UPDATE HIGHLIGHTS
- Welcome Ansa Babalola, Andrea Laporte and Chaltu Sekecho.
- Children’s “Respite Adventureland” Weekends continue!
- Children’s Day Camp returns this July & August!
- Spring & Summer Respite Bookings available for Children & Adults.
- Adult Overnight Respite Fee-for-Service Program Updates
- Adult Day Program Fee-for-Service Summer Planning
- Volunteer Program Relaunch
CHILDREN’S PROGRAM – SPRING & SUMMER RESPITE OPTIONS
We are now accepting bookings for children’s respite for the spring and summer months, and we have three fantastic options. Feel free to utilize them all!
Children’s Adventure Weekends: Dive into adventure with our Adventure Weekends designed just for kids! The Children’s Adventure Weekend has a community participation focus with outings and lots of community activities. Join Julia and Meagan for unforgettable experiences. Adventure Weekends are offered once a month. Reserve your spot now for upcoming dates.
Regular Respite Bookings: Looking for time during the week or a weekend? Our regular respite program offers more flexibility than our Adventure Weekends to allow families to access respite outside of the adventure weekends. Our regular respite program is full of opportunities to socialize with friends and lots of fun activities, but activities are largely based at the respite home rather than in the community which might be more suitable to some. Contact Marie or Chaltu to discuss availability and secure your reservation.
Summer Day Camp: Following the tremendous success of last year’s summer camp, we’re thrilled to announce the return of our Children’s Summer Day Camp in July and August. Spaces are limited, so be sure to check out our flyer for more details and secure your child’s spot for a summer of fun!
ADULT OVERNIGHT RESPITE – FUNDED
Adult respite continues to be in high demand, with over 1000 overnight stays provided in the past 12 months. It has been wonderful to see so many families return to ORH and get the break they need. We encourage you to reach out and discuss your preferred dates with us, and we’ll do our utmost to accommodate them. Please remember that our funding from the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services for overnight adult respite is limited. However, we have additional capacity available through Fee for Service. Stay tuned, as our adult families will soon receive a flyer detailing the services available to them and how to access them.
WELCOME NEW TEAM MEMBERS!
We’re excited to introduce you to our newest team members: Ansa Babalola, Andrea Laporte, and Chaltu Sekecho. Ansa manages our front desk, ensuring families and individuals receive a warm welcome. Andrea is our new Office Manager handing much of the back-office processes and Chaltu steps into the role of Respite Supervisor, providing essential support during the spring and summer months. We’re thrilled to have them on board!
ADULT OVERNIGHT RESPITE FEE-FOR-SERVICE
We are finally geared to transition our adult fee-for-service program back to normalcy. During the challenging times of the pandemic, ORH remained steadfast in its commitment to supporting families facing immense pressures. Within just three months of the pandemic’s onset, we reopened our respite doors and extended support to all families at our funded rate. We had the resources at the time to waive our usual fee of $275/day and only charged $28.75/day, often waiving fees all together if we could. We also responded to several emergency requests from our families and the broader community. During this time our staff:client ratios often moved from 1:3 to 1:2 due to extra precautions needed during the pandemic.
Now that the crisis has passed and we have stability in our community, it is time for ORH to refocus and rebuild. While we are grateful for the resources that enabled us to support our families during the pandemic, it’s now essential to lay the groundwork for our future. With the Journey to Belonging initiative now in its third year of ten, individualized support and responsive programs are paramount for our continued success.
Effective April 1, 2024, only DSO referred adults will have access to the MCCSS funded rates. All other services will transfer to our regular fee-for-service rates. Furthermore, beginning September 2024, our new Fee for Service Schedule will be implemented and the rate for overnight fee-for-service support will be $325/day.
PASSPORT FUNDING
Do you have Passport funding or other individualized resources? We’re here to collaborate with you in designing services tailored to your needs and resource budget. As a recipient of Passport funding, you have the option to utilize ORH across various programs, from adult community participation support to camps and adult overnight respite. We strive to match individuals with similar schedules and interests to minimize overall costs and enhance the experience for all.
ADULT COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION SURVEY
Do you currently access our Adult Day Program?
Are you looking for summer supports?
Are you interested in accessing day supports in the future?
We need to hear from you so we can plan for Summer & Fall 2024.
Please take 3 min to complete our expression of interest form. https://forms.office.com/r/1cZ7ThqDzs
VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
We are delighted to announce that Abha Bhatnagar has joined our team to drive the re-launch of our ORH Volunteer Program. Abha has a long history with ORH, having initially joined the team after graduating from nursing school and maintaining contact with us over the years. Now, she will be instrumental in re-launching our formal Volunteer Program. Thank you, Abha, for your dedication and for getting this project off the ground! If you or anyone you know is interested in volunteering, please reach out to Abha at [email protected].
IPAC UPDATES (Infection Prevention and Control)
We are revising our protective measures against the spread of respiratory illness to better align with local hospitals and other congregate care settings. Moving forward, we’ll adopt a dynamic model that determines the required level of protection based on respiratory illness peak seasons or emergency declarations such as outbreaks or increased community infections.
Beginning April 12th, staff will conduct point-of-care risk assessments to determine the necessity of masks in program settings. Masking will no longer be mandatory in these settings unless a specific risk has been identified. For further information, please feel free to reach out to the head of our IPAC team, Lauri Cox, RN.
