Kara's Blog

 Posts Tagged ‘South Dakota’

Hi all,
We will be offering user group meetings via webinar for many states across the nation, so keep your eyes peeled for postings. As for me, I’ll be hosting the North Dakota and South Dakota groups. These user groups are a great place to discuss state specific topics, or just to meet other users in your state, share ideas and ask questions. We will also demonstrate modules that you may not be using yet, and may want to learn more about. To sign up, click below:

North Dakota User Group- 11/19 12p CENTRAL

South Dakota User Group- 11/19 1:30p CENTRAL

I’ll miss you, Zeke of the Corn Palace Write me..

Aww, today was our last day here in South Dakota, and I’ll miss so many of our great users.  It’s wonderful to be able to spend time with people who live so far away.  Hope you all have safe trips home!!  Today was a bit more laid back, as far as sessions, and was really focused around Provider Administrators.  After lunch, things wrapped up, and it was time for the least exciting part– trying to fit everything back in the van.  I’m always so surprised when it does all fit– and there was even room for Stephen and Priyanka.  They’ll be driving to Rapid City, SD, where they’ll get to do some sightseeing before driving on to Oregon, where I and other Therap-ites will meet them.  After taking a bit of a nap, which was much needed after packing up all our stuff, I then had a great dinner with Cheryl from NHTC in SD, Pete from Cardinal Service Management in IN, Renee from TRC in NY, Sazzad, and Warren.  We even learned new things about vegetables in our discussions– I know way more about Anise now, than may ever be necessary,

Figured I’d throw in some more sweet pics

Jim and Pete at Falls Park

Richard rockin’ out

Now, I’m packed and will be heading off to Oregon early tomorrow morning.  Hoping to have time for the aquarium there and maybe I’ll get to see the Pacific Ocean this time.

Thanks to all who joined us at this conference, and all my fellow therap-ites!

Signing off,

Kara

After a fun night of gaming last night, today we were back to more sessions.  I did some on PA stuff, TMS, event summaries, and health tracking.  Pretty much, we’re all talking all day, which is broken up by some games and of course, food.  This evening, Sazzad and Priyanka gave a nice Bangladesh presentation after dinner.  Attendees were also able to play some more games..

Today was the official start of our regional conference here in SD, and we’ve got users from all over– SD, ND, IN, NY, AZ….just to name a few. I held nice sessions on GERs, Intro to Provider Admin, TMS, and Caseloads & Superroles. Got a lot of great questions, as well as some feedback, which we always love here at Therap. After the sessions were done for the day, it was then off to games, games, and more games. I got to play Wii for the first time, and I definitely recommend the Mario Kart. I also really enjoyed playing Scene It– a movie trivia game and would love to get that for myself, ( I can definitely for see a Wii in my boyfriend’s future

Here’s some pics:

Speedracers!

Captured Carl’s competitive side

A New York Jam Session

The answer’s B, no, A….. C?!

Even had time for some discussions…. Wonder if they’re talking about MarioKart or Therap?

Got my new friend, ‘Mitchell’ from Bonnie and Lifequest— love him– and look, he’s even checking his t-logs

Signing off,

Kara

After some usual flight delays, which can only be expected being the wicked witch of weather, that I am, I finally made it here to Sioux Falls, SD. It’s my third visit to the area, and we started off today by spending the day with Bonnie and the great folks at Lifequest. We had quite an interesting ride, with no back seats for Sazzad and I, but a great day of training and a filling lunch at Perkins. The frosting on the cake, of course, was my 3rd visit to the only palace of corn . Afterwards, we were back to Sioux Falls, to set up some final things for our regional conference. Also got to meet with early arrivals, from MN, IA, NY (who were nice and cozy in the hot tub), and the other side of SD. It is always wonderful getting to see people again, and we get to work with such great people from all over. Looking forward to the official kick off tomorrow.

Priyanka made a new friend

Until then,

Kara

Biffalo, Buffalo, or Bison—I still say the only difference is the spelling Can’t seem to find anything, that says they’re not the same, and I even asked a resident South Dakotan, so guess I’ll just have to bug Justin for the scoop.

