What used to be just a big waiting room now is so active it exemplifies anything but 'waiting.'

In one corner, children play or read with a foster grandma and foster grandpa. Across the room, on health screening days, children cry out complaints as they receive immunizations or other health care services. And in between, people badly in need of a job take advantage of donated technology to search for the opening that will put them to work and let them leave public assistance behind.

Over the last several months, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' Topeka Area Office has been transformed.

On one side of the 5,200 square-foot ground floor lobby area, SRS clients take advantage of a Job Resource Center put together by a team of SRS staff, using materials donated by the community. Available for use is a television showing job openings or programs to prepare them for a job interview. They also can use a personal computer located within the center to update their resume or type application letters. Or, they can scan newspaper want ads placed there daily by SRS employees who bring the newspapers from home.

The Job Resource Center even offers a telephone service, nicknamed The Hello Line," that allows clients without telephones at home to receive messages about their job applications. Volunteers from the National Association for Hispanic Elderly began staffing the Job Resource Center recently; previously, other volunteers operated the telephone service and, along with SRS staff, helped clients learn how to use the computer.

On the other side of the room, foster grandparents Alberta and Bill Miller read and talk to children of all ages whose mother or father is in the building for an appointment. Both clients and SRS staff say having the foster grandparents on hand to interact with children helps the parent or parents, SRS staff, and, of course, the children, get through their time at the agency more smoothly. (See related story and photograph.)

In an office area behind the Job Resource Center, children's plaintive cries can sometimes be heard as they object to a KAN Be Healthy medical examination being done by Shawnee County Health Department nurses. The prevention-focused medical screenings are available by appointment in the area office for the convenience of clients with a medical card, many of whom have limited access to transportation.

The transformation of the Topeka Area Office came about because SRS workers and administrators saw the need. The Kan Be Healthy screenings resulted from an agreement between SRS and the health department aimed at improving access to health care for children.

It's good to be visible; access for people needs to be easier," said

Penny Selbee, maternal and child health nursing team leader with the health department. This is what public health is all about -- going where the folks are. The SRS people do a super job of collaborating with us."

Besides the technology, including a television set and VCR donated by Kansas University School of Social Welfare and cable access donated by TCI of Kansas, job openings are listed on a bulletin board. The bulletin board also features 'success stories' about former public assistance recipients who found successful employment.

The Job Resource Center came about after a committee was formed among SRS workers from different commissions. Area Director Oliver Green said employees were behind the changes.

They're the ones who came up with the idea," he said. They contacted employers and put together a committee...it's a project they have taken ownership of."

Carla Layne, an Economic Assistance Supervisor for SRS, said employees from many different commissions volunteered for the committee. Their first task was to survey clients who came into the SRS office to find out what they wanted in the lobby. The vast majority of responses involved help in finding work.

For Layne, one way of measuring the success of the resource center has been how quickly newspaper want ads brought in by staff disappear.

They just disappear; we found we couldn't get enough," Layne said.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001