A.L.S.O. Teams Up with Friends in Motion for a Golf Tournament
Windsor Jeep Club Announces Jeep Jam Poker Run Date
Management Team Changes
Health & Safety committee starts planning 2017 wellness events
Survey on Mental Health distributed to program sites
2017 Satisfaction Surveys are being distributed
Consumer Profile
Jewellery Wanted
Contact Us
HR Director Announces Open Hiring
The HR Committee along with A.L.S.O. Human Resources Director Leo Muzzati announced in February that with a staff shortage A.L.S.O. will be encouraging people to apply for attendant care positions with us. We are seeing an increased strain on our system for quality care attendants. “The attendant care workers have been under a lot of added stress” reported Leo Muzzatti. We are seeing more people returning from hospital to home and with our current aging consumers we have seen a high need in our community for service.”
“It is not news that there is a trained staff shortage as other community partners are feeling the effects of the shortage, this is consistent with what is happening across the province”, says Muzzatti. The HR Committee is looking for innovative ways to ensure that A.L.S.O. meets the demands in our community.
A.L.S.O. is reaching out to our current staff and supporters to let people know that we are currently seeking skilled attendants that may not have a PSW certificate. “We will consider candidates with the ability to learn new tasks, have some caregiver experience, the desire to work and access to a vehicle” He adds.
Many of the staff within the organization stay for their attendant careers because of the benefits and opportunities that A.L.S.O. has to offer including:
Flexible Hours
Equal Opportunity Employer
Unionized Environment with competitive wage packages
Opportunity to work close to home
Educational Opportunities
On-going training opportunities
One of the largest employers in Windsor/Essex
Respected since 1938
Respected and progressive employer
Shared premium benefits package available to part-time employees after qualifying period
Ability to work in a compassionate, caring and empathetic environment
For employment opportunities visit our website at www.alsogroup.org and apply today!
A.L.S.O. Teams Up with Friends in Motion
for a Golf Tournament
On June 5th A.L.S.O. will be hosting a Golf Tournament with Friends in Motion, a medical rehab assistance program. Laura Kay, Joslin Allen, Leo Muzzati and Ryan Jershy will be assisting with the planning of the tournament. “We attended the event with two A.L.S.O. foursomes last year, and thought the event was great!” said Laura Kay. “When the event organizers asked us to team up and help make the event even better, we could only say absolutely”.
The event is well run but had difficulty getting more golfers and sponsors. The committee members will be working diligently to reach out to our partners in the community to obtain more support for the tournament.
The event is scheduled to take place at the beautiful Kingsville Golf & Country Club in Kingsville. The rolling landscape and treed fairways flow naturally throughout the three nine-hole courses- each offering its own set of challenges for every level of golfer.
The course is home to more than 200 species of birds and other wildlife, as well as natural historic elements unique to Essex County.
A.L.S.O. staff, consumers, families, and supporters are encouraged to contact Laura Kay about volunteering or golfing in this great tournament.
Proceeds will benefit both Friends in Motion and the General Fund for A.L.S.O. program and services. These funds are often used to help support existing programming like the day club programs, devices, and respite services.
People interested in knowing more about our fundraising initiatives can call Laura Kay at 519-969-8188 Ext. 249 or by email at laurakay@alsogroup.org
Friends in Motion is a medical rehab assistance program dedicated to providing tangible help that will make a real difference in the lives of financially disadvantaged children and adults of Windsor and Essex County.
Friends in Motion began in 2008 with a single vision and desire by a team-minded group of individuals who were a part of the staff of Motion Specialties. They wanted to make a difference in the lives of financially disadvantaged children and adults in the community in which they lived and worked. Through first-hand experiences, this group came to realize that there were many people who were falling through the cracks and in need of basic home health care and medical equipment. By enlisting the assistance of medical professionals, accounting professionals, and home health care vendors, a team was formed with the express purpose of raising funds to provide assistance.
Currently, the foundation relies on the generosity of public and corporate donors, and the fundraising events held annually. Visit Motion Specialties in Windsor to find out about upcoming Friends in Motion events. Please note that this funding is available to residents of Windsor/Essex County Only.
