FCG month

July Family Caregiver of the Month!

by Information & Resources

We want to congratulate Rae Jean Lunn-Nix for being nominated as our July Family Caregiver of the month!!!

To meet Rae and her sister Diana and see the love they have for each other as sisters is an undeniable bond. Rae became her sister’s legal guardian after their mother passed. Rae was just 25 years old at the time and did not have any children of her own. It was a promise she made to her mother and has kept to this day. When you go into their home there are so many beautiful arts and crafts projects that Rae has done. She is so creative and talented. She is a strong voice and advocate for Diana as she is unable to verbally communicate for herself.  She is constantly looking at new ways to provide adequate support for Diana. Rae was looking into ways to monitor Diana’s health and safety while she is at day program and taught everyone about an Oura ring that monitors vitals through an app. Rae also published a book herself, and even painted the front cover.  She has lived through so much pain and tragedy and through it all is a warm compassionate person. This book is one that you just can’t put down!  Thank You so much Rae for loving your sister and providing the care you do; you truly are inspiring!!

If you’re interested in Rae’s book, which is a memoir about her life and caring for her sister Diana, please follow the link below.

My Family’s Story of Love and and Perseverance: A Memoir: Lunn-Nix, Rae Jean, Lunn-Nix, Rae Jean: 9798328438568: Amazon.com: Books

Clincial Pic

Clinical Department News and Updates

by Information & Resources

This summer, our Clinical Department has welcomed four new interns to our team.  Lindsay and Gillian are our occupational therapy interns, who are working toward their doctoral degrees from Colorado State University.  They were able to work with many of our clients this summer. They brought fresh ideas and perspectives to their person-centered interventions while also utilizing their OT training. Gillian and Lindsay will be moving on to continue their degrees in the fall back at CSU.  We also have two counseling interns, Anne and Madison, who are earning their Master’s degrees at the University of Denver and they will be with us throughout the year. They have been able to jump right into applying the counseling skills they have learned in school. They both bring in their own personal counseling styles, infusing empirically backed interventions with new ideas and enthusiasm.

Our interns have helped us to expand our clinical services and offer fun and unique groups at places such as the aquarium, restaurants, and more! We are also planning to increase our clinical services with our interns taking the lead to facilitate even more opportunities for our clients. We are so excited that they have joined and helped our team. We can’t thank them enough!

QA COrner

Quality Assurance News & Updates

by Information & Resources

Protecting yourself & other from heat-related illness

Colorado temperatures are heating up fast and it’s important to protect yourself and the person you support from heat-related illness.

Heat related illnesses are preventable, knowing the signs to look for and 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. Follow the link to learn more- Symptoms of Heat-Related Illnesses | Extreme Heat | CDC

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.

Extreme Heat Infographic:

Extreme heat infographic 2023 interactive.pdf – Google Drive

Untitled Design (37)

National Developmental Disability Professionals Day!

by Information & Resources

Happy National Developmental Disability Professionals Day! Observed on July 15 every year, this day is all about recognizing the work done by developmental disability professionals, who often go unnoticed despite providing an amazing public service. Big shoutout to all our staff, providers and families for the amazing services they provide. Read more about this day below.

DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY PROFESSIONALS DAY – July 15, 2024 – National Today

Untitled-Design-11

Residential Team News & Updates

by Information & Resources

Happy Summer to all from the Residential Team! We hope everyone is enjoying the longer days and warmer weather. If you’ve attended a Provider Town Hall this year you may have heard us talk about “pie funds”. What’s that, you ask? Let us explain.

Towards the end of the calendar year and the beginning of the new year we release surveys: for our providers, for our employees, and for the people receiving services. No matter who you are, we take your feedback seriously. When it came time to compile the data – a theme emerged. Employees, specifically Residential Program Coordinators (RPCs), wanted more autonomy to make connections with the people on their caseloads. Providers and those they care for wanted to be seen, heard, and supported.

Last fall, Senior RPC Raymond Delgado, was faced with the daunting task of the dreaded Unannounced Visit. Without asking, he famously purchased pie to bring along to soften the blow of the never timely and often disruptive Unannounced Visit. The story spread, and when it came time for us to put together an action plan to respond to the surveys – we knew just what to do. More pie!

The Residential Team implemented “pie funds” earlier this spring. Each RPC is allotted a small budget every couple of months. There aren’t a lot of rules, but the idea is to build deeper connections and recognize others. That might be in the form of a card, a coffee, lunch, flowers, or??? The possibilities are endless. It’s still early, but I’ve already heard touching stories. Stay tuned- you may be the next recipient of “pie”.

