Newsletter October 2021

Issued Quarterly October 2021

In this Issue

Check out Resourceful Futures new Website: www. resourcefulfutures.org

Directors Corner

“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”

-Phil Jackson

RFCSL’s MIKE PRESTON Award is awarded annually to an outstanding employee during the month of October. The quote above says it all for the WINNER of the award for 2020. In mid-March 2020 the pandemic turned our worlds upside down. During this time, staff stood up with exceptional bravery, taking risks, working above and beyond, and working long hours; all to keep our clients, colleagues, and families safe from contracting and/or spreading COVID 19. Thanks to the exceptional work of everyone, RFCSL experienced no serious medical outcomes because of the pandemic. Therefore, RFCSL is pleased to announce, that the 2020 MIKE PRESTON SCHOLARSHIP award will be dedicated to ALL Employees and Contractors. Recognition will be in the form of a reward plaque, plus we have a little celebration in the works to honor each person individually. WELL DONE TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to make mention of another exciting announcement. Rakesh, RFCSL’S Community Access Coordinator, has been working tirelessly, much of his own time, and using his incredible skills to re-design RFCSL’s s website. The new website will BE interactive and will assist RFCSL in working towards a paperless organization. Everyone encourage to visit the website & start to register for more updates. Stay tuned.

On a final note, as we are all aware, there seems to be no end to this pandemic which continues to create much daily uncertainty. With that in mind, RFCSL’s leadership team continues to work tirelessly day after day staying on top of the ongoing changes and the impacts it has on our service delivery. This has become our priority while staying on top of our regular duties. Please at any time, if we have missed something or if you have any questions about our operation, do not hesitate to contact your coordinator.

Please stay safe, healthy, and connected.

Rob Halfyard, CEO

HR Update

On October 7, 2021, RFCSL has mandated that office personnel and frontline workers, from all program areas, to be fully vaccinated by January 1, 2022.

If you feel you cannot comply with the mandate for medical or other reasons, please contact the HR department. If you have not done so, please make arrangement with either Lisa or Kendra to view a copy of your vaccine record.
If you choose to email in a copy of your records to myself, please know that Resourceful Futures will only keep a record of the dates and will delete the paper copy. RF will not keep a copy of your vaccine records on site and access to your information is limited to the HR department.
It is almost time for T4’s again, please make you have notified the office of any changes in personal information and/or mailing address.

Resourceful Futures new website is up!!! Please look for an email in the near future explaining how you can get a username and password. Once you have obtained a username and password you will be able to access all the up coming training at Resourceful Futures.

Lisa M.
Finance/HR Manager

Client Service Manager’s Corner

• 

• 

• 

Welcome to my favorite time of the year. The trees are beautiful with all the autumn colors, the nights are cool, but the days still have a bright blue sky.

For me, Fall is a time for change and organization. So, with my new fall time energy I will be working on the Positive and Restrictive Plans as well as completing Risk Assessments for all our clients in the day program and residential homes. It will be nice to work with all of you whom I haven’t seen for a while. The few assessments we have so far completed have turned out well and complement the response plans we have on file.

Keeping on top of the Covid-19 rules and regulations I have been asking for the vaccination verification cards for each client. If you have not yet sent me a copy for the clients you support, can you please do so, as soon as possible.

2020 and 2021 have tested most of our patents and stretched our resources thin. Negative thoughts are never in our best interest so think now that in two and half more months, it will be 2022. A great year to look forward to, one that hopefully will bring everyone together. Together we can make this happen.

Keep in touch

Linda Williams
Client Services Manager

Coordinators’ Corner

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Hope you all had a great celebration in whatever way you celebrated!!!!!!!!

As you know the Government of Alberta recently announced a state of emergency due to the new COVID-19 variant, and not everyone has been vaccinated. We know the new restriction, once again, is causing stress among all of us including the individual’s we serve. Please continue to have open conversations with your individuals that maybe struggling with the recent restrictions.

New Contract Requirement

RFCSL has created a mandatory vaccine mandate that came into effect January 01, 2022. With that being said, we will be adding this new change to the Contracts. However, based on the information sent out by RFCSL this new requirement comes into effect for permitted subcontractors as well.

Gentle Reminders

• Respite Home Inspections:
  We would like to give a gentle reminder when you are securing respite support that you need to ensure the respite home meets all Home Inspection requirements and the respite workers training is fully up to date. If you require a home inspection to be completed, we ask that you contact your coordinator to schedule a time that works best for everyone involved. Please be mindful that a short request to conduct a home visit cannot be accommodated. Home inspections and home visits will be scheduled and conducted based on protocols set out by Alberta Health Authorities and the Alberta Government to keep us all safe.
  Monthly Summaries/Mar Trackers:
  Please submit your monthly summary and MAR sheets on or before the 5th of each month.
• Invoices:
  Please remember to submit your invoices by the 1st of each month. The finance department would greatly appreciate your support.
• Zoom Meetings:
  We will continue to do contracts, ISP meetings, etc., via zoom until it’s safe to resume face-to face contacts.
• PPE Supplies:
  If you require any PPE supplies, e.g., masks, you can call (587-747-1188) and arrange for pick up. We would be happy to see you!
  Please continue to reach out to us when needed for any supports you may require for yourself and/or the person(s) you support. These are very trying times and we all need to get through this together. Therefore, we encourage you to continually reach out to us, we are always here.