For more information, to apply for funding, or to donate, contact 519.252.2011
Windsor Jeep Club Announces
Jeep Jam Poker Run Date
Planning is well under way for the 4th annual Windsor Jeep Jam Poker Run which is organized by the Windsor Jeep Club and Laura Kay.
This year Ali Clarke our board president will be entering her Jeep Wrangler in this fun filled day. The concept is similar to a motorcycle poker run but instead of motorcycles the participant drive in Jeep branded vehicles. The drivers and passenger drive to 5 stops to pick up poker cards in hopes of winning the best poker hand.
The event will be taking place on Sunday, June 11th starting at On the Green / On the Beach in Tecumseh.
For more information why not attend the preregistration night (advertised above) or contact Laura Kay at laurakay@alsogroup.org or 519-969-8188 ext. 249
Management Team Changes
Some of you have already met Darin Reybroek. He has been with A.L.S.O. for over a year working in various capacities. He has assisted with transitioning some of our consumers with ABI to home from hospital and worked to set up service plans in the community including training attendants to work with consumers on their plans. Recently he has been assisting Joslin Allen over at Westgate. This week he is moving over to Outreach District 3 to take over for Tracey Crow in the supervision of that program. As you are aware our services are gradually switching to support consumers and their families in our Neighbourhoods of Care. There has been a lot of movement over the last two years and our staff have responded with cooperation and with determined commitment to the consumers we serve. Change will continue and eventually Outreach District 3 and 4 will be integrated into Neighbourhoods of Care as our funding and logistics allow. Darin is a part time manager who floats to programs as he is needed. For the foreseeable future he will be working with the staff and consumers out of the Wyandotte Street Office.
Tracey Crow will continue to manage the Heimathof Neighbourhood of care. She will, however, be taking on a new project continuing to develop our Quality Improvement Plan and moving us toward Accreditation.
Laura Kay will be taking on new responsibilities as well. She will be responsible for all of our fundraising, working with the Social Recreation Committee, managing volunteers and coordinating our promotion, advertising, and social media. You will be hearing more from Laura in the near future and as always we strongly encourage everyone to get involved in the support and promotion of our great organization. A.L.S.O. has grown substantially. We have doubled in size since 2011 and now employ about 350 people and support over 1000 consumers every year. You are all part of the A.L.S.O. family and you are all a part of our success. Please welcome Darin, Tracey and Laura to their new responsibilities at A.L.S.O.
Wellness Initiatives & Survey on Mental Health Distributed
At the Health & Safety Meeting last month the group used extra time to work on wellness initiatives and had break out groups to work on initiatives that would benefit A.L.S.O. staff. The three groups are: Health Fair Planning, Community Initiatives and BBQ & Baseball Tournament Sub-Committee.
The reps from each program site were excited to discuss these initiatives. The Health Fair Planning group recognized that planning a Health Fair could be a lot of work, but the pay off’s would be beneficial and A.L.S.O. would want to learn new and exciting concepts. They are hoping to bring in services agencies and specialty speakers to discuss up and coming trends in Health Care.
The Community Partners group are active already with their initiative and community partnership with Weight Watchers. 16 staff members are currently following Weight Watchers at work program with A.L.S.O. and are just wrapping up week 4 of the 22 week program. This group is also looking at putting a team in again for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life.
The third group are looking to plan an exciting and fun filled day for A.L.S.O. employees and their families to host a BBQ and Baseball Tournament. There is some talk of having camping available at this new event. Stay tuned for more exciting happenings with these three groups of the Wellness Committee.
The Wellness subcommittee also created a partnership with Guarding Minds at Work to distribute a Workplace Guide to Psychological Health & Safety Survey. This survey was distributed to A.L.S.O. sites through email. Once the survey data is compiled we will have the information in a future newsletter.
For additional information on Health & Safety and Wellness please contact your program supervisor or contact one of the Chairs of the Health & Safety Committee Barb Dwyer or Kim Rappe.
