Founder and Visionary

Founder

Profile

The genesis of ZephyrWest resides in Bill Lenhard's early professional experiences with the developmentally disabled. In the late 1960's, great interest was raised in the suffering of the developmentally disabled housed in institutional settings. These people were part of a medical model treatment program that provided no hope for a quality existence. Without benefit of social contacts, concerned family or even the remotest compassion, they were doomed to a lifetime of wretchedly unhappy and morbid isolation.

Treatment was designed only to quiet and contain the behavior of people, who like all humans, needed direction and purpose. To quiet their unrest they were given large doses of drugs that resulted in a manageable, custodial circumstance for the caregiver staff.

The problem was twofold. There were no technologies in the social sciences to grapple with the need to change these conditions. And, by isolating people with developmental disabilities, society was housing a problem that was literally beyond the scope of their understanding. Thus, the developmentally disabled populations found themselves both condemned and removed from the burden of social conscience.

An Emerging Solution

At about the same time, energy and interest was applied to begin development of social technologies to understand the problem and to address it with powerful changes in both treatment and environment. Perhaps the most successful project was started at Virginia Commonwealth University. In Richmond, they pioneered the development of a program aimed at understanding the nature of behavioral, physical, and mental disabilities, and the methods to intervene. The curriculums developed at the University eventually became the national standard for programs in rehabilitation treatment and counseling.

In this time frame Bill Lenhard, a recent graduate in the field of social research psychology, began his introduction to the custodial, long-term institution model. Beginning his career in the state mental health system, Bill became one of the first non-medical persons invited to look at the long-term confinement models for the developmentally disabled.

He began by visiting state long-term care hospitals and making careful observations. Around the country, other psychologists were developing new technologies that focused squarely on the needs of the developmentally disabled populations. To augment and quicken the pace of developing a local solution for Virginia, Bill developed a dialogue with other psychologists treading in similar waters.

Nationally known figures that became instrumental in providing direct program development assistance included Nat Azrin at Anna State Hospital in Illinois, John Watson in Ohio, Saslow in Oregon and many others. Including Bill, all were protégés of the renowned B.F. Skinner's behavioral psychology methods. The foundation and underlying philosophy of behaviorism is the science of learning. And here is where the rubber began to meet the road.

Theory into Practice

Armed with abundant information and a clear comprehension of the vast need in the developmentally disabled population, Bill set out to make a significant change. With the assistance of federal funds, a two year project was designed to focus attention on a group of developmentally disabled adults aged 18 -62 who had been confined to a dungeon like setting at Virginia's ancient Central State Hospital in Petersburg. This research program was aimed at two objectives: (1) developing a thorough understanding of this population and (2) providing alternatives that would impact on the quality of life.

In the initial phase of project development, a staff was necessary. It was at this point that Virginia Commonwealth University's newly developing Rehabilitation program was introduced to the project. Thirty (30) students at both under graduate and graduate levels were hired to completely re-staff and essentially take over control of a back ward population of 65 developmentally disabled adults. Over the next two years, this population and the entire hospital system experienced a metamorphosis unheralded in Virginia's history.

The end results were to bestow a dignity and meaningful quality of life to the developmentally disabled populations housed in the back wards of Virginia's mental hospital system. People who formerly existed in a perpetual state of drug induced confusion and apathy were finding purpose. Countless years spent unclothed in marginal hygienic conditions with no destiny, no interests, no work skills, no self-care skills and little social contact were replaced by a lively existence characterized by a measurable motivation to continue to connect with the world.

Staffing personnel were trained to provide an activist care model aimed at socializing clients for eventual reintroduction to the community.

Private For Profit Success

At the end of this phase of the project, Bill Lenhard turned his interests to a more entrepreneurial direction. With the assistance of another psychologist, a new company, "APS" was launched in an abandoned downtown department store. A business plan was developed that provided a strategy to move residents out of the state hospital system into local homes, train them in job skills, and provide the support services necessary to guarantee the highest quality of life with a purposeful existence. Training programs followed a graded level advancement model that encouraged and systematically reinforced a person's progression from partial care to maximum independence. Initial start up capital for this project came from two sources: funds from the personal accounts of the partners and a municipal donation of the space.

To create the revenue stream, opportunities were sought in industries experiencing high turnover. Personnel departments were convinced to have APS employees takeover an assembly line or other group operation inside their workplace. APS provided transportation, on-site training, over-site and most importantly, a cost effective, on-time compliance with production expectations.

Under the terms of the contract, APS was paid by the corporation, which in turn provided payment to its employees. The difference between the actual pay scale and cash collected were distributed to profit and program overhead. Everyone was a winner! The developmentally disabled population had a purposeful existence, the industries had solved workplace production problems and the community had created a meaningful role for neglected members.

The business, although a great success, was short lived. The untimely, sudden and violent death of one of the principals brought a conclusion to the venture. Happily, however, the developmentally disabled population served by APS was prepared to be absorbed into other new competing community projects which survive to this day.

Fast Forward

It is against this backdrop that the entrepreneurial interests of Bill Lenhard have been reinvented. This time the issues are equally critical and rapidly rising to the level of a national crisis. A new group of highly successful, leading edge national talent has been assembled to design solutions for the elder community faced with long term and growing support needs. Partners in this project include Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Elder LifeCare Foundation^TM. It is our intention to develop a private sector solution to the growing and continuing need for long-term elder care business models to provide safe, quality, efficient and effective support systems that allow America's elder population to age in place with dignity. This will involve the development of strategically improved staffing models along with a viable business model that by being custom designed for the aging industry, provides efficient and effective services to the aging and returns a profit.

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