Unsung heroes behind the gold standard level of care
- jstong2
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 6
In the past 50 years, Community Entry Services has quietly provided a gold standard of care for over a thousand adults in Fremont County, WY who have traumatic brain injuries or intellectual and developmental disabilities. Currently serving 110 adults, Community Entry Services is looking forward to our next 50 years.
This level of care is made possible by the quiet and unsung professionalism of over a hundred of our neighbors and community members in Riverton and Lander. Here is one of the people who make this care possible: Lydell Whiteplumb.
Lydell is a member of the Northern Arapaho tribe, class of 1977 from Wyoming Indian High School. A powwow dancer since he was 2 years old, Lydell is part of the large Whiteplume family with 7 brothers and sisters. He’s been married for 40 years and he and his wife have 4 boys and 1 daughter and many grandchildren and nephews and nieces.
Before coming to work for CES, Lydell worked as a welder on pipelines, oil rigs, and as a general maintenance tech helping with multiple construction and housing projects around the Wind River Reservation.
8 years ago he came to work for CES and has become the main preventative care maintenance lead, helping with vehicles, buildings, and safety precautions for our 110 residents in Fremont county. In addition to leadership at CES, Lydell was a member of the Arapaho business council and is known as a drummer, grass dancer, and sought for teacher of the Arapaho language (including to non-Indians) and spiritual guide.
His leadership and fatherly concern for the wellbeing of others paid off at CES as he’s become not just a maintenance tech but also a support for the recovery of many of our brain injured clients. He takes the time to sit with them, talk with them, and patiently help them communicate. He’s taught them to speak basic Arapaho and encouraged them to have hope “so long as you’re breathing, there’s hope for recovery”.
One of the clients he’s particularly helped is Mike – a brain injured patient who is unable to speak but has learned to type and looks forward to seeing Lydell who talks to him about life and the potential future if Mike keeps trying, keeps hoping, keeps praying.
Prayer is an important part of health and recovery! Lydell knows from personal experience: he gave up drinking 40 years ago after he married and was faced with the prospect of being a father. “I said, I don’t want to lose my wife and children and I don’t want to lie to God, so I just stopped drinking. I have better things to live for than anything alcohol or drugs can provide. And I tell anyone who is tempted to drink – come talk with me and I’ll find something better for you to do!”
One of those things is learning the language and culture of the Arapaho people. The Whiteplume family are known as dancers, drummers and ceremonial face painters in the tribe. They performed at the Cheyenne frontier days for 10 years and hand craft all their own regalia from local wildlife.
An Episcopalian, Lydell helps clients keep their faith in Jesus and call out to God for courage and grace to keep breathing, keep hoping, keep growing. “There is a lot of power for good in this world and those of us who have gifts get more the more we use them to help others”. A proud Arapaho, he’s also a proud American. “This is our country – all of us, white, Indian, everyone. We need to take care of it and one another”. And he has.
Now many of our clients are Arapaho or Shoshone tribal members as are a growing number of our staff.
Just as there are unique insights and concepts found only in their native language or expressed in their dances, drums, and songs, so too each of our clients – whether they are intellectually, developmentally disabled or have acquired brain injuries – they too have unique insights, gifts, and stories to tell the rest of us that we’d all be poorer without knowing them.
Who is really helping who?
Staff like Lydell have done quiet but essential work to help keep our clients safe, make sure their vehicles are running and their rooms and homes are in good repair and safe for them. In turn, these clients also do something for the rest of us who are better people, more in harmony with God and good spirits, thanks to giving us this opportunity to serve others. To support the efforts of Lydell and CES, consider a gift today! https://www.ces-usa.org/donate