Anywho, today we met with Bonnie Scott and some great folks at Lifequest. For the first half of the session we talked w/ administrative level staff about mgment summaries, BER’s, activity tracking, and some other fun staff. Then, after lunch, we met w/ supervisors and service coordinators, answering some of their questions, and reviewing ISP’s, HT, Scheduling, and anything else that seemed to come up I’m confident that they will be good to go on their official Therap start date. Yeah!!

Off to Yankton tomorrow,

Kara

Today Ishita and I met with Dakota Milestones in Chamberlain, SD. It was really nice because it was almost the same group of people I got to meet last time I was here. They had questions for us, and it also gave us the opportunity to show them some new additions, such as Billing and Supported Employment, which they are going to explore further. There was some confusion re: the submit vs. save roles w/ GER’s, and luckily, Ishita was able to share information from a quickguide, which helped to clear up some of my own confusion, as well. It was a nice morning with a great bunch of people.

After a donut break, we then travelled to Winner, where we met with a new user, Community Connections. We met all 3 provider admins, Becca, Rusty, and Mel, and it was very nice to introduce ourselves face to face, so early on in the process. They seemed very comfortable with the system and are looking forward to getting it implemented.

Now, we’re back to the home of the Corn Palace, and I was a bit disappointed because they seem to be transitioning to a new display and most of the corn was down . We did get to see the Enchanted Doll Museum, which was pretty cool, as I used to collect porcelain dolls back in the day. They had tons of dolls from various time periods and countries, so it was neat to see how they all began using everything from wax, apples, china, etc. They had a cool display of all the presidents’ wifes which was neat as well.

Until tomorrow,

Kara

Yesterday, we went to Old MacDonald’s Farm, which was pretty cute, because you could feed all the baby lambs and goats. They’re coats are so soft when they’re young and the lil’ goats kept chewing on my pants.

Today, we met with Dan, Carl, and some others from NHTC in Spearfish. I was able to share with them information about the new ISP template library, and helped them add this role, as well as the GER followup role to some of their super roles. I was also able to help them, by reviewing the event summaries which will answer many of their GER tracking issues. They also were very interested in the new Supported Employment module, which sounds like it could be a help to them in the future. It was nice seeing everyone again, and hearing from Dan, that things are going well. I also shared some info. about our winter conferences… Hope to see you all there!

We will meet w/ 2 agencies tomorrow, before driving to the home of the Corn Palace: Mitchell, SD.
Kara

Yesterday, Ishita and I finally got to see Mt. Rushmore, along with Bear Country, USA, and some other really neat attractions. Mt. Rushmore, is definitely something you’ve got to see, -which I wasn’t able to get to last time around, and Bear Country was just wonderful. It was a beautiful day, as it is today, so Mt Rushmore looked clear and beautiful. I was thinking, why stop w/ Abe Lincoln, let’s add some more heads up there . -And Bear Country, was a drive through park, where black bears and other animals would be walking right next to the car. There were also 8 baby cubs that were just adorable and full of energy.  This would definitely be a great spot to come back on a family vacation.–Kara

This morning, Ishita and I presented to a company in Dickinson, ND. It was a nice sized group, and they serve about 100 people in group programs, as well as DP’s, and supported living. We spent about 3 1/2 hours there going over our services and answering their questions. They were definitely in to it, and their IT fella’ was excited about all we had to offer. They also were hoping we’d come back in July for a conference.

After our nice meeting, and a stop at one of the many Dairy Queens around here, we continued our trek back down to South Dakota where we will be staying near Mt. Rushmore. When Sazzad and I visited last time, we didn’t have time to see it, but this time we’ll see it for sure! We even got stuck in some sort of classic car parade when we tried to leave the hotel and get dinner. People were lined up on the streets w/ dogs, chairs, and drinks in hand, and would wave at cars as they passed. Strangely enough, they didn’t wave at our Toyota Avalon as we passed . After getting rerouted around the parade, we ended right back at the hotel, so gave in, and ate dinner there.

Well, off to Mt. Rushmore tomorrow, and to Spearfish on Monday to meet w/ Dan and folks at NHTC.

Kara