Let's Get Organized Here

Good morning. We’re up kinda late this morning. We had a nice visit from our friend pretty late last night. We knew it was coming so napped a bit first. Then we watched the movie "The Terminal." Well most of it ... we kind of didn’t make it all the way to the end. We’d found a nice cozy space next to him and was lulled to sleep. *Sigh*

This morning is our Granddaughter’s birthday. There is a big party for her. She turned four years old. We don’t usually attend, because it is mostly my ex-husband and his family. We had some help this morning sending some wonderful e-greetings though. I really hope it is a wonderful day for her.

We were going to see our youngest son today, but the we’re not yet quite stable from surgery ... painwise. We were afraid of the hour drive and distances we were going to have to walk after getting there. Maybe next week? We’ll see.

So, with all that said and done, we’re about caught up with the present. Well mostly. We’ve had a good couple of days go by where we were able to get done with some reading. One on the organizational stuff and the second on going through the CARF book. We had a little surprise in that we found out that Monday is an off day at work, so we have an extra bit of time. Like to make the most of it, but unsure at this point what to do next.

Hmm, washroom, another cup of coffee? Maybe, maybe ....

Pshwoo. Ok, next?

Already closing in on 10 am. Don’t think there is anything that I "have" to do. Well, beside clothes should go into the cleaners, but that would require stairs and driving and lifting. Don’t think that going to happen today. Same with things should be picked up around here again, but again that would take moving around. Better, plan yet another day of just being around the computer. YAYYY, or favorite kind of days.

I’ve been doing enough reading that I figure I’d like to write some to balance things off. I’m not sure what to write about though. I am having a little hard time being away from the office, because that’s where things really need to be done. I suppose we’ll read more from Harold’s work ... that leaves just a blur of things we ought to concentrate on while we get back to work. He says things like how not to procrastinate and setting up of goals and not being perfectionistic.

They are handy things to keep in back of mind. We find that a lot of his work is kind of repetitive. We’ gone through four of his books and have started the 5th. The 6th one that is free to read is on salesmanship, and I probably won’t go through that one. Still have the tape recorder too which we haven’t used much over this holiday. I dislike our minds being muddled with global, but not specific. Need to do (think) of something concrete that will advance the system.

Maybe I should check out the paper tiger software site. That should be in this week. I wonder if I could learn something more in advance.

Ahh, found some good reading over at the Paper Tiger. She has a stack of newsletters that are pretty good. Will head over there for a bit. Need some more coffee though. Easy to drift asleep.

Well, that happened for long enough. It’s now just after 1:00 pm. I read all the Barbara Hemphill articles back through 2002. Through her site I found something called Ezine which had 1000's of articles of all nature, but after reading a few, we found the quality less than stellar. Cut off at that point.

Let’s see back to working through goals. Again the mission statement was to ...

"I will respect myself by being honest with my thoughts and feelings.  I will love myself, my God, my family, my friends, and people I meet along my path.  I will honor my freedom and independence and cherish my right to make choices.  I will strive to be capable.  I will be responsible for happiness, and I will share whatever wisdom I learn in offering help to others."

Let’s go over that line of loving all those along my path. What exactly is my path? As of the last month, I would say it is to get organized, but that is only a tool toward another end.

When I look directly at what I would like to accomplish it would be reading, research, and writing. I like most to interact and study relationships, and in particular would like to build a specialty around adults who are developmentally disabled, but interested in progressing themselves. I like to learn and I like to teach and consult. I would like to develop a level of expertise. I would like the title of Program Director and I’d have built in a comfortable income. My office and home would be ordered and conducive to study. I would have just a few very good relationships and I would be healthier. To do this I need to set some goals.

My immediate business goals are to "catch-up" at work over the next month. Continue getting to know and advise clients. Begin to master CARF by structuring tasks that need to be completed. I would be successful with staff training and convey positive learning goals and avenues of satisfaction. The Thinking Group would have developed and it would have established a defined direction. And, I would begin to read, research, and write in the field, perhaps starting with some of the CARF reports. One of the first tasks is to complete a new order of my work and home resources so that they would be easily useable to me. I need to release myself from clutter and faulty thinking.

