2017-2018 Year in Review

The Annual Report 2017-2018 provides the latest updates at Service Coordination for People with Developmental Disabilities (SCS). This report covers the previous fiscal year starting on April 1, 2017 and ending on March 31, 2018.

• Message from the Chair of the Board of Directors
• Message from the Executive Director
• Review of SCS Performance
• Review of Challenges
• Review of the Services Offered by SCS
• Review of the Main Projects at SCS
• Financial Overview
• 2017-2018 Board of Directors and Committees

About SCS

Service Coordination for People with Developmental Disabilities (SCS) is the initial point of contact for adults and children who have a developmental disability and children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. SCS helps people find the available supports and services in their community that are needed to assist them in their daily lives.

Services Offered by SCS

• Children’s and Adult Case Management | Residential and Community Services
  Case management services are available to children and adults with developmental disabilities and children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The three programs – Children’s Case Management, Adult Case Management, and Residential & Community Services – develop individual support plans for all their participants.

• Developmental Services Ontario Eastern Region (DSOER)
  Developmental Services Ontario Eastern Region (DSOER) is the access point for adult services funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services. DSOER serves Ottawa, the counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Prescott Russell and Renfrew. DSOER works cooperatively with all developmental services across the former Eastern Region.

• respiteservices.com in Ottawa
  respiteservices.com in Ottawa is a secure, user-friendly, and accessible portal that helps to match families with workers or resources for respite, community participation activities and/or developmental programming. The site is available 24 hours every day, and supports both children and adults in the Ottawa Region.

Message from the Chair of the Board of Directors

I have now completed my first year as Chair and fourth year on the Board of Directors of SCS. This is a role that I really appreciate as it allows me to give back to the community and to work with a solid organization focused on serving people with special needs.

I am fortunate to work with Board colleagues who are dedicated and passionate about the people we serve. Their complementarity is also noteworthy. All members possess unique professional experience and skills that add value to the Board and the organization as a whole.

From my perspective, the Board is only as good as its committees where a great deal of excellent work is accomplished. Specifically, over the last number of months, External Relations provided oversight on a perception study and the resulting communications strategy. Finance contributed to a healthy financial situation at year-end. Governance reviewed the Board’s foundational documents as well as the SCS mission, vision and values. Last, but not least, Quality and Risk oversaw the development of a thorough and transparent risk assessment process within the organization.

Over the past year, SCS completed a number of introspective exercises to look at what the organization was doing well and to identify areas for improvement. Given that this was my first year as Chair, the timing was perfect, as it helped me to focus on all governance aspects. SCS leadership and staff deserve kudos for completing these exercises while ensuring smooth operations and a consistently high quality of service to the people in the community who benefit from our work.

As part of these exercises, a research agency was hired to complete a perception study to help us find out what people think of SCS. Awareness of SCS, satisfaction with our services, as well as our case managers, all received positive marks. The study also highlighted areas for improvement including the need to better explain our services through enhanced communications and service standards. Progress in this area is already tangible. Based on the perception study, SCS developed an enhanced communications strategy and a partnership framework and launched a review of the mission, vision and values of the organization.

Such progress was made possible thanks to the contribution and professionalism of SCS staff, as well as the leadership of the Executive Director and her senior management team. The SCS employee engagement survey conducted earlier in the year told us that employees feel highly respected and supported by their colleagues. It is very evident to me and my Board colleagues that SCS staff and their leaders attain excellent results because they are passionate about what they do and who they serve.

What will next year bring? SCS will continue to draw from the lessons learned from the perception study and will undertake a number of important initiatives including the implementation of a new case management model, the development of a client portal as well as a new website, and consideration of an expansion to respiteservices.com in Ottawa.

I believe that it has been a productive year of which we can all be proud. I look forward to our continued success in the year ahead.

André Dulude

Chair of the Board,
Service Coordination for People with Developmental Disabilities (SCS)

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Message from the Executive Director

Introspection and action is what makes Service Coordination for People with Developmental Disabilities (SCS) a leader in innovation. SCS is aware that waiting lists are growing and in 2017-2018 we completed reviews that will help transform our services to better support people with disabilities as well as children with autism and their families.

