On-the-Job Lessons for Life in the Mainstream

In the laundry room of the Marriott Hotel in Camarillo, a 41-year-old employee named Walter pulled bunches of towels from a row of dryers, while a co-worker pressed sheets.

Then every day after work the two men return to Camarillo State Hospital and Developmental Center.

They are among 30 residents, all mentally handicapped, who work in the community through a special training program aimed at preparing them for life on their own.

“The work program helps them to increase their self-esteem,” said Maria C. Tejada, an official at the Developmental Center. “(It) forms the basis of day-to-day living in the larger world.”

Walter, a tall man with sandy-blond hair and a ruddy face, has worked at the hotel since October and said he loves the job.

“There is a lot of freedom out here,” he said.

The job has exposed Walter to a wider slice of life than he had imagined during his seven years at the state’s Camarillo developmental center. Walter, a native of Fresno, has become friends with the hotel staff and goes bowling with them.

Not only does he get to see more of the world, but Walter makes enough money for things that only a few months ago were luxuries--junk food, tennis shoes, haircuts and clothes.

He earns $102 a week for 30 hours work. “I spend it like water,” he said.

The special job-training program was founded several years ago when officials at the developmental center became convinced that many of the 500 residents there needed a half-step out of the facility before they could make it on their own.

The developmental center, which operates on sprawling grounds five miles south of Camarillo, is located at the state hospital for the mentally ill but is separate from it, officials said.

The training program involves 25 companies in Ventura and Los Angeles counties on a sporadic basis, said Virgie Yates, the center’s director of vocational services.

Five days a week, job coach Carolyn Vaughn drives Walter and his co-workers from the developmental center to the new Courtyard by Marriott Hotel at the Ventura Freeway in Camarillo. She helps them complete their daily assignments of cleaning, pressing and folding loads of bed linens and towels.

The tasks seem routine, but for the mentally handicapped they cannot be done without a series of conscious decisions being made, Yates said.

“The jobs involve judgment,” he said. Just folding a sheet “can be one of the most difficult things you instruct them in.”

The also learn to work together as a team, Vaughn said. “They are learning social interaction,” she said.

Businesses get something out of the program too, said Marriott restaurant manager Joy Alberi.

“There are a lot of benefits,” she said. “We get long-term, dedicated employees--someone who wants to work for you.”

The program has been so successful that the hotel hopes to hire Walter and their other three mentally handicapped workers as full-time employees once they leave the center, Alberi said. Many residents stay at the center for about a year, though some stay much longer, Yates said.

“They are treated exactly as the staff,” Alberi said. “They wear our uniforms. They are included in employee meetings and outings.”

Before Walter landed the Marriott job, he worked at the developmental center helping reupholster furniture. His current job represents a large step forward, Yates said.

At the center, residents undergo psychiatric therapy and counseling and learn to care for themselves. They learn how to contact the telephone company and fire and police departments, Tejada said. Some need instruction in day-to-day tasks, such as banking and shopping. Residents are also trained on how to use their free time and how to deal with people, she said.

Before they progress into jobs in the community, they are taught things as basic as hand-eye coordination and how to use logic to complete a task, Yates said.

Amid work lamps and cardboard boxes, residents assemble and pack kits for aerospace and government firms. They put together electrical junction boxes that have up to 90 copper or brass inserts. They check bottles of pricey perfume for scratches. Residents also fill 10 vending machines on the grounds and tend 20 acres of flower beds, shrubbery and walkways. They do limited office work such as copying reports.

Before they are placed, residents participate in mock job interviews and learn how to fill out applications, Yates said.

During their time at the developmental center, residents receive salaries ranging from $2 a week to $65, depending on how many hours they work.

Outside employment, like Walter’s, pays more. Walter said he already knows what he wants to buy next with his earnings.

“I really want to get a Ninja. Those are fast motorbikes,” he said. “I see them on the mountain road behind the hospital.”