nurses provide acute care interventions for the medically fragile residents in the Fisher Healthcare Center. The Healthcare Center is named for Dr Ellis Fisher who has been Holy Angels’ medical director for more than 21 years. The on-site center provides Holy Angels residents a place to receive quality medical care with a loving touch, without leaving the campus.

Registered nurses and healthcare technicians staff the center, which is under the direction of the Director of Clinical Services.

Camp Hope (1994)

Camp Hope is a unique recreational facility located on the South Fork River and specially designed for people with disabilities. The camp has a bathhouse, fishing pier, covered pavilion overlooking the river, paddle boats, beach area and nature trail. These facilities provide the residents an opportunity to catch fish, dip their feet in the water on a hot day, or simply enjoy the sights and sounds of the river.

Residential Programs

Specialized Community Residential Center (SCR or Main Center) 1956
The Holy Angel’s SCR center provides round-the-clock care for children who are medically fragile with severe/profound mental retardation. Children living in our Main Center participate in a holistic, innovative program, which includes special education, physical therapy, speech, music therapy, medical care, recreation and opportunities for spiritual experiences.

The SCR center provides basic health care, treatment, and developmental training for children with mental retardation in an environment outside their own homes and over an extended period of time. The SCR has a trained teaching staff and specially developed educational materials and equipment to provide innovative programs – within a classroom setting – for students with special needs.

Children who live at the SCR range in age from birth to 21 years. The Holy Angels administrative offices are located in the SCR, also.

Fox Run ICF/MR Group Homes (Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded) 1992
A cluster of four ICF/MR group homes located behind the SCR (Main Center). These homes serve children and adults who have severe/profound mental retardation, multiple disabilities and are also medically fragile. The facilities provide a home-like living arrangement, which is less restrictive. The homes were named in honor of some of their neighbors – a pair of foxes living in the nearby woods. Each home’s name reflects the scenic area: Pinehaven, Brookview, Oakcrest and Belhaven.

School-age residents participate in innovative educational active treatment programs led by a special education teacher and trained staff. Staff members work closely with the students and helps them develop their skills and abilities. Older residents participate in an in-home day program, which also includes active treatment, physical therapy, speech therapy, music therapy, vocational training and recreational activities.

A fifth ICF/MR group home is planned for the Main Campus, and completion is set for December 2005, just in time for Holy Angels' 50th anniversary.

Community Residential Group Homes (Supervised Living Arrangements)
Holy Angels provides a residential service for adults and adolescents who have mild to moderate mental retardation. These programs are designed to provide a normal home environment and assist each resident in attaining his/her highest level of independence.

The Community Group Homes are Lakewood (1987), South Point (1992), Gary Home (1997) and Carrabaun (1997).

Supportive Living Arrangements (1995)
Holy Angels provides needed support to individuals with mental retardation who are living in a more independent environment within the community. These supports are in areas of transportation, financial management, medical and counseling assistance, and independent living skills training (cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping). Individuals receiving these supports have usually been previously served in a group home setting.