Missall has 'Extreme' experience with Innovative Services

An “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” special that aired nationally on ABC-TV Friday night, Oct. 21, mentioned a company with local ties and a UW-Green Bay connection.

The episode touched on the great work of Innovative Services of Green Bay, an organization devoted to assisting developmentally disabled and special-needs consumers to maximize their potential in their home life or their career path.

For 2006 alumna Shelly Missall (above, in pink), the show provided a national venue showcasing what Missall sets out to do each day since she first started interning with Innovative Services as a UW-Green Bay undergraduate: “make someone else’s day better.”

The episode (see Extreme Makeover Home Edition website) showcased Innovative Services, Inc.’s technology partner, “SimplyHome,” helping to build a home for the Keefer family and their paralyzed adult son while helping him to regain his independence.

The two partner companies traditionally work together providing new models of care as well as new outcomes and solutions to promote independence. That might involve adaptive technology for a client, or a monitoring system, perhaps.

Although Missall played a behind-the-scenes role, getting some replacement parts and donations sent to the work site, she is excited about the opportunity.

“Our excitement comes from the fact the technology Innovative Services has been using for years is finally gaining some practical application and recognition on a larger scale,” Missall said. “One of the things we always find challenging is helping people who don’t have the opportunity to see the technology, understand what the real benefits are and how they are applied. I think it is exceptional that we had the opportunity to showcase this technology, especially on such a grand scale.”

“My hope is that this glimpse at the technology will help those already using it gain a better understanding of all the opportunities available to them and that people not currently using this technology, or not aware of it, will begin to think outside the box when it comes to finding solutions for their loved ones. For me, a major take away is that supporting loved ones should not be a decision of meeting support needs or allowing them to retain the independence they cherish but rather, finding and selecting options that create a balance of both.”

As the office manager, Missall supervises the administrative support team for Innovative Services, Inc., managing Green Bay corporate offices and helping to support offices in Appleton, Waupaca, Stevens Point and La Crosse.

The communications graduate is responsible for ensuring compliance with contracts, for marketing and other projects assigned by the organization’s senior management team.

“I absolutely love working for Innovative Services, Inc. because every day allows me the opportunity to improve someone else’s day,” Missall says. “Regardless of the individual tasks I have to accomplish on a daily basis, my fundamental goal is always to make someone’s day better. I feel truly fortunate to have found a company that is so invested in that approach and aligns so well with my own personal values.”

If her undergraduate experience is an indication, don’t look for Missall to slow down anytime soon. At UW-Green Bay, she was involved in Good Times Programming, RHAA, Student Senate and SUFAC. She was the Campus Traditions Director for SGA one year, wrote for the Fourth Estate for two years and interned at the Weidner Center. She’s “paying her experience forward” overseeing two UWGB interns at present.

“I have worked in a number of different positions here over the last five years, moving into my current role a little over a year ago,” she said. “I presently have two project management interns working for me from the communications and business programs and I am a big supporter of our continued internship programs.”