A home is more than a house. It should provide not just shelter but physical and emotional comfort— and a sense of refuge and security.
Our Residential Living program has several objectives:
- to promote an individual’s self-sufficiency,
- to enhance an individual’s skills in daily living,
- to provide an ongoing, continuous opportunity for an individual to engage in the community at their own pace.
These objectives are met through gender-specific, community-based single-family homes with semi- and fully-structured activities simulating real problems to be solved, real people to interact with, and real opportunities to expand skillsets.
We design our residential environments to offer the comfort and beauty and amenities of a home, yet assure the safety, care, and cleanliness of a healthcare environment.
- Our 19 residential homes are spread throughout Chicagoland, with the majority of our homes centered in Evanston
- Each residence is gender-specific and home to 3-8 individuals, with no more than 2 residents per room.
- We provide 24-hour supervision, with 1 staff member per 3-4 residents.
- Our priority is enhancing each individual’s skills and creating whole personhood, and our emphasis is accomplishing our goals safely.
- Our commitment to environmental sustainability is exhibited in the selection of energy efficient appliances, light fixtures and other electronic devices
- Features that are responsive to our residents, like:
- smart, high functioning toilets that allow for the privacy and independence of our residents, essential to providing the dignity and respect for our residents that is part of Rimland philosophy
- sink and shower faucets always set to safe temperatures
- automatic soap dispensers
- automatic hand dryers
- quiet appliances
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all lighting operates on motion detectors
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outdoor ‘living spaces’ with beautifully landscaped yards, some with organic gardens
We recognize that individualized, home-based care for adult individuals with autism is at a premium throughout the country. We at Rimland have created a new standard for providing exemplary, lifelong care to individuals with autism. This is why our plans include renovating not just our existing homes, as funds allow, but continuing to purchase homes and expanding our ability to provide residential opportunities to more individuals.
Learn how you can support us in expanding our network, renovating our existing homes, or make in-kind contributions. Click here to make a donation.