Happy Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week!

It is with great excitement that we announce that this week is National Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week!

The thing that gives me the most pleasure about my job here at Innovations is that, at the end of the day, we have truly helped people by supporting their day-to-day needs, and assisting them in achieving their personal goals.  However, none of that could be possible without the exceptional and exemplary work of our Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), who work around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The challenging work of DSPs often happens behind the scenes, without much fanfare.  So, it that much more important that we really take this moment to say loud and proud that we appreciate the work they do!

As an organization, we make a strong effort to praise and reward our DSPs, even though it is difficult for any reward to fully match the passion and commitment that our DSPs bring to their work every day.  Still, to show our appreciation for our DSPs we will be providing treats and giveaways this week for both our employees and contractors.

Please join us, along with our State and Nation to declare that DSPs shall be recognized for their vital contribution to our Community!

• Click here to read Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's Proclamation declaring this week as Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week.
• Click here to read the U.S. Senate Resolution designating this week as Direct Support Professionals Recognition Week.

So, if you see a DSP this week, please thank them for the important work that they do!

Groundbreaking!

It may not look like much, but the Utility Box in the photo above signifies that we have broken ground on our latest development, a new 6-bed Group Home in Broomfield!  This new Group Home, called the Santa Fe Group Home, is being built with the help of a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Our vision for this home is that it will support aging individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  The percentage of aging individuals in our community is expected to grow in the near future as we approach the so-called Silver Tsunami, and we know that aging people with disabilities will need additional settings to support their specific needs.  We are also excited to increase our footprint in Broomfield, where we are seeing a significant amount of growth in our services.  We will continue to highlight the progress of Santa Fe as construction progresses throughout the fall and winter.

Food Drive

I wanted to put up a quick Friday post to let you all know that Innovations will be doing a Food Drive to benefit Community Food Share, a local food bank that helps provide food for low income individuals here in Boulder and Broomfield counties.  The Drive will be running from April 15th through April 30th, and we will have drop-off boxes in both our Dixon building (1400 Dixon Street, Lafayette, CO 80026) and our Coal Creek building (1665 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette, CO 80026).  

With your help we can beat our last Food Drive total of 170 pounds of food!

Can I Get Some Satisfaction?

Every two years, Imagine! coordinates a Customer Satisfaction Survey for all of the Program Approved Service Agencies (PASAs) in Boulder and Broomfield counties.  The purpose of these surveys is to assess how satisfied our customers are with the services we provide.  Our primary customers are the individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities we serve.  We ensure that every consumer in our services has the opportunity to complete a survey.  If they are able to complete the survey independently, we encourage them to do that.  If they need assistance, we will provide the minimum amount necessary for them to complete the survey.  For our customer satisfaction surveys we also reach out to the people who support the individuals in our services.  This group includes family members, guardians, staff, providers, and other people who support the people we work with.  We highly value all of the feedback we receive from this survey.  It gives us an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of our supports and services, to find areas of success, and to locate areas for improvement and innovation.

The survey period runs from April 1st through June 1st, so if you have received a Customer Satisfaction Survey, please make sure to return it within that time frame to ensure that it is counted.  We will announce the results of the survey sometime in June, so look forward to that.

Joint Budget Committee Figure Setting

This week, the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) met to complete the "Figure Setting" process for the disability services within the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS).  Figure Setting is where the Joint Budget Committee approves final budget recommendations from its staff for each department.  These recommendations include how much funding will be awarded to each line item in the department, and where that funding will come from.  It also includes recommendations for bills that the Joint Budget Committee should introduce during the legislative session.  The budgetary recommendations, once approved, are brought to the State legislature where they are incorporated into the Long Bill (click here to see the Long Bill for the current fiscal year).  Once the Long Bill is approved, those budgets are set for the next fiscal year.  Occasionally, changes are made to a particular budget during the process of approving the Long Bill, but usually the legislature supports the recommendations of the JBC.

