Harriet Ott knew she was helping, but she wanted to do more.
After spending years working in hospitals and elderly care facilities, she found that her mission as a recreational therapist and the wishes of her clients were not always compatible.
Newly injured patients at hospitals were often either in denial about what the future held while those in elderly care facilities were at a stage in life where the complications of regaining functionality were not worth the struggle.
Those experiences led Ott to begin thinking of a way she could locate and impact disabled individuals who were still interested in finding physical and emotional fulfillment. The result was Community Integration Services (CIS).
“I just ventured out only my own because I wanted to be that brochure other people were handing out,” Ott said. “My job as a recreational therapist is getting people to realize they don’t have to stay in that tiny little circle of comfort.”
When Ott began the business in 2001, she had no employees and few clients. But what she lacked in numbers she more than made up for with an unwavering dedication to help people impacted by tragedy or born with a condition that affected their independence outside of the home.
Today, CIS serves around 60 of clients from ages two to 99. Their conditions range from strokes to all points on the Autism spectrum. Along with programming at the Bellevue Aquatic Center, Ott hosts water shiatsu or “Watsu” massages at a small, covered pool in her Sammamish backyard. Along with rehab programs for injured adults, CIS has programs for the elderly and one for sufferers of multiple sclerosis, which is recognized nationally.
But regardless of the focus or target demographic of the program, the emphasis on getting people back in the community remains.
“Most people have a very small circle of comfort, so they hang out in their house,” Ott said. “They don’t integrate back into the community and do the things they love to do.”
The original intent of the program was not water-centric, but Ott quickly found getting in the pool yielded the best and most efficient results. She holds the majority of her programs at Bellevue Aquatic Center, where the area’s only warm-water therapy pool comes fully equipped for servicing the elderly, paralyzed and anyone else who benefits from the physiological impact of the water.
“The biggest thing is clients do not need their assistive devices,” Ott said. “They are free in the water.” Sue Parks agreed.
After watching her adult daughter, who suffers from Down’s Syndrome and multiple physical complications, begin to swim with enough confidence to compete in the Special Olympics, Parks recommended CIS to her 99-year-old mother.
While she was initially hesitant at the notion of needing therapy, she warmed to the idea when it was pitched as personal training and has been reaping the positive effects in the months since.
“It has been amazing to see her mental and physical transformation,” Parks said. “It is a highlight in her life.”
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