Post News Director chatted with Brenda Hansen and Mardel Manary who are with the North Platte Opportunity Center. The trio chatted about the sensory that the NPOC has and also the Sara Rickertsen Special Needs Grant that the NPOC received.
NORTH PLATTE - The North Platte Opportunity Center serves individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and is dedicated to making an impact on these individual lives. The NPOC also helps individuals with their community living, and with jobs and so much more.
The NPOC also has a sensory side to help with individuals who struggle with sensory overload. "Sensory overload can be volume, it could be too many people, it can be a lot of different ways but it's a place for them to come decompress and unwind," said Brenda Hansen. "It's a very calming environment." Hansen has been working with the sensory side at the NPOC for almost 10 years.
The NPOC was recently granted the Sara Rickertsen Special Needs Grant from the Lexington Community Foundation. "We are very excited that the Lexington Community Foundation granted us the Sara Rickertsen Special Needs Grant and we are going to use that as part of our program over at the sensory side and we are getting some speech generated devices," said Mardel Manary. "We have 7 individuals who are nonverbal so it will help them communicate."
If you would like to learn more about the NPOC, check out the podcast above or click here to learn more on their website.