Council Colleagues:

One of my Council members works for a provider and is dedicated to transforming her agency from facility-based to 100% community-based. She's terrific and the agency as accomplished much so far but is confronting major challenges.  As she put it: "We are struggling to figure out how to logistically support large groups of people daily in community settings.  Below are areas we are looking for guidance on."

MD has accessed ODEP-contracted consultants and the Council has helped providers access others. I think she would most benefit from providers that have had some success with these issues. I'd appreciate any leads that I could share. This is a critical juncture and we need to see success. Thanks. Brian

Her challenges:

1.       How do you transport large numbers of people throughout the community daily, if the people you are supporting are living and/or working outside of the area in which public transportation runs? 

2.       Because individuals all have very different schedules (possibly based on part-time work hours), how are complex weekly schedules managed so that each person has an individualized week?  We find that it is logistically a nightmare to figure these things out week to week and day to day as things come up and shift.

3.       How do you keep staff supported when they are used to being in a building together and are now spending their day in community settings without their old support system?

4.       How are staff staying connected?  Is there technology people are using? How is staff completing ‘paper work’?

5.       What are the organizational structures that are being used by agencies shifting to a more community-based model (as opposed to facility)?

6.       We have a hard time finding meaningful activities consistently throughout the year that are low cost, that make up a 6 hour service day. Any suggestions?

7.       We support many people with significant challenges (medical needs, sensory issues, behavioral issues).  What are the typical, everyday places that people are being supported?  How did you build the comfort level in those locations?  What do you do when something goes wrong without the fall-back of a building?

Brian Cox