MCDS is located in McPherson, Kansas and provides services for McPherson, Harvey, and Marion Counties and the surrounding area. MCDS currently serves over 125 individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Through the generosity of the McPherson community, MCDS is able to contract with local businesses to obtain work for our clients. Those businesses are Ultrafab, Viega and Femco. Pfizer provides opportunity for MCDS to bring an inclusive enclave of clients into their work force with the support of a job coach.
In October of 2017, MCDS received a grant through the KU Mechanical Engineering Department. The goal of the project was to develop enhanced work tables for use in our production area, located at our main office. The goal was to create a adjustable table suitable for left or Right handed clients and raise up and down through a hydrolock system. The students in the KU Mechanical Engineering Department were able to achieve these two goals through their designs. The improvements also address many other challenges disabled clients face daily in the small assembly and bagging processes of production. The Assistive Technology grant was funded through the Bio-mechanical Rehabilitation Engineering Advancement in Kansas.
Students and their Professors toured our facility to see what enhancements and adjustments could be done to improve and simplify the work process for client's facing various challenges, thus assessing expeditiously the clients' abilities to work more efficiently and produce greater quantities of products to our external customers, which in turn would increase income for the client. The KU students worked on the project for over 6 months, working closely with MCDS employees and clients to develop the optimal working unit for the clients. Through the generosity of Lowe's hardware stores, who lowered material prices, students were able to exceed the four table expectation and delivered six completed units with accessories and an additional seventh unit for heat sealing. MCDS is so grateful for all of their hard work!
Many of the things we do effortlessly each day, can be extremely challenging for our persons-served! Making possibilities out of the seemingly impossible for our clients is a daily occurrence in the workshop! We would like to express a special thanks to the KU Assistive Technology group and to the corporations in McPherson County that provide contracts to MCDS that employ many of the clients. MCDS would like to extend an invitation to any other businesses in McPherson who would like partner with MCDS to out source contract work to our agency or would like to provide opportunity for work inclusion through enclaves that would be supervised by an MCDS job coach. If you have a business interested in this, please contact Rachel Lesslie, COO at MCDS at 620-241-6693 for further information on how to partnership with MCDS in these job opportunity areas.