One of our major tasks this year was the completion of a perception study to better understand the needs and expectations for services along with the awareness and satisfaction of services provided by SCS. Families and professionals were invited to participate in this study. The survey received 597 responses and about 30 respondents participated in focus groups. Findings revealed that the majority of people served by our agency are on waiting lists from organizations outside of SCS, and many have a false assumption that we control these lists. On the other hand, study participants provided positive scores for SCS services and advice on how to improve communications. Our agency used this study to develop a communications strategy, and a guide to improve our services.

The Ontario Ombudsman Report “Nowhere to Turn” highlighted that waiting lists can lead to crises. Case management, a main service offered by SCS, is an important tool for crisis prevention. Therefore, we completed a review of case management to ensure it stays current. This exercise was done by considering our own expertise, how we perform case management. The result will be a new model of case management that aims to build on the strengths of the people we support.

Developmental Services Ontario Eastern Region (DSOER) added a service navigation function to its activities, whose goal is to provide information and refer people to available services while waiting. As part of SCS, DSOER assesses people 16 and over who want and need to access adult developmental services in Ottawa, Prescott Russel, Renfrew County and the United Counties of Stormont Dundas and Glengarry.

SCS is always looking for new opportunities to help people reach their personal goals, which are strongly impacted by growing waiting lists. The theme of Coming Together 2017, our annual conference, was Employing Ability and it told us that many youths are eager to work. We listened and this year we teamed up with Volunteer Ottawa to offer a one-time Volunteer Internship opportunity. This focused partnership intends to help people volunteer in the community. We also collaborated with many partners to showcase different employment and volunteer opportunities.

Indeed, SCS could not be a leader in modernization without the commitment and innovation of our employees and volunteer Board of Directors. We try to foster innovation by listening to the expertise we have within the organization and by staying abreast of new developments. To ensure this formula works, we see the importance of a positive culture where we can learn and plan ahead for future changes.

Over the next year, SCS will continue to leverage innovation and awareness of what is yet to come and transform our services to respond to the people we support, including those waiting for services not provided by our agency.

Anna Lacelle

Executive Director,
Service Coordination for People with Developmental Disabilities (SCS)

Review of SCS Performance

Number of people served

SCS evaluates its performance by collecting information on the number of services it delivered to people over a fiscal year that runs from April 1^st through March 31^st. SCS provided approximately 5,168 services to children and adults in this time period.

• 1,597 children supported by Children’s Case Management (CCM)
• 793 adults supported by Adult Case Management (ACM)
• 190 children[1] and adults[2] supported by Residential and Community Services (RCS)
• 713 adults completed their application packages[3] with DSOER assessors
• DSOER completed 290 intakes, 326 information provision requests, 276 service referrals, and referred 57 urgent cases to Urgent Response mechanisms across the Eastern Region
• 135 families received funding from the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Initiative
• 193 families and 97 Special Needs Workers registered to respiteservices.com in Ottawa

It is important to note that a participant can receive more than one service from SCS. For example, a participant can receive case management services and access respiteservices.com. The number of persons served does not include the length of time required to provide each service. SCS is committed to provide a person centered service and as such the time to assist persons requesting support varies considerably.

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[1] Children supported by Residential and Community Services (RCS) are children with multiple complex special needs.
[2] Adults supported by RCS are previous Transition Aged Youth with Crown Ward status.
[3] Application packages include the Application for Developmental Services and Supports (ADSS) and the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS).

Feedback received

SCS evaluates its performance by requesting feedback from the people it serves.

Below is a chart with feedback received by fiscal year (2015-2018). Trends identify that praise (blue rectangles) hit a peak during the 2017-2018 fiscal year while complaints (red rectangles) reported have decreased in recent years.

During the 2017-2018 fiscal year, SCS received 65 feedback items out of 5,168 services provided (48 in the form of praise, 9 complaints, 6 concerns and 2 suggestions).

You can share your feedback at any time by completing our online form at scsonline/feedback. You can also contact us by email at feedback@scsonline.ca or phone at 613-748-1788 extension 227 to speak with our Quality Assurance Officer.

