newsletter- fall 09.pub
Transcription
newsletter- fall 09.pub
Ability Counts, Inc. News To Count On “P ro vid ing Vo ca t io na l Tra in i ng a nd Emp lo yment Op p o rtunit ies fo r P eo p le wi th Deve l o p menta l Disa b i l it ies” Issue 3 September – October Halloween Party 2009 It wasn’t your normal Saturday night. It was October 31st. Halloween. At the end of a lonely road, a tall building gave sanctuary to a hundred ghouls, ghosts, and monsters from a thousand tales. The specters would allow an innocent passerby to enter the dark sanctuary, but it would be a nightmare to escape. Once inside the great hall, one would witness the denizens in their relaxed demeanor. On this night, they party not worrying about angry mobs trying to catch them. They rule this night! During my brief stay in the great hall, I saw ghosts, skeletons, vampires and even a scarecrow. A republic storm-trooper patrolled throughout the night, keeping his electronic range finder on me so no harm would come to the patrons. I saw Freddy Krueger stalking about, though I was not asleep. Several pirates drank and ate while sharing stories of their oceanic adventures. A lone Sleestak roamed the dance floor while the Cat In The Hat chased what he thought was a giant mouse. A fireman made sure the snack bar didn’t go up in flames. Inside this issue: Halloween Party Sept. & Oct. Birthdays 1 2 The local Police and the S.W.A.T. team were there trying to keep the cowboys from fighting with the bikers and wrestlers. Gargoyles flew overhead waiting to swoop down on any undesirables. Employee of the Month Consumer of the Month 2 2 Career Center News Technology 3 3 Employee Safety Staff Years of Service 3 3 New Hire Up-Coming Events 3 4 A ghoulish D.J. (Kevin Schwerdt) played music to calm the beast in all. The creatures paraded around to the tunes of The Monster Mash, The Chicken Dance and an assortment of popular mortal tunes. Towards the end of the evening, the results of the Costume Contest were announced. Cheryl Borough dressed in the Scare Crow won the prize for the best ladies costume. Devin Stewart won for his costume as a cat girl, but there where gifts for all. Special thanks to Claudette Phelps for hosting such a wonderful event. New Community Work Director’s Corner 4 4 Written by Blake Shimshock Page 1 September Birthdays (Consumers) Andrew Alleman, Stephanie Amick, Randy Arena, Debora Barton, Jonathan Bauman, Ruth Ann Blackwood, Sam Brooks, Cheryl Borough, Jamie Butler, Mark Chambers, Arturo Chavez, Monique Draper, David Foster, Gary Fox, Christopher Gargan, Cletus Goible, Dustin Greeno, Richard Hanna, Craig Hannah, James Harris, Jason Hodges, LaQurisha Holloway, Akshay Joshi, Terrance Kern, Anscel King, Christopher King, Gregory Silva Kissell, Mark O’Reilly, Daniel Perazzo, Lana Perea, Tuyet Pham, Emmy Serrano , Melissa Shoptaw, Richard Smith, Geraldine Steele, Robert Sweetwater, Sudhir Vasisht, Mathew Whitaker, Steven Wilson, Damion Wright. HAPPY BIRTHDAY !! October Birthdays Brian Bruneau, Fred Carson, Arturo Cervarntes, Tavares Dickerson, Anthony Enriquez, Jeffery Fontes, Ed Harris, Karl Kappa, Michiko Kelly, Adam Labanics, Candi Lane, Paul Laughlin, Hamad Mirmain, Norma Martinez, Thomas Mathews, Candace Moeller, Darryl Newman, Timothy Page, Stan Reeves, Frank Rosal, John Stokes, Mark Thomas, Amber Todd, Kimberly Veillon, Michael Wallander, David Wanamaker, Vickie Warf, Melvin Watkins, Roger Williams, Almeda Yarborugh, Employee of the Month Employee of the Month for September is Rose Luquin who works in Community Employment. Employee of the Month for October is Albert Felix who works in the Corona facility. They are both acknowledges for having great attendance, taking initiative and additional responsibilities, and having an overall great work performance. Rose Luquin Albert Felix Congratulations and keep up the good work!! Consumer of the Month Consumer of the Month for September is Gilbert Dominguez who works in our Landscape Program. Consumer of the Month for October is Joe Valdez who works in Greater Good Outpost enclave. They are recognized for perfect attendance, being team players, having a positive and friendly attitude. Good Job! Congratulations! Page 2 Gilbert Dominguez Joe Valdez News To Count On Career Center News We are very proud of the number of consumers we were able to place in community employment work settings via the Car eer Center J ob Placement Assessment. To name a few... Efrain Saldana: Efrain showed an interest in working at various other things, besides processing hangers at the WAP program in Redlands. His interest prompted his Job Coach Yolanda Coker, to recommend him for Supportive Employment. After assessment, we learned that he definitely enjoys the outdoors and has been subbing at Wildwood and will be joining that group soon. Devin Stewart: Lawrence D. Arco: Devin has had experience being the assistant editor to a weekly newsletter. His experience along with his interest in being an illustrator or designer of video games in the field of art and animation can be useful in our newly created Media enclave. Among other, he is also interested in sales and marketing, making him a good team member for the Greater Good Outpost (E-bay). Lawrence has been working at the Redlands Work Activity Program for over two months now and is really enjoying it. Rose Le Quin (Job Coach) Laura DeHaro David Brindley: W hen the assessment was completed, he showed an interest in the Media dept., E-bay and office work, as well as the Wood Shop. Laura DeHaro received and award for promptly reporting a situation that could have escalated into a serious matter. “ Don’t forget to inform your Case Managers if you see something that doesn’t look right.” Technology Downsizing, simplifying and enhancing our company communications and network has moved us into a new and exciting direction this year, offering us more bang for