We have decided to restructure the administrative operations of our Fort Wayne residential programs.  Currently, our operations are completely separated by “funding streams.”  That is, our ICF/MR (Intermediate Care Facility for the Mentally Retarded) and Medicaid Waiver are managed separately. To ensure quality of service, we have consolidated and focused our administrative efforts across these different funding streams.  So, now our programs will be separated by the services and supports needed.  These different categories include Health, Therapeutic (for those with intense behavioral needs), and Developmental (for those who need services and supports that may include custodial care.)Though we are changing the administration of the Fort Wayne area, we are retaining all of our employees.  We work with extremely talented individuals who recognize the need to ensure quality and consistency.  There are a few areas where in some supervision of homes may change.  We are hoping that this will be for the better. (more…)

Our sympathies go out to Lydia Vetter, Manager of Residential Services, and her family.  Lydia’s husband passed away yesterday.  We are deeply sorry for her loss.

We at Your Friends & Neighbors wanted to wish you happy holidays!  This season can be especially difficult for persons with disabilities that do not have active families.  We paid particular attention to those individuals this year to assure their holiday season was as best it could be.  We wish you good health and well being as we enter the new year. 

We wanted to make everyone aware that Ernie Beal, COO, has his own blog that he has been maintaining.  You can check it out here: http://www.embeal.blogspot.com/

Per usual, Thanksgiving has kept us all very busy.  Have a wonderful holiday weekend from our family!

Our sympathies go out to Lydia Vetter, Manager of Residential Services, and her family.  Lydia’s sister passed away suddenly on Tuesday, November 13.  Our thoughts are with her in this difficult time.

 You can look at the obituary here.

http://www.legacy.com/FortWayne/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=97996543 

Our company switched to a new payroll administrator a few months ago.  We are still working out all of the kinks to the new system.  What does this new system do? ADP (Automatic Data Processing) provides payroll solutions to multiple companies of all sizes.  One of the benefits of switching to this new system is that we have a better handle on scheduling.  Our scheduling, which had been done by hand for years, was taking an extremely long time.  Our company employs about 550 people!  ADP allows for staff to “clock in” via phone lines and kiosks. By moving to this new system, we have a better handle over our payroll, which is one of our top expenses.  By tightening this aspect of our business, we are confident that this will impact our services.  We are excited about this new product. If you want to check out more about this product, check out their website.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKC7vcZGZfM]We will be posting as often as we can.  Check back with us for inside information.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jbeal@yfn.com