Happy Birthday Northern Hills Training Center
35 years
MISSION
TO ENHANCE LIVES AND ACHIEVE DREAMS
VALUE
WE WILL MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE IN THE QUALITY OF EACH LIFE WE SUPPORT
VISION
TO BE THE AGENCY OF CHOICE
http://www.nhtc.org/About%20Us/index.php
Looking forward to the 35th annual awards banquet this weekend!
Where is “mom”?
As I rustle over my desk preparing to be gone for the upcoming Therap Conference, I realize I have neglected my duties by not getting my blog done for May. Good thing Allison is new at this mom thing for human puppies or who knows the consequences.
Looking forward to seeing all the Therapians at the conference. Plenty of ideas and thoughts to toss out and hope they stick to the “list of to do’s” for Therap.
Bonnie, bring your laptop- we need to discuss our farming loyalties.
Cheryl
To Room or Not To Room- that is the question
Sometimes decisions we make as support providers are so complex and intense, yet we fold them up and toss them in a box- giving far too little thought.
Thinking specifically on how we determine where and with whom people live. When I contemplate the different life experiences that people supported have lived, I think from the two extremes. College of Direct Support has a course on the history of disabilities where it reviews the horrors once lived in an institution, extreme ONE. To an article I read some time back in the Colorado Gazzette about young men living in their own apartment, extreme TWO. So many factors to equate, funding, resources, desires, availability and the list goes on and on.
It is easy to identify how much money to we have, what resources in staff do we have and what type of living quarters are available; but how to you determine someone’s desire?
I am extremely curious on how all you other providers determine who will live where and with whom. Share your all time favorite success story and/or the one story you wish you could re-write for someone.
How much is too much and when is less too little?
While completing a “First page review” aka Therap training- the age old question was asked: “Why can’t we see what is happening at home for someone I support at work?” Provider Admin and access is a tricky beast! It requires a delicate balance that all providers must juggle. It has sparked many a discussion within the “four” walls at NHTC! I heard a rumor that Therap is in the midst of some finesses to the Provider Admin Access(or a complete overhaul);: which is exciting but still begs the conversation that floats in my mind.
How much is too much and when is less too little?
Let’s take for instance my friend Dan.
Dan receives supports from BlueGrounds Agency .
- He lives in a group home with 9 other people. He has 12 different DSP‘S who support him when he is home.
- BlueGrounds also help him with all his medical appointments, that is usually Jenny from the nursing department. Sometimes his service coordinator helps him to get to his dentist, eye doctor and psychologist, her name is Dana.
- During the day Dan splits his week. Monday- Wednesday he goes into the community with an agency job coach, they contract with a local construction company. He has 2 different support staff help him with work. The remaining days he spends in a dayhab room working on rec leisure things, Ryan is his favorite staff.
- He also has expressed some interest in becoming a radio announcer, so the agency vocational director goes with him quarterly to visit local radio stations.
Dan’s goal is to get a good paying job and attend all the Bluegrass opportunities he can find.
At a quick glance Dan has 18 different people who help him in getting to his goal in life, seems manageable. Now toss in the number of people by each of those “programs” – Add 8 more for medical and 15 for dayhab staff for a GRAND TOTAL of 41 support staff in Dan’s life. Now the fun begins of who has what access to what information?
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One could argue that all support staff have access to his health history- his diabetes crosses into all areas of his life. SO ACCESS TO ALL.
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Then there is the support staff implement at home to help Dan make sure he wears clean underwear each morning. How can one argue the importance of the vocational director knowing this information? SO ACCESS TO HOME ONLY.
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Job coach supports him in entering his paycheck into his checkbook ledger each, one could argue it is benign enough information, right? SO ACCESS TO ALL.
The list can go on and on.
So I wonder, how are others determining access? Are there any strong feelings one side or the other? IF it were you receiving supports who would you want to know what?
Polling all Therap users…….
Our agency is in the midst of re-vamping all policy/procedures and SOP’s; a question was proposed that brought about in depth conversation.
Wondering what all you other Therap users are doing.
When someone fills out a report, GER or T-LOG, how do they determine the notificaiton level?
Can’t wait to hear your feed back!
Cheryl
What’s your shortcut?
Here is a thought………………..
When you log on to your computer, how do you reach the Therap login page?
There are two roads that one could take( or only 2 this author knows). One option would be going through the Therap home page. (https://www.therapservices.net/) However, I would venture to guess it is all too common for a short cut to be created that links directly to the login page.(https://secure.therapservices.net/login)
I personally have always gone through the Therap home page, but did not require my team to do the same, I thought it to be just one extra and needless step for them. About 4 years ago I began setting the shortcuts all to the home page and they stayed that way because Cheryl said. It was not until recently that I took the time to review the website with the DSP’s, giving what Cheryl said to have a bit of meaning.
It was interesting, enjoyable and humbling to watch the reactions.
I find the T-Girl to be cute, especially her accent! They chuckled at the application.
I find Planet Eptar to be silly and too whimsical. They are often playing the game.
I find Justin’s caricature slightly disturbing. They found it uncannily like Justin’s real photo and cool.
I find the conference updates to be a must look at each login. I don’t think they noticed them.
I find the User’s garage to be intriguing. They thought they were incomprehensible chicken scratches.
I find the quizzes to be fun. They found them to be competition among them.
I find the Blogs to be a light hearted addition to my day. They noticed Justin’s real photo.
It goes to say we all see things differently. What I thought were the best applications did not acurately represent my team. What I thought was a extra step turned out to be extra learning!