In addition to the feedback received, SCS hired a research agency to complete a perception study to find out what people think of SCS. This study validated what we have heard from our partners and the people we support.

Testimonials

SCS collects testimonials that describe the experience of participants who used its services.

Testimonial from a participant in the urgent response service

I would like to express my outmost gratitude to our Urgent support worker. Our family was faced with removing my severely disabled daughter from her long term facility due to negligence. A month before this incident my elderly parents, 90-year-old father and 86-year-old mother with dementia, had to move in with me as their doctor felt it was no longer safe for them to live alone. The demands on me became overwhelming! Had it not been for our Urgent support worker who quickly was there for me to help with getting urgent response hours in place, I don’t know how we would have coped.

Our Urgent support worker showed compassion during this difficult time and it was reassuring to me that someone was listening to my cry for help. Caring for a severely disabled adult is challenging and can become very overwhelming when faced with fatigue and anxiety of what the future holds. My worker went beyond the call of duty in listening to me when I was at my lowest and stressed out moments. She is an example of how workers in this field should respond to families that are struggling to care for their loved ones.

Thank you, we are forever grateful.

An SCS participant

Testimonial from the DSOER program

On behalf of my wife and myself, I just wanted to tell you that we spent the last two Tuesday mornings with one of your team’s assessors for purposes of assessing our 17-year-old son. We were very happy that your assessor was flexible enough in her schedule to be able to come to our home for these meetings, and to visit the school where our son is in an autism program so she could see him and get an idea of how he’s doing. We found your assessor to be very professional, knowledgeable, and helpful with respect to the process we had to follow and the completion of the questionnaires, etc. She did a great job and we appreciate it.

A DSOER participant

Testimonial from the DSOER program

Our Assessor has been responsive, approachable, and creative in her approach to our son and family. She has consistently gone above and beyond the parameters of her job to ensure that our concerns have been addressed and that we feel supported. Most impressive of all is our assessor’s inclusive, open and engaging interaction with our son. She consistently puts him at the centre of all discussions and at the centre of the plan of care/action. In our re-assessment interview today, our assessor focused on attempting to develop a nuanced profile of our son’s hopes, dreams, goals and challenges. She really wanted to understand our son, and it showed. I was impressed and our son was so pleased that someone would take the time to really try to understand him.

A DSOER participant

Review of Challenges

The following items are challenges frequently experienced by SCS and the people it supports:

• Managing expectations that SCS can provide direct access to services provided by other service providers in the community;
• Communicating clear service standards to help eliminate confusion about what to expect from SCS;
• Maintaining up to date information on services on the website; and
• Offering online forms that are easy to use.

In addition to the challenges above, families and organizations told SCS that they have strong feelings when it comes to services. They expect the service system, including SCS, to respond to their expectations summarized below:

• Timely access to relevant information;
• Comprehensive systems navigation;
• Proactive individualized case management;
• Providing supports while on waiting lists;
• Reaching out into the community; and
• Advocating on behalf of service users and their caregivers.

Throughout the coming years, SCS will see how it can address the challenges identified.

Review of the Services Offered by SCS

(Click on image to enlarge)

Support Services:
Children’s and Adult Case Management | Residential and Community Services

In 2017-2018 Support Services reviewed its current case management model. Based on the findings of the review, plans are underway to transform this service delivery model. The three programs in Support Services – Children’s Case Management, Adult Case Management, and Residential & Community Services – will change to focus on people’s strengths. This change aligns with the feedback from the perception study.

One of Support Services’ role is to explore community resources to help participants get what they need to reach their goals. Support Services currently gather information on resources that have proven to help its participants. Eventually this information will be accessible on the SCS website.

In 2017-2018 a total of 1,597 children received support from the Children’s Case Management Team and a total 793 people from the Adult Case Management Team. Residential and Community Services supported 190 children an adults in this time period.

The 2017-2018 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Initiative served a total of 135 families. This initiative provides direct funding to families to purchase respite for children with autism spectrum disorder under 18 years old.

