For Khem Basnet, becoming a shared home provider was more than a rewarding career move – it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a generational impact.
It’s a brisk early spring day in Manchester, NH. Khem Basnet sits on a bench at a city park, located a few steps from his house. The sunshine splashes through the cloudless sky, a herald of (hopefully) a balmy season. Which would be ideal because Tommy loves to walk. And walk. And walk.
Tommy is Khem’s client. Strike that – Tommy is a member of Khem’s family.
As a shared home provider for Crotched Mountain Foundation, Khem and his family have opened their home to Tommy, an adult with a developmental disability who joined them in October 2020 from a group home.
Thus far it has been a perfect match, rewarding for everyone involved. A complete home run. Then again, for anyone who’s known Khem, this is the least surprising news in the world.
STARTING FRESH
May 2009.
Khem and his family arrive at the United States from Nepal as refugees. As grateful as he was to set foot in New Hampshire, Khem has little time to waste; he needed a job and the family needed money to start coming in. There was a brand new life to be forged.
Khem immediately got a job working at McDonald’s at the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. As steady income it was fine – but there was more Khem could offer, and he knew it.
“I was happy to get work experience,” Khem recounts. “But I wanted something that fit my past experience and education.”
In Nepal, Khem was trained as an educator and he brought with him an abiding love of working with students to his new home country.
Four months into his fast food tenure, he noticed a job listing for a Residential Counselor at Crotched Mountain, working with students with disabilities. Yes. This felt right. Khem applied, was hired, and a career was born.
A PERFECT FIT
“For me it was really easy,” Khem says. “I was just teaching and working with kids. The only difference is that they had a disability.”
Khem worked as a Residential Counselor for three years, was promoted to a Residential Manager, and, ultimately, stepping into a Human Resources role as a Recruiter.
In that position, he was able to leverage his extensive community connections – particularly with the immigrant and refugee populations – to draw more people into the disability service field.
And then in 2020, a pandemic hit and everything changed As a result, Khem left his HR job and, in October, he became a shared home provider and Tommy joined the Basnet household.
A shared home is precisely what it sounds like: people sharing their home – their lives – together. Crotched Mountain Foundation’s shared home program matches providers with adults with disabilities. It is less a business relationship and more a familial relationship.
“He’s happy,” Khem says. “And we’re able to give him the best care. It feels good to support him in his
daily life.”
That means care, support, and recreation; and while community outings are still limited somewhat to lingering COVID concerns, Tommy is more than happy to do his favorite thing: walk. (Khem can’t even begin to count the number of steps he’s logged since he’s been with Tommy.)
Together they’ll walk around the block or explore the trails or stroll to the park (a favorite destination).
“It doesn’t feel like work,” Khem says. “Not at all. Tommy is a part of our life.”