Blazers vs. Nuggets…Showdown Tonight!!!
March 8th, 2010 | 
Author: Yes, I live in Denver… no…that does not mean I have to be a Nuggets fan…the truth is…my heart belongs to my fellas in Portland. Yesiree Therapites…tonight will be a BIG game! One of the biggest games this season and all my mojo is hanging on those Portland Trailblazers to bring in a win! If you feel so inclined, I’d sure appreciate all of your good wishes going out to my boys in red and black tonight. Repeat after me…GO BLAZERS!!!
Posted in 
Welcome Community Access
Community Access located in Tyler, Texas, is our newest Therap family member! Therap welcomes this amazing agency to our growing list of quality agencies that use Therap every day while improving the lives of people with developmental disabilities across the Nation.
In March of 1991, Community Access, Inc. was established. The agency is strongly committed to improving services for individuals with mental retardation in Texas. Beyond simply providing care, their goal has been to assist people with developmental disabilities in reaching their highest level of physical, intellectual, behavioral and vocational functioning. Over the past decade, Community Access has grown from one ICF/MR group home to more than 30 ICF/MR and HCS facilities across the state of Texas. With regional offices located in West Texas, North Texas, East Texas and the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Thank you Laura, Ed, Tonya, Jo, and all of the Community Access team. We look forward to helping you achieve your vision of being a paperless organization.
Welcome Aboard!!!
Hangin’ with the Boys
I got to see my kiddo’s this weekend! Check out my beautiful boys…oh, and Archie too!
Welcome Back Weird Holidays
I was reminded today that I had not been sharing my fascination of weird holidays with all of my blog readers. I do so humbly apologize and will remedy that oversight by providing you with the list of March weirdness. Please follow along and don’t get lost in the goofiness of such “interesting celebrations”.
March 1- Pig Day
Yes, I’m talkin’ about things that go “Oink” in the night. A day totally devoted to the love of Miss Piggy.
March 12 – Plant A Flower Day
This holiday is for you Miss Alison Burt! Hope all of you enjoy planting something Spring-like and beautiful, like my favorite flower in the world… Gerber Daisies.
March 19 – Poultry Day
Well…I just don’t know what to say. Poultry…its kinda gross like this, but, hey have some chicken.
March 21 – Quilting Day
This is a great holiday. My grandmother would be tickled to celebrate a day devoted to quilting. How much fun can a person have in a day.
Have a great month of holiday celebrating and I’ll fill you in on April’s exciting happenings in a few weeks! Oh, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Welcome Williamette Valley
Therap wishes to welcome Williamette Valley Rehabilitation Center as one of our newest family members.
Williamette Valley, located in Lebonan, Oregon, was founded in 1959 by three people in wheelchairs who possessed a lot of drive, a desire and very little money ($50.00). The first year they provided service to approximately 15 disabled people. In 1961 the Center was incorporated as a private non-profit corporation to provide employment, training and general rehabilitation to disabled adults.
The Mission of Willamette Valley Rehabilitation Center, Inc. is to provide the best professional vocational services to those adults in the community who, by virtue of their physical or mental limitations, are negatively impacted in their ability to attain or maintain employment.
We are excited to help the agency get started and welcome them to our unique family of quality providers across the Nation! Thank you Marty and Jim. I look forward to working with both of you!
8.9 Has Some Cool New Tools!
I was asked today…by one of our very good customers…”Anna, when was the last time you blogged?”
“Well, that would be 8 days ago, my friend.”
Yes…8 long days ago. How thoughtless of me to put all of you through such a loss. Well, I have a lot to blog about right now so pull up your office wheelie chair and let’s get going!
Have you taken a look at the Release Notes for 8.9? Huh???? Oh, yeah…our brilliant technical team has, once again, created MAGIC! Let me give you a few highlights…
- The ISP Data Update Role has been introduced replacing the ISP Data and ISP Approve roles combination needed to update ISP Data entered by other users.
- Four new links have been added to the ISP Report done page for better navigation-
i)Change Report Criteria
ii)Select other ISP Program(s)
iii)Choose another individual
iv)Choose another Program/Site
- Updates made to the fields in a Medication History form are now highlighted in pink when they are viewed in the locked MAR form. These highlights will help users notice changes made to an MAR easily.
These are just a few of the additions to a system that CARES about our customers and responds to your requests…just like the changes we’ve made above.
I hope you like the new features! Let us know what you think!!
Houston…We Have a Problem….
S0, it goes like this….the phone rings and its Southwest Airlines calling to tell me that they have canceled my 7am flight tomorrow due to impending SNOW STORMS in HOUSTON! That’s right…HOUSTON. What in the world is Houston, TX doing having snow storms???!!!!
No worries my Therapite followers…I’ll be safely in Houston…4 hours LATER than planned but its all good…the weatherman says it will be 52 degrees tomorrow when I touch down so I’m not fearing much more of a delay.
So next you’re saying to yourself.(sure you are)…why are you going to Houston, O’Therapite Sista O’Mine???? Well, its because Texas is next on my list to conquer! Absolutely…I meant CONQUER!!! LOOK…you’ve watched us grow exponentially across the Nation. Therap is the LEADER…no doubt about it. Why…well, its because we rock the planet when it comes to knowing our customers, responding to their needs, and just being the best product BY FAR and ABOVE over all competitors.