Overall, the Figure Setting process this year went very well for people with disabilities.  Here are some highlights from the Figure Setting meeting:

• A 4.0 percent increase for the Developmental Disabilities Program (to restore cuts from previous years), including:
• Adult Comprehensive Services
• Adult Supported Living Services
• Children's Extensive Support
• Family Support Services
• Case Management, and
• Early Intervention Services
• A 1.5 percent increase for the following items:
• Preventative dental hygiene
• Legal auxiliary services
• General fund rehab programs, and
• Independent living centers
• The JBC approved the recommendation to add 765 new resources.
• The JBC approved a recommendation to have their staff draft a bill to move I/DD services from CDHS to Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF, commonly pronounced ‘Hic-Puff).  This move is being recommended in order to streamline services, improve the interface with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and to minimize redundancy.  The recommendation includes the creation of an Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at HCPF, which we think would greatly improve the management of services for people with disabilities.

Click here to read the complete JBC Figure Setting Document, and stay tuned for an update next month regarding the passage of the Long Bill.

End the R-Word!

As many of you know, there is a national movement to end the use of the R-word, which is an important step towards ensuring that all people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities are treated with dignity and respect.  Click here for a link to a blog entry from a member of a Self-Advocacy group, discussing why the R-word is so painful for him as a person with a Developmental Disability.

Coming up on March 6th is the National Spread the Word to End the Word Awareness Day.  Click here to access the full website for "R-Word," the organization promoting this event.  Innovations will be participating in this campaign all month long, and will be having a special event on March 27th from 1-3 at the Coal Creek Building (1665 Coal Creek Drive, Lafayette, CO).  We are encouraging all members of our network to create a poster or piece of artwork related to ending the R-word to share with others.  There will also be a banner for all to sign to show support for this important movement.

I would also encourage all of you to click here to sign the R-Word pledge to eliminate the R-word from your everyday speech, and to encourage others to do the same.

Additional info on the Dual Eligible Demonstration

I wanted to send out another post on the Dual Eligible Demonstration, since there seems to be some confusion around it.  Specifically, I want to share what we think consumers, providers and families should know.

Several of our Dual Eligible consumers have received letters from our local Regional Care Collaborative Organization (RCCO, commonly pronounced ree-koh).  Here is a useful definition of what a RCCO is from the Colorado.gov website:

The RCCO connects Medicaid clients to Medicaid providers and also helps Medicaid clients find community and social services in their area.  The RCCO helps providers to communicate with Medicaid clients and with each other, so Medicaid clients receive coordinated care.  A RCCO will also help Medicaid clients get the right care when they are returning home from the hospital or a nursing facility, by providing the support needed for a quick recovery.  A RCCO helps with other care transitions too, like moving from children's health services to adult health services, or moving from a hospital to nursing care.

There are seven different RCCOs for the State of Colorado, and like Community Centered Boards (CCBs) each serves a geographical area.  The RCCO for our geographical area (region 6) is called the Colorado Community Health Alliance (CCHA).  The letters that some of our Dual Eligible consumers have received are actually from CCHA.  These letters are being sent to inform the consumer that she or he will be passively enrolled in the Dual Eligible Demonstration project unless they contact CCHA to opt out of the program.  That means that if the consumer takes no action then she or he will be enrolled in the program.  This is a technique that is being used to ensure that a large number of individuals participate in the Demonstration.

Overall, we think that the Dual Eligible Demonstration is a positive thing, in that it will help streamline care for individuals being served by both Medicaid and Medicare.  However, we encourage each consumer or guardian that receives this letter to contact CCHA and confirm that their primary care physician is indeed participating in the Demonstration project.  We have heard from another agency that a consumer was enrolled in the program and later found out that their primary care physician was not participating.  We have been assured by the State that individuals should not be receiving these letters unless their primary care physician is participating, but we still urge individuals or their guardians to find out for sure before enrolling.

If you have any further questions about the program, click here to access the Colorado.gov website page about it, which explains the project in much greater detail.