“Cedar Lake is a very loving, committed organization. They recognize that each individual has abilities, and they strive to utilize those abilities to benefit the individual.”
Written by Lennie Omalza | Photos by Kylene White
Sponsored by: Cedar Lake | 9505 Williamsburg Plaza, Louisville, KY 40222 | Phone: (502) 495-4946 | info@cedarlake.org | Website: CedarLake.org
Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best — “A house is made of bricks and beams. A home is made of hopes and dreams.”
Lynn Wilkerson says her daughter Kristy was never able to articulate her vision of home. After being injured as an infant in a car crash caused by a drunk driver, Kristy became dependent on a village of people to care for her. “But I know in my heart her dream has been realized in Cedar Lake’s newest location, Sycamore Run,” says Lynn.
Kristy — who is nonverbal, in a wheelchair, and dependent on others for her most basic needs — was a resident at the Lodge, Cedar Lake’s 63-bed intermediate care facility for medically fragile adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. After four years, she transferred to Sycamore Run, the organization’s unique, four-bed intermediate care facility that offers traditional comforts of home.
Kristy continues to receive all the love, care, and attention she has always gotten from Cedar Lake, but now she has a garden, bird feeder, screened-in porch, and more. She is in an environment that’s similar to a typical house, which offers more privacy and encourages independence. “Never did I — or Kristy — ever imagine she could live in a house in a typical neighborhood similar to her brother’s or sister’s homes,” Lynn says.
Though Lynn serves as the treasurer of both the Cedar Lake Lodge and Cedar Lake Inc. and has been on the organization’s Board before Kristy became a resident 10 years ago, her connection to the organization is clearly much deeper and more personal than any title would suggest. And she attests to the fact that Cedar Lake has been life-changing for countless people, not just Kristy.
“Cedar Lake is a very loving, committed organization,” she says. “The staff go above and beyond. They recognize that each individual has abilities, and they strive to utilize those abilities to benefit the individual.”
Lynn adds that the services Cedar Lake provides stress equality for all. “It’s about treating Kristy the way that other people are treated,” she says. “All of their disciplines [are crafted] to bring out the best in the individual.”
