Hello Therapville! Jordan here! Just a quick post about the time Chris and I spent with the wonderful people in Seneca, Kansas last week! We were assisting the great staff at the Nemaha County Training Center get started with Therap and they made us feel right at home! I wanted to share with all of the Therap users a cool policy NCTC uses for medication errors.
Their system works much like the points on a driver’s license. The nurse assigns a severity rating to each medication administered to the individuals supported. If a staff misses a dose of a medication they lose a certain amount of points. The points lost are dependent on the severity level of the medication (ie a missed seizure medication would cause the staff to lose more points then missing a dose of nasal spray). Once the staff loses all of their points the agency reports them to the state for abuse/neglect. If the staff goes the agency determined amount of time without having a medication error they are able to gain points back. Chris and I thought this was a great way to motivate staff to go through all of their necessary checks and really take medications seriously as no one wants to be put on the abuse/neglect registry.
The second most exciting part of our time in Seneca (besides the training of course) was finding out the town had a Valentino’s Italian Buffet which I thought was a Nebraska only restaurant that I’ve had quite the hankerin’ for since moving to Kansas City!
I can’t wait to meet more of the inspiring Therap providers at the National Conference next week in New Jersey and learn all I can about the amazing programs everyone is running! Happy Wednesday!
Jordan

This past week I was able to spend time with several agencies in Illinois.  The time started with some training with one of our longest standing users of Therap in the Midwest.  Rimland Services of Evanston, IL in the Northern part of the Chicagoland area.  I had a great time with Bridget Crump and Michael Christopher training staff and find more effeciencies in the system that they can take advantage of at their agency.

Rimland Services Staff

In addition to training at Rimland I also spent time with an agency in Rock Island, IL and some additional agencies in the Chicago area.  All in all it was a great trip meeting with some tremendous agencies doing a great job in supporting individuals in Illinois.  I look forward to meeting with those that are already users as well as some of these agencies becoming new Therap partners using the Therap system.

Welcome to the Team

Here is a little Bio from Jordan…

I graduated from Lincoln Northeast High School in 2007. While there I was on the dance team, student council, a student ambassador, the youth leadership academy, and part of a program calling Pershing Pals where I spent my lunch hour twice a week with an elementary school student who needed some extra support. I then moved to Utah where I began working for a school for kids with special needs called Dan Peterson. I was in a classroom with teenage students who had communication barriers which often led to challenging behaviors. While at Dan Peterson I also worked for Rise doing in home support for children and adults with special needs who were in a family setting. I also helped run a summer program for Rise and did respite care on the weekends.

I moved back to Nebraska in September of 2009 and began pursuing a degree in education at the University of Nebraska. While attending the University I also worked in the public schools as an early childhood special education paraprofessional working mainly with 3-5 year old’s who had Autism or another developmental delays. After working back in the schools for a year and a half I took the opportunity to participate in the Management Training Program through Developmental Services of Nebraska. I assisted with two group homes in Nebraska. One was a home for young boys with Autism and the other was a home for men who were considered to be high risk to the community. After completion of the program I moved to Kansas City, Missouri where I was the Residential Supervisor for five homes in the Kansas City area. I am currently working on completing my degree in Early Childhood Education through the distance education program provided by the University of Nebraska.

This past week it was great for Chris and myself to attend the MARF Legislative Dinner in Jefferson City, MO which Therap sponsored.  We had an opportunity to connect with many of the MARF agencies that are involved with MARF as well as elected state leaders from around the state of MO.  It was great to be able to tell so many different people about the value that Therap brings to the developmental disability field.  Therap currently partners with many of the existing agencies that are members of MARF in providing a documentation solution.  If you are a member and not using Therap it really is in your agency’s best interest to give us a call to discuss how we can make a difference in your agency.

I am looking forward to an upcoming information session to be held at Rimland Services in Evanston, IL.  I will be doing some training with the agency and then opening it up at 3pm for additional agencies in the area to come and find out more how Therap can save money and time for agencies in Illinois.  I already have a few individuals and agencies signed up to attend and I am looking forward to meeting with some new folks in the greater Chicago Metro.  If you would like to join us just drop me a note and let me know you want to attend.  The session will take place at 3pm on January 26th at the Rimland offices located at 1265 Hartrey Avenue . Evanston, IL.  If you are in the greater Chicago area I hope to see you soon.

It was great to see MBW start out 2012 with a great first step as they have partnered with Therap as we move into this brand new year.   The mission of MBW as stated on their website is the following:

The Mission Of MBW Company Is  

To Provide Individuals Support in…
achieving valued social roles…
discovering and contributing gifts and talents…
growing in relationships…. having
community presence… and making informed choices

It is exciting to have them as part of the ever growing Therap Midwest community of providers.  I am so excited as they will use Therap in a variety of locations to communicate and provide services in a whole new informed way.

Who will be the next Midwest agency to take a step forward in this brand new 2012?

It is my priveledge to welcome aboard another Missouri agency /SB 40 Board to the Therap Midwest group.  Progressive Community Services in St. Joe, MO joins a growing list of agencies, Senate Board 40 organizations moving to an efficient answer to the endless paper requirements necessary for those supporting individuals in the Developmental Disability field.  Welcome aboard PCS!!!

Therap would like to welcome aboard Unlimited Opportunities in Boonville, Missouri! They have decided to start with health tracking, T-logs and SComms. They are a bright group who shouldn’t have any problems navigating their way through the system.

The first group of the day!

It was great for me to spend some time with Cole County Residential Services in Jefferson City, MO.  Melanie Hessman is the director of the residential services at Cole County and we were able to spend some time with her and her staff.  Cole County had just went through a recent audit and it was nice to talk with Melanie to see how Therap benefited them in that process and made it easier due to the accessibility of the records recorded in Therap.  We also spent some time looking into some different Therap applications to assist the group of utilizing even more elements in the Therap suite of applications.  It was a good day.  I caught a little of it on our most recent video blog.  Take a look!

Midwest Video Blog

The Missouri Medicaid Audit and Compliance team showed up at my agency a couple of days ago. We received a phone call the day before, verifying our address and hours of operation. Three nice ladies showed up over the lunch hour and gave us a list of what they needed. It took us a couple of hours to pull the information out of Therap and copy some time cards for them and they were on their way.
I was surprised because I have heard some “horror stories” about audits at other agencies. I think the auditors were very nice and requested a reasonable amount of information. They were in and out without too much of a disruption to our work day.
What experiences have you had (if any) with the auditors?

Thanks! I hope you have a great Monday!

Michelle