Innovations and the Imagine! Leadership Development Group!

At Imagine!, our workforce is our number one asset.  So, to make sure that we are providing great supports to our employees, we select several staff each year to participate in the Imagine! Leadership Development Group.  The purpose of this group is to help develop the knowledge and skills of up-and-coming leaders here at Imagine!.  This year, one of the participants selected is Innovations Host Home Coordinator Britt McWilliams!  

When asked to define a leader, Britt wrote:

A leader is someone who is able to establish a trusting relationship within a group by being authentic in their own communication, receptive to others’ ideas, and is willing to remain open-minded and flexible.

If you see Britt around, please congratulate her on this prestigious honor!

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Click here to read CEO Mark Emery's post on this year's Leadership Development Group.

Click here to read the Imagine! Voices blog post highlighting all members of this year's group.

You can also watch the short video below to learn more about Imagine!’s Leadership Development Group.

Super Hero of the Month for August!

Every month, Innovations presents the “Super Hero of the Month” award to the employee or provider who has best demonstrated excellence in one or more of our Innovations Quality Standards:

• Health, Safety, and Wellbeing
• Effective and Efficient
• Respect and Dignity
• Opportunities
• Integrity
• Care

This month, the award was presented to Andrea Kintop, who is a Primary Residential Counselor at the Foothills Group Home.

Andrea was nominated by her Site Supervisor, who wrote:

I'd like to nominate Andrea Kintop for the Innovations Heroic Award. Andrea brings a positive attitude to work with her every day and it makes a huge difference in the overall atmosphere here at Foothills. She constantly has new and creative ideas for the residents and the house in general. You can tell that Andrea sincerely cares for the residents very deeply and focuses on giving them the best quality care. She gladly took on a weekly task to go to Food Share, which is not part of the typical primary residential counselor role, so that she could take one of the residents who loves to go there on his day off. Recently she planned birthday celebrations for 2 residents who have a birthday on the same day. She took one resident out for lunch and to Food Share, which was what he wanted to do. Later that same day she took 2 more residents out to dinner together to celebrate. She stayed much passed her scheduled hours to be able to celebrate with them and make it possible for them to do what they wanted to do on their birthdays. Andrea is an outstanding employee and role model at Foothills.

If you see Andrea around, please congratulate her on being our Super Hero of the Month!

Celebrating Direct Support Professionals (DSP) Week!

This week is National Direct Support Professional (DSP) Recognition Week, and we wanted to take a moment to give a big thank you to all of our Innovations DSPs!

Every day, DSPs work hands-on with people in services to help them achieve their goals, and support their health and safety needs.  Innovations DSPs have a multitude of responsibilities, tailored to the unique needs of each person in services.  So much of the accomplishments we see individuals make are only possible because of the tremendous efforts of the DSPs assisting them.  It takes an incredible amount of hard work and patience to do the work of a DSP, and we are so grateful to have such an awesome and dedicated group of DSPs here at Innovations!

Thanks as well to Governor Hickenlooper for proclaiming this week as Direct Support Professionals Week in Colorado:

So again, a HUGE shout-out to all of our Innovations DSPs!  If you see an Innovations DSP this week, make sure to thank them for the great work they do each and every day to help fulfill our mission!

Excellence in Customer Service!

Each month, Imagine! presents the Excellence in Customer Service award to an employee who embodies one or more of Imagine!'s Customer Service Values:

1. We provide a culture of support that relies on respect, open and timely communication, and integrity.
2. We achieve results through continual improvement and creativity.
3. We actively engage in and promote community.

This month, the award was presented to Imagine! Innovations Nurse Case Manager, Erica Krowiorz!

Erica’s nomination included the following praise:

Erica has shown time and again her dedication to meet the health and safety needs of the individuals we serve. Erica has made meals for group home individuals, and she has taken individuals to doctor appointments when other staff members have duties they needed to attend to. She has gone to the hospital and stayed with individuals until staff members are available, even continuing to interact with hospital staff until discharge to ensure continuity of care. 

Congratulations on this honor, Erica!  We're lucky to have you here at Imagine! Innovations.