OK, ok ... we are pretty clear so far. Maybe it would be best to look into CARF then. This is a huge over encompassing project that will need to be broken down. Maybe it would help if we first decluttered the table we were working on. Yes, back to the basics. Hold on.

Hmm, that wasn’t so bad. Releasing clutter helps. Now as far as CARF. Most likely there won’t be anyone who is going to outright tell me what I should be doing. I know that most of my work will be following the structure of the "Employment and Community Services Standards Manual (July 2004 - June 2005. This is the manual we read over on Friday. So, we have a basic understanding of the book.

The work is divided into sections. The first section is "Business Practices" and it is divided into nine criterion. The second section is "Standards for Quality Individualized Services" Parts A & B. Section three is Standards for Community Services and Integration. The hardest part is the nine criterion in the Business Practices. They encompass 1) Input from Persons Served, 2) Accessibility, 3) Information Management and Performance Improvement, 4) Rights, 5) Health & Safety, 6) Human Resources, 7) Leadership, 8) Legal Requirements, and 9) Financial Planning and Management.

So. From here we start. The hardest criterion by far is 3) Information Management and Performance Improvement. Along with other tasks, it requires me to write eleven Business improvement reports and one Annual Performance Analysis Report. That’s the one that could scare the Hell out of anyone!

I’m not sure if I should start with Criterion One or Criterion three. Could even start with Criterion two.

Let’s see Criterion One is about soliciting, collecting, analyzing and using input from persons served and other relevant stakeholders. It would seem from that collected information, CARF wants us to produce proof of program planning, performance improvement, strategic planning, organizational advocacy, financial planning, and resource planning. This is going to get a little tricky. We have to figure out what format, we are already doing this, or we have to develop a format to cover this information.

One at a time. Program Planning. I do that. I should think clearly here then. I will have to collect data from the payroll system that indicates the DSPs’ program utilized. That means comparing data from the previous year 2002-2003 with the current report year of 2003-2004. Is this correct? Hmm, would think I need the QMRP Quarterly data then too. Last year’s Performance Improvement Report allowed us to generate Benchmark figures for the program goals. From that, schedules were changed for each of the DSPs. Unfortunately, that was done during 2003-2004, so that benefits of changing schedules might not have had an impact yet.

Program planning and Performance Improvement are about the same thing. Maybe it would be represented by the difference of two reports. Program planning would be developed by the Performance Improvement results. Hmm, these would then be Performance Goals. It be interesting and a little fun to summarize up the program plan. Might also use the results of the Program Guide and Welcoming Packet.

Strategic Planning. That directly sounds like the three year strategic plan, but it could also include the results from the Accessibility report which is the sum total of the meeting notes from the Administrative team.

Organizational Advocacy. Hmm, that’s a new term. It could mean a couple of different things. Either how the organization advocates for the individuals served, or how the organization advocates for ourselves to better assist the individuals served. Hmm, could those two be combined. Let’s keep an open thought here.

Financial Planning ... that always sounds like a budget issue. Note here. Should we start collecting and of the financial reports or just wait for the end result. Hmm, like end result. It would help us on a few reports to show efficiency. Again that would be part of the Accessibility Report.

Resource Planning. This could include the financial end of things, or maybe that the financial end has to be attached to the plan. But, it could also have to do with other resources such as inventory, staff or other stakeholders.

In thought of collecting information ... we still have to compile records of anything that was compiled of the year previous including policies and procedures. The identification of relevant stakeholders would be based on the previous list. Make a note that we might have to produce a few more surveys for information. Could we some how utilize CSO Report. Yes, that would be good. It would combine the results of both QMRP’s efforts. Also, it is a quarterly report which might be very useful for more frequent surveys.