our buck! Mid summer we switched from hosting our own email and websites, to hosting with Google and GoDaddy. Google hosts our email, using the Google Apps program (Gmail email, shared documents and calendars), at zero cost to us as a non-profit organization. GoDaddy hosts our websites as well. Having both systems hosted off-site frees us from the complex and costly network systems we've had in place for years and saves us a tremendous amount of time and money. Now more than ever, we have the power and flexibility to maximize our personal and company growth. But we aren't finished with our improvements yet. We still have plenty more good stuff in the works! Your feedback is always welcome. Thanks! Written by Jeff Zimarik (Payroll / Tech. Manager) Employee Safety Accident prevention ... Your #1 intention! Be safe. Are you aware that each time an employee is injured, it costs the company (and the employees) money? When the company is profitable, so are you! And when it's not... well, you get the idea. Let's take care of one another. Work smart. Be aware. We are the company and the company is us. Thanks! Years of Service Recognition—September and October period New Hire—Job Coach Guy Mersereau — 22 years (Wow!! ) Rudy Garcia—14 years (Wow!) Leticia Moreno—6 years Marcos Brynd, Justine Traupel, Russell Walsh, Corrina Willis—3 years THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR LONGEVITY WITH THE COMPANY! Issue 3 Ashley Gaji Cora Alaniz Sherlonn Bonner Joanna Guerrero Rita Lualemaga Bertha Hernandez Page 3 Director’s Corner Up-Coming Events Roger Cox Chili Cook-off 11/14/09 Staff Christmas Party 12/12/09 Consumer Christmas Party 12/19/09 Community Employment (new worksites) Director of Program Development ABOUT ME: I was a co-founder of Ability Counts, Inc. in 1982, and worked company management for twenty years. Now that I am eligible for Medicare, my role is to help with health, safety, first aid, and communication with the Ability Counts Board of Directors and accreditation. In fact, many of you will meet me when you take Red Cross first aid, Cardio-Pulmonary Recessitation (CPR) and Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) training sometime in the next year. To best serve the people with disabilities at Ability Counts, we need to ask the question: how are we doing? There is no one answer. It depends whether you are a consumer, care provider, IRC case worker, staff member or customer. To get a sense of how we are doing on a monthly basis, we ask questions. The questions are reviewed annually and changed as needed. The good news is that in general, the people who respond to our questions agree in varying degrees with five positive statements about our programs. Opinions vary among our various stakeholders. I would like to invite you to look at our outcomes saved on the “Help Desk”. Our earthquake drill held on October 15 was a great first step toward becoming prepared in an emergency. The challenge we all face is that we are responsible for a large number of people, many Die Cutting Solutions, Inc. of whom are not even at our facilities on any given day. Each facility is stocked with enough food (parts assembly and removing holes and water for three days. In addition, each program has extensive first aid kits, easy-ups and tarps from die cutting parts) for shelter, and additional provisions for sanitation and comfort. We are also equipped to perform search and rescue for any individuals not accounted for after an evacuation. When you think of it there are a number of other emergencies to which we might need to respond including fire, bomb Taikon Corporation threat, police activity, and even chemical spills followed by a noxious cloud. Over time we want to (Disassemble Electronic Parts, Recyprovide everyone with training and updates on this preparation. cling and Front Desk Receptionist) We keep our facilities and vehicles safe. Regular inspections reveal relatively few problems considering the number of vehicles, facilities and people we serve. Job Coaches review the safety of our facilities and vehicles on a monthly basis. The quality of the safety program depends on these responses being accurate. Safety corrective action should be made in a timely manner. Job Coaches “The tragedy of life does not lie that do not have first aid supplies available in their vehicle or in their work area should raise their in not reaching your goal. The hand and get the situation corrected. Our program is only as good as we make it at all levels. tragedy lies in having no goals to We will be preparing for our CARF review at this time next year. CARF stands for the Commisreach.” sion (for the) Accreditation (of) Rehabilitation Facilities (and programs). This accreditation process Quote of the Day focuses on how well we are doing in providing vocational skill instruction, recording progress and providing a safe and appropriate work environment. We are already prepared for CARF by doing the regular tasks of our work day. Accurate recording of production, time studies and quality case records are an example of the work we do regularly, so CARF just takes a snapshot of all of our Have an idea, comment, or activities at one point in time. The importance of CARF is first a matter of pride. The fewer the suggestion for the newsletter? recommendations, the happier we are and the more certain we are that our program is the exemContact Blake Shimschock at plary program we think it is. Also, we must receive a three year accreditation to continue to provide vocational services in the State of California. So, CARF is important but it is really just a matter of bshimshock@abilitycounts.org doing all aspects of our jobs well. As we approach the holiday season, I would like to be the first to offer my sincerest wish that you and your families remain happy, safe and healthy during this festive time of year. Roger