2017 Satisfaction Survey
A.L.S.O. staff and consumers are invited to assist us with our annual survey
WE NEED YOU TO HELP US DO A BETTER JOB!
LET US KNOW, TODAY!
In 2016 ALSO started the process to work on a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP). A team of staff and board members met to determine what areas of ALSO should be focused on for the QUP. It was determined that the plan had to start with the ALSO’s Strategic Plan.
The Strategical Plan that is available online at: http://www.alsogroup.org/about-us/strategic-plan-2016-2018/ was the first step in the process. The group analyzed the data from the 2016 Staff and Consumer surveys to determine what was important to the people of ALSO and the results was 21 quality improvement objectives across the organization.
Staff had indicated that they wanted to be more involved with the organization and have more opportunities to be engaged. One of the improvements that was also a trend heard across the organization was time management, and several QIP items will help reduce staff time spent on clerical roles. Not a surprise, staff and consumers both recognized that one QIP piece would be around retention of staff, especially in the probationary period of employment.
Awareness of ALSO in the community was also identified as an important role that ALSO should consider in the QIP. This particular piece of the QIP is expected to help in other ways as well. With a greater community knowledge of what our organization does in the community we will build stronger relationships with outside stakeholders and also increase internal relationships. We will be trying to accomplish increasing our public relations strategy by increasing public awareness with a marketing plan that will include media partners, fundraising initiatives and an opportunity for others to partner with ALSO.
The consumer and staff satisfaction surveys along with some internal audits have allowed the QIP Committee to create some baseline statistics that will help us to insure that we are able to act on our plan. With the current plan we will be able to study our progress and see how we are doing on our QIP objectives.
As we manage to implement changes based on feedback from our internal stakeholders we will be able to accomplish a lot and share our successes with our staff and consumers. We are very thankful for the input that we receive from our staff and consumers in the surveys and hope to see more feedback with the 2017 surveys in hopes of adding more quality improvement areas in 2017/18.
More information will follow regularly as we implement and move forward with the QIP. Keep informed with ALSO’s newsletter.
If you have questions about the QIP or want to give your feedback please contact Laura Kay at 519-969-8188 Ext. 249
Quality Improvement Committee
Ryan Jershy, Chairperson
Tina Beneteau
Lynn Calder
Laura Kay
Alison Prieur
Angela Yakonich
Tracey Crow
Consumer Profile
JP Marentette If you haven’t already met JP, you might just be the only one in Windsor. JP also known in some places as “John” or “Johnny” has been visiting area establishments from the west end and back to the east end of Windsor for many years. He is often seen driving down Lauzon Parkway or Tecumseh Road to get to his various volunteer jobs and activities on his scooter.
Born and raised in the east end of Windsor, JP grew up with his family who farmed the land that is now known as the Meadowbrook Condo’s. His family helped him to be independent and encouraged him to work at a young age. He was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at birth and went to school with others that had disabilities.
He always wished that he could have gone to ‘regular school’, had a wife, and kids like many other people do. Despite challenges JP has remained positive and is a vibrant member of our community. He is proud that he spent many years working on the farm lands driving the tractor. He later worked as a janitor for Good Will and still keeps busy as a volunteer for St. Vincent de Paul and various other organizations that need his help.
Not much stops this man of 75 years. He has traveled throughout Canada from Alberta to Quebec on well-earned vacations over the years. Since his retirement, he has enjoyed vacations in the south and getting away from the snow which is JP’s biggest pet peeve. When asked what “would you do with a million dollars?” he said “I would pay my bills and go on a nice warm vacation”. One of his favourite past times is playing Bingo, and we sure hope that he wins the jackpot soon.
JP truly is a prime example of how someone with a disability can live independently in the community. He contributes his success to A.L.S.O. for making it possible to live in his apartment and have the freedom to do what he wants when he wants to. He says that the best thing about A.L.S.O. is the staff, and he wishes that more people would know exactly how much it means to him to have a great team support him. He added “if it wasn’t for A.L.S.O. there is no doubt in my mind I would be in a nursing home today”. JP would like to remind people to support A.L.S.O. by donating or volunteering for programs and services that help people just like him in our community.
