VIP, VO-TECH FINDS WAYS TO MEET NEEDS

A new partnership between VIP Industries and the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School has been fruitful. Vo-tech teachers are working with sheltered-workshop employees in a new program to build job-readiness skills.

VIP managers became aware that employees weren't adjusting well to contracts that changed quickly, requiring the learning of new routines and skills. With more training, the managers felt, workers could more easily make the transition and earn more money.

VIP Industries and the vo-tech school deserve hearty praise for creating this workable solution.

The short-term vo-tech program begins with the basics. It first focuses on improving simple life skills including basic hygiene, proper diet and how to relate to work. A second phase concentrates on development motor skills, endurance and dexterity. Finally, workers learn to enhance social skills, such as building work relationships with managers and co-workers.

Graduates of the cooperative program can be expected to improve both work performance and morale. They'll also learn to take more advantage of leisure time to relieve some of the pressures of work.

The state is planning a series of 28 public hearings to discuss ways to improve independent living programs for people with disabilities. One answer may be to expand job-readiness programs like the one developed by VIP and the local vo-tech school.

More often than not, local people in the trenches can develop much more effective programs that office-bound bureaucrats who require endless hearings to do the obvious. When will government learn this lesson and depend on those in the field to produce effective solutions?

Local workers, their parents and managers seem well-pleased with the initial results of the program. That speaks well to the efforts of both the vocational school and VIP Industries. It is just another in a long list of success stories where the vocational-technical school has aided local business and industry.

It can be hoped that this practical program can become a model for the rest of the state and nation.