Yes, I am a bit obsessed about Therap, how can one not be…Its a love affair….ahhhhhhh…… THERAP…..ORANGE…. ORANGE…. THERAP….its such a beautiful thing (ummm… I’m going on limited sleep…but that has NOTHING to do with it…REALLY).
If its ORANGE...I'm lovin' it...and yes...that IS Therapwear I have on!
Catch ya in Houston….maybe… 
Ciao!
Taking California by Storm
While my colleague, Kevin Dierks tackles the southern part of California, I am busy these next couple days doing some serious Therap networking in the northern region, specifically in Sacramento, CA.
Arriving here this evening, my first impression of the Sacramento Airport was COOL. I mean, tell me this, where did they get so many pieces of antique luggage. This is luggage that can take a beating time and time again and still look like new. I felt like I was in a luggage museum (look closely and see if you can find the ORANGE suitcase…I SOOO wanted it!).
But enough luggage envy, why I’m really here is to represent my passion…THERAP…at the California ARC State Directors meeting. Yes, Therap was invited to be the presenter at the State ARC provider’s luncheon being held tomorrow, yes, Sunday, at the Embassy Suites in downtown Sacramento. Whoo-Hoo…more opportunities to spread the word about the most revolutionary thing in our field since disability reform…that’s right…THERAP!
The view from my window
Tags: Kudos Kevin!
Kevin Dierks recently posted a Blog about the use of Therap in non-community based service models. It was such a great article that I wanted to make sure that those of you that follow my blog also got exposure to his thoughts. Really nice job Kevey! This is why you are a TERRIFIC Therapite!
Therap in Non-Community Based Service Settings - by Kevin Dierks
Therap is an amazing company for many reasons. One of the things that impresses me the most is how Therap has managed to stay so far ahead of the curve on technology that maximizes efficiencies and quality of life outcomes for provider agencies in our field. Therap has been ahead of the trend to put computers and internet access into service centers and residential programs, so as agencies are making this leap forward Therap is already there with a fully matured service and technology package with features and depth most agencies have only dreamed of in their data management and reporting.
When it comes to non-center based services in the community, as usual, Therap is ahead of the curve. Therap is again ready with agency wide integration with easy remote access any where the internet is available, all with cutting edge HIPAA privacy and security. Now that the internet is widely available in even remote communities (refer to the many commercials bragging nationwide coverage) the technology is fully in place to support non center based service models to have the same quality and quantity of documentation and data as center based services. The challenge for many agencies today is how to take this inevitable step into the future and include internet based documentation in their community based services. Below I address some of the options for supporting this technological leap forward.
1. One of the biggest challenges often cited is that the direct support professional workforce does not have consistent internet access in their lives. Some thoughts on this:
-
Will your least innovative staff set the limits for your organization moving into the future?
-
The internet is one of the most powerful tools for adult learning available today, does it make sense to not have this available for supporting the learning of people with developmental disabilities and their staff?
-
Also given the speed and flexibility of current technology developments, I am told we are only a few years from having the portable electronic devices (phone +++) (found in the pocket, or purse of every direct support professional) able to fully access the internet in same way our home computers and laptops do today.
2. Computer Work Stations- existing agency locations can usually be easily adapted to provide staff with a drop in internet connected workstation. How about reaching out to community partners and other organizations to support a workstation?
3. Public Computer Access – public libraries, coffee shops, and many other places now provide computer workstations for little or no charge, Therap’s security features make this a safe option for submitting documentation.
4. Existing Computer with Internet at DSP Home – Many(the majority?) of direct support professionals already have internet access at home, several agencies have tapped into this resource and have done creative things like providing staff with 5-10 minutes of flex time 5-10 minutes each shift to allow staff to log on from home and quickly complete their daily documentation.
5. Existing Computer without Internet at DSP at Home – Provide a small stipend for to pay for a small percentage of staffs internet connection. This can also help when staff see their mileage checks shrinking because they are not driving pieces of paper several miles every week to the main office.
6. Purchase Netbooks - in this new technology, portable computing with internet access comes at a very low cost
- No Microsoft Office or other licenses required
- Access free wireless hotspots
- Offer to allow staff to keep in exchange for providing their own internet access
- Develop a sharing program for the netbook where staff can meet up and input their data
7. Computer Donation/ Recycling – Reach out to your community and local businesses letting them know your push forward and open the doors for donations of old computers. Once again licenses for Microsoft are not required when all they will be used for is Therap documentation on the internet. Be sure to recycle your own computers internally. Sounds like a possible employment opportunity for a person with a developmental disability in here.
8. Paper Work Arounds - while waiting for staff and technology to catch up to Therap and your organizational push to modernize you still can:
- Print out blank forms from Therap and have staff input the information into Therap at a later time at a workstation
- Or have other staff input the information into Therap at a later time
- Scanning in documents to Therap is another potential employment opportunity for a person with a developmental disability.
Thanks for taking the time to read this work in progress. Please add your ideas and I will work on compiling this all into a resource as we move into a future of community based services paired with internet based documentation.
Aloha!
Welcome Leslie!
Leslie Jones, our newest Therap team member
Therap added a team member to our crew this month, Leslie Jones is our new Oregon/Washington Business Development Consultant. Assisting me with the growth of this area, Leslie will be coordinating sales activity in the Washington and Northern California areas and helping me make sure our Oregon customers are moving forward with their implementation plans.
Welcome Leslie! We are excited to have you on board!