Screenprint series, 5 - 32"x42"

Click on the images above to enlarge them.

Click here to read the text

---

Volume 4, Number 1
Jan, 1982
Editor: Val Adolph

Throughout the Christmas season we have become aware of the strengthening ties between Woodlands and that indefinable expansive territory we call "the community".

Each year it seems that more and more parents visit their family members in Woodlands. Maybe you feel more welcome now than you used to; perhaps the personal contacts with ward, social service and other staff has helped, or is it the personal invitations to planning meetings or to help celebrate Christmas?

More families now take their son or Daughter home for Christmas, whether for a few days or a few hours, and year round, more from Woodlands join family get- togethers or to go shopping or to eat out. This increased family involvement, whatever form it takes, is a source of pride for staff at Woodlands besides being of great importance to your sons and daughters.

Almost all Woodlands residents have many opportunities to move back and forth between Woodlands and "the community". Besides the many people who attend schools or workshops in various areas of the lower mainland, there are others who go into New Westminster shopping or go to the movies with friends; others have similar activities but in a more organized group, with staff. There are visits to town to shop for clothes, eat at a restaurant or maybe visits to the home of a staff or volunteer friend. There are outings that are planned as part of a training program and there are spontaneous 'lets go out' events- anything from a summer picnic to tobogganing in winter.

Only a very small number of the most physically handicapped residents are "confined in the institution" - to use a well known cliche - and that is because it would be damaging to their health to move them. Others with physical handicaps, even those in wheelchairs or day beds, can usually find an energetic staff person or volunteer who will provide the mobility so that they can join shopping trips or picnics. Increasingly it is parents who are helping to make community visits possible.

So this new year we would like to recognize the efforts that parents have made to visit their family member here and to include them in family events and celebrations. Your words and letters of support are a source of encouragement to staff as they continue to seek ways of improving Woodlands as a resource for retarded people.

Pauline Hughes
Manager Woodlands