By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
People living with disabilities want to live as independently as everyone else, and that's where MERIL tries to help.
Midland Empire Resources for Independent Living, or MERIL, has been in northwest Missouri since 1994 providing these services to help people live independently.
Executive Director and CEO Rob Honan says while MERIL does not house people with disabilities, they provide the resources to help them do so.
"We do that basically through three different programs," Honan tells KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "One is our independent living program, that is a program that we have a state grant through vocational rehabilitation to provide five core services to people with disabilities."
Honan says MERIL does that through three different programs, including its state funded independent living program, which provides five core services.
"So, those core services are advocacy, independent living skills training, peer support, information referral, and transition services which includes youth as well as transition out of nursing homes and back into the community," Honan explains.
Honan says the other two programs provided are consumer directed services as well as in home PCA services. MERIL has offices in St. Joseph and Maryville for more information.
Honan says his staff helps a variety of people living with disabilities live in their homes and communities independently.
"I mean, we have individuals who maybe have a spinal cord injury as a result of an accident perhaps, or we have individuals who are getting older and their health situations are changing and they need assistance," Honan says. "We also have individuals who are born with certain conditions, maybe like cerebral palsy or fibromyalgia, whatever there's all kinds of mixture in there."
Honan says the number of people that MERIL serves can vary from month to month, with people leaving the program or coming to the program, but estimates they serve around 30 to 50 people in the independent living program alone.