Developmental Services Ontario Eastern Region (DSOER)

In 2017-2018 DSOER added a service navigation function to improve access to services for adults with developmental disabilities and their families by finding new ways to connect them to supports available in their community.

Service Navigators can:

• Share information with you on community and developmental services available near you;
• Help you select and apply for these services; and
• Lead you through the steps to apply for services funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services.

The service navigation function has been added to the main activities at DSOER and it operates as follows:

• Initial Call: we confirm your eligibility
• Application: we learn what your needs are
• Referrals: we help you find the services available near you
• Waiting List: if there is a wait time for a service, we keep a list of people who want that service
• Matching and Linking: we connect you with services in high demand

DSOER was also a pilot participant for the Ministry of Community and Social Service’s province-wide Customer Experience Mapping initiative. The purpose of this project was to study the participant experience with Developmental Services Ontario from the initial call (intake) to the point of meeting an assessor for the application (assessment).

respiteservices.com

In 2017-2018 a total of 193 families and 97 Special Needs Workers registered to respiteservices.com in Ottawa. A total of 1,850 families and 1,163 Special Need Workers in Ottawa have joined this service since 2009.

At the moment, SCS offers respiteservices.com in Ottawa and continues to look at the possibility to offer this service to the counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Prescott Russell and Renfrew.

Transition Awareness Group

The Transition Awareness Group (TAG) aims to stimulate community participation, inspire new opportunities and raise the profile of developmental services in our community for transitional age youth. The goal of TAG is to help people and families gain knowledge, tools, and awareness of resources in the Ottawa area.

In 2017-2018 TAG continued to organize evening information sessions for people between the ages of 16 and 21, as well as, for adults in life transition. The information sessions provided opportunities to learn about topics ranging from the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Wills, Estates, Power and Letter of Attorney, to Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) and more.

Each year, the conference Coming Together focuses on a topic relevant to all young people 14 years of age and older who are experiencing life transitions. Last year’s theme Employing Ability placed a spotlight on participation and inclusion in the community, by emphasizing employment and employment services. Attendees met with key community stakeholders who are helping people with disabilities prepare for and find jobs.

Youth and young adults had hands-on opportunities to sample Algonquin College’s Kitchen Steward program, try the craft of several local businesses, and prepare for employment with Y’s Owl Maclure’s Life Skills Training Centre.

Review of the Main Projects at SCS

The main projects of SCS aim to provide current and efficient services to people served.

Finance Portal

In 2017-18 SCS launched a new financial portal to reduce the time it takes to prepare invoices for payment. The portal was tested with several partners and as a result of the positive feedback received, all partners will be invited to use it next fiscal year.

Perception Study

SCS conducted a Perception Study that revealed much about the awareness, use and expectation of services in the Ottawa region. The survey received 597 responses and about 30 respondents participated in focus groups. Awareness of SCS, satisfaction with its services, as well as its case managers, all received positive marks. The study also highlighted areas for improvement including the need for SCS to better explain its services through enhanced communications and service standards. Progress in this area is already tangible.

Urgent Response & Functional Review

• The Urgent Response (UR) project was a process review to ensure that DSOER and case management services, both offered by SCS, were in compliance with the Urgent Response Guidelines from the Ministry of Community and Social Services. As a result of this work, SCS implemented efficiencies to ensure quality service for people deemed urgent.
• SCS completed a functional review to assess DSOER workflow functions. More specifically, SCS sought to confirm whether it was appropriately staffed, resourced and financially supported to deliver DSOER services. The project recommendations continue to be addressed either through additional training of staff and by the DSOER’s new Service Navigation program.

Customer Experience Mapping Initiative

DSOER was also a pilot participant for the Ministry of Community and Social Service’s province-wide Customer Experience Mapping initiative. The purpose of this project was to study the participant experience with Developmental Services Ontario from the initial call (intake) to the point of meeting an assessor for the application (assessment).

Financial Overview

Summarized financial information for the year ended March 31, 2018.

2017-2018 Board of Directors and Committees

Established in 1995, our Board of Directors consists of volunteers from our community. The Board governs our agency by providing leadership and direction to our Executive Director.