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Clinical Department News & Updates

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Recently, a group of Support, Inc. individuals receiving services joined Faith McElroy, Support Inc. Clinician, other Clinical Team members and Direct Staff for a day at the zoo! The individuals in our services practiced community navigation and some travelled to the zoo via Uber, Direct Care Staff, Access-a-Ride, and some drove themselves! Individuals had the opportunity to experience a local destination, interact with community members and meet other persons receiving services.  Animals that were highlighted on this trip to the zoo included giraffes, penguins, seals, and the tropical discovery forest. The event was a big success and a great example of true community integration! Thank you, Clinical Team!

Our Clinical Team was also recently highlighted in Colorado State University’s Newsletter. Big thanks to CSU for spotlighting two wonderful doctorate students, Imani and Archana, who work as interns at Support Inc.! They’ve had an amazing impact on our company and most importantly our individual’s receiving services. Read the full article below.

CHHS Summer Standouts: Occupational Therapy doctorate students work to enhance the lives of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities – College of Health and Human Sciences (colostate.edu)

QA COrner

Tips and Tricks to Beat the Heat!

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After a long cool spring and early summer, Colorado temperatures are heating up fast and it’s important to protect yourself and the person you support from heat-related illness. When possible, stay inside during the hottest parts of the day. There are some things you can do to keep the interior of your home cool such as, block direct sunlight by using window shutters or awning and keeping thermal curtains/blinds closed, increase airflow in the home by using electric fans and opening windows during the early morning/ late evening, using air conditioning and monitoring the indoor temperature. Heat related illnesses are preventable, knowing the signs to look for a responding quickly can prevent a minor illness from becoming a medical emergency. Common heat related illnesses include: heat rash (a skin condition caused by blocked sweat ducts and trapped sweat beneath the skin), sunburn, heat exhaustion (a condition that happens when your body overheats) and the most serious of heat related illnesses heat stroke (occurs when the body can no longer control it’s temperature causing the body’s temperature to rise rapidly and become unable to cool down-requires immediate medical care). To learn more about these types of heat related illnesses, how to identify signs and symptoms and what to do click here.

Tips to prevent heat related illness:
1. Stay indoors, in a cool place during extreme heat.
2. Drink plenty of water. Dehydration is the primary cause of heat exhaustion. High temperatures increase the risk of dehydration.
3. Apply sunscreen every day. Reapply sunscreen every 2 hours throughout the day especially if you’ve been swimming or sweating.
4. Wear lightweight, light-colored and loose-fitting clothing.

Recent News

Celebrating Disability Pride Month!

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Happy Disability Pride Month! Celebrated each year in July, Disability Pride Month was established to recognize the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26, 1990. This month makes space to honor the history, achievements, and experiences of the disability community and break down the stigmas surrounding disability. Disability Pride Month also encourages us all to identify where ableism is still present in the systems and environments in which we live and consider ways to improve accessibility for all. Save the date for The Colfax Center’s celebration of this month and our community members with disabilities on Saturday, July 29! The celebration will feature speed friending, a resource fair, food, and performances. Follow the link below to learn more about this event and a peer support group.

https://lgbtqcolorado.org/event/hybrid-disability-peer-support-group/2023-07-14/

QA COrner

Federal Final Settings Rule

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In 2014 the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services published the final settings rule requiring home and community-based services (HCBS) to meet certain criteria. This rule ensures that all people receiving HCBS waiver services have:
-Access to the benefits of community living
-Live and receive services in integrated and non-institutional settings.

Colorado has worked to transition into compliance with this rule over the last several years. All agencies (including Support Inc.) and all settings (residential, day services, employment) are required to be in full compliance with the rule by March 2023. Click on the links below to learn more about Federal Final Settings Rule.

ØCommunity Integration Tips

ØFAQ Part 1: General Questions

ØFAQ Part 2: Follow-up on General Questions

ØFAQ Part 3: Lease & Residential Agreements

ØFAQ Part 4: Employment-Related Services

ØFAQ Part 5: Myth Busters

ØResidential Setting Training

ØNon-Residential Setting Training

ØRights Modification Training

ØIndividual Rights & Rights Modification- Providers & CMA’s

ØIndividual Rights & Rights Modification- Families & Guardians

ØIndividual Rights & Rights Modification- Members

ØPerson-Centeredness & Requirements

ØUnderstanding Guardianship & Final Settings Rule

ØNational health Institute Writing Respectfully: Person-First and Identity-First Language

ØSocial Work Today Person-Centered Thinking in Developmental Disabilities- Dreaming Possible Dreams

LN

Provider Town Hall Information

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Great seeing many of you on the virtual Provider Town Hall yesterday, June 27th! If you missed it, you can view the recording by clicking here. You’ll need to enter this passcode to view the video: 2.5Y=&e

Below is a link to our STAR (Special Thanks and Recognition) Award presentation from this month. Congrats to the HHP recipients! The last page of this presentation has details on how to submit a STAR Award. We love seeing all the recognition! Click here to view the STAR Awards.

The next HHP Townhall will be scheduled in August – hope to see you there.

Thanks for all you do!

HHP

June Host Home Provider of the Month

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We want to recognize and congratulate our June Host Home Provider of the Month- David Sakul! David was nominated by his Residential Coordinators, Rich and Anna. David has been a provider with Support Inc. for many years and does a great job working with the individuals in his home and completing compliance items. Even though David is a very experienced Provider, he continues his effort in getting better by joining the Town Hall meetings or other opportunities the agency provides to learn new things and keep up to date with the requirements asked of HHP’s. David does a wonderful job in getting the individuals in his home out into the community and supporting them in the things they like to do. They have been on several trips to different areas in the state and out of state, and even went on an Ocean Cruise last year. It was the trip of a lifetime for the individuals in services. We appreciate how he sends us pictures of the things his guys get to do when traveling. David has always been very pleasant to work with and is an excellent team player. He consistently communicates the needs of his individuals and supports them with whatever they need. He strives to keep the individuals in his home active and involved in community activities. It is always wonderful to see the fun activities and travels that he takes the guys on. Thank you, David, for being an important part of the Support Inc team and for caring so much about the individuals you work with. We appreciate everything you and your family do. Congratulations on being the June Host Home Provider of the Month!

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Operations Team News

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The Operations or “Ops” Team consists of our six Associate Directors (ADs) of Residential Services, the AD of Day Services, the AD of Nursing and me, Director of Residential Services.

The most recent change within our team is the addition of Interim AD (former Senior Residential Program Coordinator) Paulyn Matibag on the Denver Metro 3 (DM3) Team. Paulyn will be covering for DM3 AD Samantha Cordova while she is on leave. We expect Samantha back in October.

As we enter summer, we wanted to share with you some of the things we’re focusing on as a team over the next few months.

The first half of the year we rolled out some big changes including health tracking and the appointment module including the use of Scomms. It was a lot! Not to say you won’t see any changes this quarter, but we are intentionally holding off on large-scale projects so we can all collectively catch our breath. We will take this time to hone our processes related to quarters 1 & 2 changes and recommit to providing quality services that are above reproach to all our stakeholders.

Whether it’s travel, pool-time, or a staycation – I hope you all find some time to relax and recharge this summer.

Erik Nielsen, Director of Residential Services