April 2003 is an extremely important date in the accreditation process at the North Shore Disability Resource Centre.  Six months have passed since we began the process in November 2002 and we are one year away from our date for a Site Survey in April 2004. 

Obtaining a three year accreditation certificate from CARF will provide us with proof that we are providing quality services for the people we support, helping us to maintain and strengthen our mission statement of “Working for a community for all”. 

Thursday, April 17^th from 9:30 to 11:30 am we will be having a Breakfast Meeting for our monthly CARF Day at the NSRDC!  Please feel free to drop by if you would like to hear a review of what we’ve accomplished so far and our plans for the coming year.  RSVP by April 14^th to 604-904-4087. 

The Accreditation Committee Members have been very busy in the last two months reviewing and completing worksheets that will help us in working towards meeting the many CARF Standards.   

Thursday, March 20^th we met with the residents and employees from the Unlicensed Homes Programs to begin the process of developing a mission statement and program outcomes.  The involvement and enthusiasm from all who attended was exceptional.  Small working groups will continue to meet to complete this task over the next few months.

An agency wide Satisfaction Survey was mailed in March to all people we support, their family members and advocates, all employees and other stakeholders.  Information from the survey will be published in a report and will be used to determine agency outcomes for the coming year. 

A full day of training on Quality Assurance and Outcomes was held on Thursday, April 3^rd, 2003.  The training was attended by the Program Management Team, a Board Member, one line staff from each program and a representative from the Ministry of Children and Family Development. 

Our next steps are to determine how we will meet the CARF Standards, complete the agency policies and procedures manuals, produce an agency consumer handbook, refine our Person Focused Plan process, develop an Outcomes Measurement system and more. 

There is still a significant amount of work to do and there are days it feels as though we are just beginning.  Yet looking back over the last five months, I know we have accomplished a lot.  In particular I have enjoyed getting to know employees and families from the many different programs and the chance to hear their feedback and concerns. 

I thank everyone who has been involved and helped to make my job so much more  interesting and enjoyable!