Ok, then monthly client surveys, family surveys, case managers and staff. We should systemize not only surveys, but reports and meetings. The meetings would include Behavioral, Rights, Staff, Advisory, Administration, Safety, and Governance. Reports all listed in Business Improvement. What we would be looking for is to determine expectations and preferences of the stakeholders. Maybe this section should conclude with a checklist from all of the resources as to this. Hmm, wonder if we should try putting out an expectation/preference list in the Newsletter again? That didn’t work out so well last year. We might be able to put out a list for the intake families though. We’d have to identify those folks before they became enlisted parents. This might be difficult unless there was a presentation. I don’t think Sr. is going that way this year.

Hmm, let’s think through a moment on the suggestions CARF offers as means of collecting information. We do collect written surveys, advisory groups, face-to-face meetings (a wide bevy here), conferences, and telephone conversations. The other suggestions aren’t easily implented and of these that are ... we need to think through how we collect conference information and phone calls. I believe most of it would still be done through Administration meeting. I suppose this will have to be good enough? But, how does this thought impact our collection of data on the cards. Thinking that its good to have it categorized, could this somehow be utilized without collecting data from the other members of Administration Team.

Interesting thought here. CARF is defining a difference this year of Management and leadership. Sister Tess, as Administer would be definitely Management, could we than suppose ourselves as leadership? The point of being on the Administration Team would seem to confer that, but as well since we are the major source of anything CARF, could we hold special methods to be collecting information. In a sense, put out a CARF Newsletter and of course, special files almost as a separate department. Thinking set-up for lower right-hand drawer.

It seems a critical point to think that this to maintain CARF yearly, we are going to need on-going global sense of purpose and in our own order specific action files, PLUS a priority of what happens first, next and next. The whole standards manual needing of course to be begun and ended in any given year. How then will this file system parallel the big books. Maybe the reason this is seeming important at this time is so that we can orchestrate a sense of control over actual procedings. Perhaps more than just to show CARF at end of the three years. It would mean the difference of looking over-seeing the big project on a timely basis as well as handling the separate functions. Could we hold it this well in mind?

I like the idea of a newsletter ... it would be a review of topics covered during each month. It would be presented at each Administrative meeting and it could be extended past that to other stakeholders. It would mean keeping track of articles (projects). I’d have to do it efficiently so as not to upset any powers to be.

There is something very satisfying with these thoughts and the concept CARF is reaching for in that information is being continually analyzed and that is integrated into the business practices. A monthly newsletter would do all that. It would assure that all needs were being met, services would be relevant and potential opportunities identified for the program and service. AHA ... continuous cycle of quality improvement.

Then CARF suggests that we have input forums (that could be comments back from the monthly newsletter) or maybe results of people realizing what has happened from the past month. This might have to be specifically different than notes from the Administration meeting since directly it doesn’t influence CARF until reports are written. Surveys are obvious ... and more of these could be considered in the individual staff training. Complaint or grievances would have to be coming from the Admin meeting too, but the question would arise, will Sr. Tess want this publically exposed. A good organization could handle it. Summary of incidents would be easy enough.

Hmm, now performance improvement. We would have to include "how often?" Hmm, better still narrow this down to annually. It would include a summary of programs completed through payroll, and it would include Q-Quarterly reports and it would include ICAP data. We could use the States reports to cover in time following services. Interesting new development. It’s like they are now working for us. The performance Improvement Report is still going to need finishing by June 30th.

Strategic planning ... that would be tied into Sister’s new plans written for the Annual Report and further elaborated in the three year plan. Program/service development would be having used the results from the performance improvement to be guiding the following year. Basically, are there any substantial changes.

The last thing that is to be kept in mind is the prompt action of data. This means is the information collected something that can wait for an upcoming report or committee, or is it something that needs to be responded to immediately. The key will be collecting (summarizing) information regularly. Which means I’m going to need a better format or means of keeping up with things. That then shall be my next concern. I have to develop a map of sorts or an outline.

Fair enough ... good first meeting of my own CARF Board. It might be a good idea to go back through the entry now to pickup with the recorder and immediate action items. Summarize, summarize, summarize.