Family Residences and Essential Enterprises Inc. (FREE)

Family Residences and Essential Enterprises Inc., known as FREE, sits at 6 Hudson St in Coram, NY, and serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental illness, or traumatic brain injury, though they also have services for seniors like assisted living and board and care, so you'll hear about a lot of different program names and supports tied together, like family residences for supportive group living, and what they call essential enterprises, which are programs that help people gain work skills or find jobs if that's something a person wants, and they keep things running with a focus on helping folks be as independent as possible, offering personalized care, meals, medication help, daily activities, and supervision for those who need it, plus memory care in a safe environment if someone has dementia or Alzheimer's, with 24-hour support and special memory-enhancing activities. There are amenities like social and recreation programs, plus community events so people can meet others, and rooms come in different styles, sometimes studios, sometimes ones folks share if that works for them, and the facility includes sensory spaces like their garden at Saddle Rock Ranch if you like being outside in a calming spot. The nonprofit supports more than four thousand people, and has all sorts of options like health clinics, day programs, housing, transition services for employment, respite care that gives caregivers a break, help in a crisis, services for veterans, and special programs for people with traumatic brain injury, so they handle some tough or complex care needs too. Their Success Community Care Clinic sees members of the public for some types of care as well, and they add in things like advocacy and after-school support, with a focus on helping everyone, whatever their level of ability, to be part of the community and feel supported, and for seniors who need skilled nursing, rehab, wound care, or a more hands-on level of health care, FREE can provide that kind of round-the-clock help, all run as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit emphasizing care that matches a person's needs.