Walt:
Time once again for the Power of Potential with AIM Services. Checking in with us, Executive Director of AIM, Chris Lyons. Good morning, Chris.
Chris Lyons:
Good Sunday morning, Walt. Happy to speak with you. Been great to be able to get together. And the dog days of summer are here, but we continue to support, through the great work we do at AIM, for people with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injury. It’s a real pleasure.
Walt:
Right. And Chris, I know we all want this pandemic to be over, but reality has it, so we’ve got a difficult fall ahead of us, and there’s been some new guidelines out there, confusion as well. What would you say to some of the other agencies in Saratoga, many of which have been on this program before, about best practices for wearing masks and vaccinations for employees? You’ve done so well with COVID, almost textbook so far. What can you help some of the other agencies as they form policy?
Chris Lyons:
Excellent question. Well, there’s really no magic formula. I think a couple of things. One, the basic science. Stick to the basic science. We got everybody we support residentially vaccinated as soon as we possibly could. So, all our folks are fully vaccinated. We already have a strategic plan for boosters. So, we’re ahead of the game there. The bad news is we’re going to have to go back to some of the precautions we had when this pandemic first hit us: mask wearing, social distancing, things like that. The good news is we do this. We know how to do it. And we’ve done it in a way that’s fully dedicated, and integrated, and supportive of those folks who are going to have to really process a return to some of these precautions. But that’s what we do.
Chris Lyons:
You go with the flow. Every day is different when you’re supporting somebody with challenges. So, my recommendation would be take it in stride, review your original plans from last year, implement it with a great deal of encouragement, resolve, and support your employees and your customers. And just hang in there. We all got to be stronger together. We’ve done it before, so we’re ready. Nobody’s happy about this. But I’d much rather have the resolve to finally get through this with the Delta variant than have anyone end up in the hospital.
Walt:
Sound advice. Well, as always, we have a special guest that joins us each and every week. And this week, it’s Mike Phinney, a dear friend of yours, Principal Architect at the Phinney Design Group, and a recently sponsor of the croquet tournament.
Chris Lyons:
What a great guy, and what a great story, and a great collaboration with AIM. Anybody that knows design knows that as architects and as engineers go, Phinney design is the best. They are award-winning outfit. They’ve done incredible work up in the Adirondacks. Mike is a genius. His team is wildly creative, out of the box, cutting edge, and they did our original new building on Route 50 up at Wilton, and it was spectacular. And we grew so much and supported so many more folks with challenges. And we did a wing with Sony Bonacio. And once again, Mike’s team stepped up. And the connection between the old and the new is seamless. The design flows perfectly together. And Mike spent countless hours sitting down with us to make sure that the functionality of our work, our buildings helped our work and supported those people that we serve. So, he’s a wonderful guy. He really did pour in a lot of special attention to that project when we built the new wing. And he’s been there for us.
Walt:
Right. And a couple of members of his team there, Ed Anchor and John Haynes, they ended up winning the championship.
Chris Lyons:
It was a great final, Walt. You and I always do a play-by-play for the final. And it’s always a great and fun thing to do. Exciting to have the guys from Phinney win. And they, of course, immediately started bragging rights for next year. But Mike was in attendance. He supports croquet. He’s really all in with our mission. Great that he takes time for us, and he’s engaged in what we do and supports it thoroughly. And everybody had a ball, and it was great. It was really great to catch up with Mike. He’s not just the brilliant and creative designer. He’s a good guy.
Walt:
Yeah. Chris, thank you again. As always, look forward to talking to you again the next week.
Chris Lyons:
We couldn’t do it without you, and can’t wait to see you soon.
Walt:
See you soon, Chris. Thank you.
Chris Lyons:
Take care, my brother.
Walt:
Our special guest is Mike Phinney, Principal Architect at the Phinney Design Group. Good morning, Mike.
Mike Phinney:
Good morning, Walt. How are you?
Walt:
Doing good. Great that you could connect with us on the Power of Potential. You have been a great advocate of people with disabilities and traumatic brain injury. And we want to certainly start out by saying thank you so much for that. But really admired our building that you helped design for AIM Services. It’s a beautiful building, and it’s just been a jewel for being able to bring not only people that we support there, but also, it’s a great work environment for our employees, and bringing in guests or people who might be considering helping to support our efforts. It’s a wonderful building and places like that. And I know you’ve done work with the Common Roots Brewery that we’ve partnered with, and Yaddo, and beautiful buildings in Bolton Landing. And one of the things that I admire most about your work is how your buildings are in sync with the surrounding landscape.
Mike Phinney:
Thanks, Walt. First, it was an honor to work with AIM. It still is. I remember when I first interviewed with June McCloughlin and you were at your original location there off on South Broadway. When we had the opportunity to help AME envision a new building that would do all of those things that we said, be a recruiting tool for good and qualified employees, but also to allow families to feel comfortable that their loved ones would be well taken care of. So, glad to be part of that story now.
Walt:
We thank you again for sponsoring this past croquet tournament. As we see the landscape of COVID-19 and the pandemic, we realize how lucky we were to have this tournament. Thanks to efforts like people like you, we were able to raise $70,000 in support of people with disabilities and traumatic brain injury.
Mike Phinney:
No, that’s great. That’s great to hear it. Yeah. I was really happy that I could comment with some people from my office and support you guys. And we ended up with, I think, one of the nicest days of the summer so far, with all this ran. We had such a beautiful day, and I’m glad someone was smiling on you guys that day.
Walt:
Sure was. We are very, very lucky. And you guys got lucky to win the tournament.
Mike Phinney:
Yes. Ed Anchor and John Haynes. Ed is our Troy office director and runs our Troy office. And then, John’s been with me the longest of all, all of my employees. Been with me 17 years.
Walt:
Wow.
Mike Phinney:
So, it was great to see John and Ed win that. It was really quite something. I think we were definitely the underdog there.
Walt:
Thanks so much again for joining us on the Power of Potential. And a special thank you for your sponsorship of the croquet tournament. Congratulations on the win. And we look forward to seeing you and talking to you again soon. Mike Phinney, lead architect at the Phinney Design Group. For more information on the services that AIM provides or to join the AIM team, go to AIMServicesInc.org for the Power of Potential.