In January of 2006, eight residents of an orphanage in Kapan, Armenia, were on the verge of a lifetime in an institution. The residents had special needs, and, as they had all outgrown the orphanage, the eight adult orphans would now be sent, forgotten, to a state psychiatric facility.
To provide a better life for these orphans, RPCV Natalie Bryant Rizzieri started a program new to Armenia. She had spent her Peace Corps service living and working side by side with the residents of the Kapan orphanage, and developing a friendship with the special needs
orphans. When she was told what would happen to them when they reached adulthood, she decided to create an alternative to the state institutions, which Armenians refer to as "the graveyard." Rizzieri started Warm Hearth, Armenia's first long-term group home.
Designed to give special needs orphans the care, love, and rehabilitation opportunities that they are often denied in state institutions, Warm Hearth provides a home to individuals with special needs that have outgrown the orphanages. Without a home like Warm Hearth, the prospects for adult orphans with special needs is bleak; Armenian facilities are designed to care for people with special needs outside of society, with little effort at rehabilitation or reintegration back into their communities.
The special needs population is heavily stigmatized in Armenia, according to Warm Hearth. During the Soviet years, having a disabled family member was considered deeply shameful, and people with
special needs were placed "out of sight" in government institutions- places without sufficient food or resources to care for patients.
The stigma against people with special needs has created an environment in which institutions are poorly funded and those responsible for care inadequately trained. Some of these institutions lack heating in the winter, and the doctor patient ration is sometimes as large as 115 to one.
Rizzieri created Warm Hearth to be an alternative to these institutions, providing individualized care with the ultimate goal of reintegration into society. It's the first long-term group home in Armenia, and provides a home to adult orphans with disabilities who have outgrown the orphanages.
The home has thrived and grown since its inception: in 2008, Warm Hearth welcomed a second group of residents into its newly renovated third floor.
As the group has only one paid employee in the U.S., it also relies heavily on the support of volunteers. Many aspects of the group's projects have come from the time and expertise of volunteers; for instance, a 14-minute documentary on Warm Hearth was designed and edited by a grad student, and its website was the work of a group of volunteer graphic designers. Warm Hearth also relies on volunteers for things like translating English materials into Armenian, and developing sex education programs for the residents.
Warm Hearth is the first long-term group home in Armenia, and the Armenian government has recognized the home as a pilot program. If the home is effective, Warm Hearth says there's a possibility the government will move away from institutionalized care and towards small community based facilities.
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