In May, one of our individuals in services, Rachael, and her parents went on a month-long road trip. During the road trip they visited 12 states and traveled roughly 5,000 miles! They visited family, went exploring downtown Chicago, went to aquariums, museums, and even an amusement park. Check out photos from their awesome trip!!
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:
Extreme Heat Infographic:
Extreme heat infographic 2023 interactive.pdf – Google Drive
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
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”.
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!
We want to give a big shout out and congratulations to two of our individuals in services who recently graduated from High School. Congratulations Alea and George on this amazing accomplishment!!!
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.
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!
We were so grateful to have Jeff Rice with the Journal Advocate join us for the Sterling Open House and BBQ last week!
Feel free to check out the story below- and thanks again to Jeff for the appearance and the write-up!!
Support, Inc., expands services for those with disabilities into Sterling
Please join us in welcoming our new Director of Day Services, Brandi Rende! Brandi will be reporting through the Senior Director of Operations, as we work to expand our day services offerings outside of the Metro area and Pueblo. This is a new position, created to help provide community access services to all our individuals in services throughout the front range and not just at our current site-based facilities in Aurora and Pueblo, CO.
With over 20 years of experience, Brandi has dedicated herself to supporting individuals with diverse abilities, empowering them to lead fulfilling and purpose-driven lives. She is excited to partner with Support Inc. to continue to build a community where individuals can access quality services to support them in living every day to the fullest. Brandi is a devoted wife and proud mother of two amazing kiddos. Her son Jaxon is 13 and daughter is 11. She spends most of her free time with them, whether they are enjoying time at home or soaking up the sun on a beach vacation, family time is her favorite!
PHONE: (303) 340-0322
FAX: (303) 340-0385
HOURS: Mon – Thurs: 8:00am – 6:00pm
EMAIL: info@supportinc.com
15591 E. Centretech Pkwy
Aurora, CO 80011
Phone: 303-340-0322