HHP of month image

Host Home Provider of the Month!

by Information & Resources

Please join us in congratulating the June Host Home Provider of the Month- Fanny Hutabarat!!!

It’s hard to know where to begin when describing Fanny. To know Fanny is to know grace and strength. Fanny is a woman of many talents, one being the unwavering ability to take care of her Person Receiving Services (PRS). She advocates at doctors’ appointments, maintains consistent communication, and keeps track of the many moving pieces. She has created a comfortable home, allowing her PRS to know he has a stable support system and is safe to be himself.

There was an instance where Support Inc. Residential Coordinator and Fanny had to have a difficult conversation with her PRS. Fanny fearlessly approached this situation with openness and respect. She has a superpower of putting people at ease and making difficult things not feel so daunting at all. Because of her, a sensitive conversation ended up having a positive impact.

Every day, Fanny brings out the best in the people around her. Thank you so much Fanny for all the lessons you teach and for being a phenomenal Host Home Provider 😊! Congratulations on being named the June Host Home Provider of the Month!

QA COrner

Quality Assurance News & Updates

by Information & Resources

Updates on Case Management Redesign

The final phase of Case Management Redesign and the transition to Case Management Agencies (CMA) will take place July 1st, 2024. For the catchment areas we work with, this phase includes DDRC transitioning to Jeferson County as the CMA serving Clear Creek & Jefferson County and, Adult Care Management, Inc. (doing business as A&I Avenues) as the CMA serving Boulder, Broomfield & Gilpin Couties. We know the transition has not been easy, especially with compounding issues for people accessing long-term care services. The Department of Health Carre Policy and Finance (HCPF) implemented a multi-step plan to stabilize long-term services and supports. This plan includes establishing a case management stabilization fund, addressing IT issues with the new Care and Case Management software and protecting coverage for people accessing services. You can read more about HCPF’s stabilizing LTSS using this link.

As the final CMA’s transition, HCPF continues to work on revising outdated regulations to align with the change to CMA’s. HCPF has postponed the next Medical Service Board review of the revised regulations until August to allow them time to review recommendations they received including recommendations submitted by Alliance (our trade organization). The final piece of case management redesign will be the implementation of a single Colorado assessment which will replace the 100.2. The transition to the new assessment is TBD while HCPF focuses on their stabilization efforts.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your team or the Quality Assurance Department.

Recent News

Amazing Support Inc. Athletes – Aldo and Anthony

by Information & Resources

This is a tale of two amazing athletes receiving Support Inc. services – Aldo and Anthony – and how the Special Olympics brought together an entire community. Aldo is kind, caring and willing to try new experiences. Aldo tries his absolute best at every task he takes on, as does his Family Caregiver (FCG). In only a few months she mastered a role that was totally new to her in February. We were happy to learn that Aldo joined basketball with his brother at the Special Olympics since he enjoys being active and being outdoors. Both Aldo and his FCG were excited to try this opportunity, but what they didn’t expect was to find a community.

Aldo and his family heard about Support, Inc. through another Support, Inc. FCG and basketball coach, who also has a gifted athlete – Anthony! Anthony is someone who has worked extremely hard for what he’s achieved throughout his time with the Special Olympics. He has participated in many sports such as basketball and swimming but where Anthony really shined was in weightlifting. During his recent weightlifting season, he received many medals with his team The Rude Dogs. With his hard work and determination, he made it to the championship! This event took place in Grand Junction where his amazing family made an entire weekend of it. Anthony placed 4th in Dead Lift and Bench Press, then ultimately took home the bronze medal! His FCG couldn’t have been prouder of her son than seeing him walk up to receive a medal as the entire crowd cheered him on. Both Family Care Giver’s started Anthony and Aldo in Special Olympics to provide exercise and community engagement. At the same time, they created meaningful bonds for themselves.

Completely by accident and for the first time in the Denver Metro Area Special Olympics, their basketball team formed a Special Olympics group made entirely of Latino families. They realized this was something unique and became a tight-knit group, who decided to stay together through their future Special Olympics seasons.  They call themselves Grupo Familiar Latino. The hard work and dedication that these families pour into their team is inspirational, especially Anthony’s Mom. She has been an amazing coach, making time every week to hold practices and attend every competition as her team’s biggest fan! Her commitment to supporting Anthony really showed in this past championship tournament. The companionship and mentorship that Aldo’s Mom has found through this group has been invaluable to her as a family caregiver new to the DD-waiver. She says for the first time, she doesn’t feel alone in the blessings and struggles that have come with raising Aldo and caring for a child with autism. We are extremely excited to see what the next season brings for these two Olympians!

¡Vamos Grupo Familiar Latino!