Stay safe, stay health, and please continue to keep abreast of the government protocols for social distancing, masking etc.

Thank you all!!

Shelly, Tracy, Kendra, and Rakesh 

Community Access Program

During the pandemic lockdown, Community Access Program staff and clients still tried to enjoy the beautiful summer sky and heart-warming heat as much as possible. In middle of July, Day Program Team Leaders and Social and Cultural Committee hosted the miniatured Stampede Party for clients and staff who attended Day Program onsite.
In September, Community Access Program welcome our new committee members joining us. Day Program staff had the chance to meet the Committee members via the Monthly Team Building Meeting. Please feel comfortable to bring your feedback and concerns to our committee representatives for discussion. Your feedback and suggestions are the motivation for making our services and working environment safe, respectful, fun, cultural diversified to everyone.

Team Leaders also want to take this opportunity to say Thank You to staff who help hosting zoom activities and contributing interesting topics for our cultural presentations. With your valuable inputs and contributions, our clients can continue exploring around world and connecting with their peers even when staying at home. For our audiences, the zoom virtual tours and presentations are not just simply watching YouTube videos, they learn the new cultures, have the chances to express and discuss their opinions and share with other audiences. Great Job, Team!

Jessamine C. & Marylenn C. /Community Access Team Leaders

Committees’ Members 2021

Message from Pandemic C./Mentor

A Few months ago, Resourceful Futures gladly welcomed Westmount Remedy’s Pharmacy in Okotoks, Alberta as our agency’s new affiliate Pharmacy that provides medications, monthly MAR sheets and available to answer our medication related inquiries of our individuals in care.

We really appreciate the effort of their Pharmacist Mr. Darshan P. for coming to our office last October 12 and 15, 2021 to administer flu shots to our clients and staff. Covid protocols were in place during the entire vaccination process.

Resourceful Futures will continue to focus on the safety and well-being of our staff and clients that we serve at home and in our Community Access Program.

We would like to thank our Coordinators for facilitating this safe and convenient Flu shot held at the office, and hopefully this service will continue annually.

For your Pharmacy needs please don’t hesitate to contact:

(403) 917-0655
Monday to Friday – 08:00 to 17:30
Saturday – 09:00 to 14:00
Sunday and Stat Holidays – On Call
On Call Pharmacist: Darshan P.
(403) 861-0940
E mail – westmountremedys@gmail.com

Spotlight

Hayley found a cellphone on the Bus 38 and tried to follow the cellphone owner getting off the bus, the bus left with her luggage on it. Hayley B. needed her luggage for sleep over to her sister’s house.

Hayley reported to Team Leader and was advised by Team Leader to call Calgary Transit Lost & Found to report. As Hayley was doing the report, David learned about the incident and asked further details from Hayley about the bus number, time and route. David tried to trace where that Bus 38 which Hayley took at 8:14 am. With the help of the Transit 55 website that David is using, he was able to trace the bus 38. They waited for that Bus 38 going to Brentwood and true enough the luggage was there. The bus driver verified Hayley’s identity and handed her the luggage.

Good job David B. You saved us and Hayley so much time looking for the luggage. The Transit 55 website that you discovered is worth sharing to the staff especially, as it helped us a lot finding the bus routes for those parks which we are exploring in the day program this summer.

Way to go, David. Give You two thumbs up.
David was nominated by Lyn A. as the Client of the Month

Client’s Corner

“I Miss You all! Hope to see you all soon!”
-Marsha W.

“I hope you stay safe, and I miss you all!”
– Noreen.

“I’ve been doing lots of walking. It’s a good exercise. We used to do swimming, but we can’t do that yet, because of Covid. I miss it. I miss my friends too. And I miss going to the airport, and volunteering at Rehab.”

“I preferred to come in the office for my day program. I feel good, happy, and comfortable while coming to the day program. I like to do activities like long walk in the park, explore different places in the neighborhood. I miss buying my coffee almost everyday while heading to office. I want to go back to my normal routine like coming to day program. I miss my friends, staffs in day program. Hoping this pandemic will be gone soon so that I can go back to my normal activity.”

On September 30, the Social and Cultural Committee hosted the Zoom Presentation and Art Competition to reflect the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and to show our respect to the first nations population. Most staffs and clients wore orange shirt to show we care and honour those who died in the residential schools and celebrate life to those who lived.

Truth and Reconciliation Art Project

Feedback Needed

We at RFCSL is currently changing our service model due to the Pandemic, we have our website updated, we did some system upgrade, we started going online and paperless log notes and reports. We want you to know that your opinion Matters to us, we want to hear your thoughts without judgement. We are requesting for your honest feedbacks, suggestions, recommendations of any kind, areas to improve or anything that comes in mind that you think will help improve our service and our program. We believe we can do better and there is always room for improvement. We are excited to hear from you.

Please check our website: www.resourcefultutures.org.

You can click the Feedback button of Resourceful Futures’ Website Home page and submit your feedback online. We also encouraged you to talk to any of our committee representatives and writing an anonymous letter to the office is also an option.