A new business looking to benefit California has recently moved into the community.
Vantage Supported Living - offering 24 hour in-home care and community integration to the developmentally disabled - has moved their business from Cole County to Moniteau County in order to help local families.
Vantage founder and owner Tiffany Burns has been working in the field of special needs in a variety of capacities for the past 15 to 18 years. Burns said it was working with her uncle, who had disabilities of his own, that inspired her to begin working with the disabled.
This eventually took her to working for the Day Program in Jefferson City, where she became the administrator for four years. It was through this job that she felt a need for change in the world for individual supported living (ISL). Although it would take her a couple years to realize this, Burns would go on to establish her business so she could create that change herself.
"It is a hard job, but I realized it just became this calling for me," Burns said. "It was everywhere I looked and everywhere I went, families were stopping me and telling me 'You should open this, you should do this,' and finally I said, 'You know what, I think you're right.'"
After opening her doors in Cole County in August of 2019, Burns would see multiple locations go up in the months afterward. They would later expand into Moniteau County after buying a duplex on David Road. However, working closely with Moniteau County Public Administrator Cher Caudel influenced Burns to uproot her entire business from Jefferson City to California.
"I had some of Cher's clients in Jefferson City, and I think Cher is wonderful," Burns said. "I know the service coordination here in Moniteau and it's just what they do here - they're very passionate, they're very understanding, they are very committed to services, which is super important to me as a provider because we work as a team. Cher had told me that there was a need here and I said, "Okay."
After settling into the area, Burns and her team made sure to update any and all kinds of services they can offer. She said Vantage is there to help motivate and educate developmentally disabled individuals into becoming more independent. This means that work at Vantage includes preparing individuals for employment, money management, situation identification and many other useful skills.
"After we moved here to California, we just added all of the four employment services that are available, and we installed a facility exclusively for that," Burns said. "We also added ISD, which has individual skill development; that can be a variety of things. It can be teaching identification of emergency situations, money management, cooking skills, internet safety and whatever it is that a client needs."
This education enables individuals to pursue whichever avenue they would like as a career. If they would like a career in an office, they would be taught computer access and typing skills, or if they needed to work in the service industry they would be coached through Vantage's kitchen area. Along with services teaching organization, socialization, and even proper hygiene and laundry, they also offer an area to exercise if the client would ever need it.
Burns said when a client decides to come to Vantage for their services, they have "unlimited options" regarding how they can do so. As an ISL provider, she said her first job is to figure out the client's budget. From there, she said Vantage can help with questions about social security, benefits, applying for food stamps and what a client can afford. Then, Burns helps them look for housing in the community.
Burns said Vantage is open to those from 18 years old to end of life. Once a client receives an eligible-for-Medicaid waiver, Burns and company can assist them in any way, shape or form. However, this is a process that does take two to three years, she said. A client must apply for Medicaid, receive a waiver and complete many other steps before becoming independent. That is why Burns said she wants the community to know that Vantage is here to help whenever needed.
While Burns admits that she has not always been a small town girl, she described her first impressions of California as "amazing." She said the way that she, her family and employees have been treated since arriving here has been phenomenal, so much so that Vantage will be moving the headquarters here and letting go of the Jefferson City office at the end of this month.
"The biggest thing that I want to do here as a provider is really be able to reach out to those families who are aging, who have adult dependents, and let them know that we're here and how to guide them through those services," Burns said. "That's the biggest thing that I would want the community to know - to say thank you for welcoming us and that we are here to educate and to provide opportunities for independence and inclusion and growth."