Janitorial Services: Meet Barbara Young

For some people a job means a source of income, for others it’s a way to stay active, for Barbara Young, however, it means dignity.

There is hardly a time in Barbara’s life that she can remember not working. Starting at the young age of nine selling produce with her brother, hard work soon became second nature for Barbara, and eventually, a means to support her family. But after a brain aneurism nearly took her life in 1999, Barbara’s life would never be the same.

“I watched many of my family members go from good health to bad, but they never complained – they just kept living a good life,” Barbara says. “After my aneurism, that ball was passed to me.”

It took more than a year of grueling therapy to regain control of her mind and body, and even then, Barbara’s struggle to return to a normal life had just begun.

“I started working for a health department taking care of elderly people, getting their food and cleaning their houses,” Barbara remembers, “but after a new GM came in and decided I didn’t look the part of a $124 million establishment, they made it real tough on me. They ran me out.”

For Barbara, losing her job was more than just losing a paycheck.

“I’ve worked all of my life, it means everything to me,” Barbara says. “What else would I be doing with my life? Collecting social security? I don’t know anything but to work.”

Soon after Barbara lost her job, a close friend told her about an organization that trained and employed people with severe disabilities – PHC Northwest (PHCNW).

“One of the first people I met at PHCNW was Marilyn with one arm,” says Barbara with a warm smile. “I thought to myself, ‘Well I must be in the right place!’”

Barbara soon began working in PHCNW’s Janitorial Division cleaning a Multnomah County medical building, but late hours working alone made her uneasy in her new position – something PHCNW didn’t ignore.

“They transferred me to [PHCNW’s main office] and it felt like I had joined a big family,” Barbara beams. “That’s the cool thing about PHCNW – they find a place that you’re going to succeed.”

Today, along with a bigger family and a steady job, Barbara can look back on her aneurism as a blessing, not a curse.

“You understand more about life once you’ve faced death and get a second chance,” Barbara says. “I don’t know if there are words to describe it – it’s just there.”