Blair Yuhas, left, has lunch with his boss, Rick Leach, of the Unison Veiner Centre bistro during an event on Tuesday to commemorate the start of Employing Persons with Disabilities Awareness Month at REDI Enterprises. News Photo Collin Gallant
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Employers who hire disabled workers were honoured Tuesday by REDI Enterprises to mark the beginning disability employment awareness month, while local bosses on hand said the practice adds to workplace morale, atmosphere and productivity.
Rick Leach the manager of the bistro at the Unison Veiner Centre, said working with REDI for the past three years has been positive and helps all employees focus on providing service as a unit.
“The whole team brightens up when Blair comes in for a shift,” said Leach the manager of the bistro at the Unison Veiner Centre.
Blair Yuhas, 39, takes two shifts each week washing dishes at the facility.
He has worked all of his adult life in the food service industry, enjoys the work, earns his own money and gets personal satisfaction from it, according to his mother Grace Yuhas-Forsythe.
“We’ve always made sure that he has lived in the community, and employment has been a part of that,” she said.
REDI executive director Craig Wood said an interesting phenomenon is how people introduce themselves with their name and, and usually, what they do for a living.
“It’s a big part of our identity, who we are and where we belong in society,” he said. “Having people with disabilities in the workforce, working shoulder to shoulder with others is a way to develop inclusion, community and giving people a meaningful life.”
On Tuesday, FreshCo grocery store was named the Employer of the Year at a noon-hour event at the REDI office, while Barry Gutfriend, of the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede, was named “Changemaker” of 2024.
Major local employers on hand include South Country Co-op (the employer of the tear in 2023), as well as the Medicine Hat News, which currently has six REDI clients as carriers.
REDI links about 100 clients with employers in Medicine Hat, where the organization began operating in 1959.
Locations in Brooks, Lethbridge and Calgary deal with about 500 more placements, said Woods.
Self-directed work is also becoming more common, said Woods, who said two individuals are now considered “self-employed” in creative industries.
“We try to find out what a person’s special talents are and we match that to the work and what they want to do,” said Wood, who said REDI also commonly deals with employers looking for help in clerical, cashier, and warehouse positions.
