CARF Renews Hope Network Rehabilitation Services' Three Year Accreditation 

The Commission on Accreditation for Rehabilitation Facilities, better known as "CARF," awarded Hope Network Rehabilitation Services three year accreditation after conducting a comprehensive on-site survey in the fall of 2010. Following is a complete list of the strengths that CARF has identified in their report about Hope Network Rehabilitation Services' programs, staff, and facilities throughout Michigan:

• The organization is complimented for its continuity in leadership. It is evident that members of the program leadership and organizational leadership respect and value staff and are strong advocates for the persons served and personnel.
• Data from many sources are collected and analyzed. Various forums exist where information is used for decision making. It is evident that both leadership and program personnel are involved in this process.
• The facilities are well designed, spacious, and well maintained; promoting a healthy and safe environment for the delivery of services.
• Initial orientation and ongoing staff training is comprehensive and provides excellent opportunities for advancing clinical quality and exceptional customer service.
• The depth and breadth of orientation and ongoing staff development at Hope Network Rehabilitation Services is very impressive. There is a robust internal in-service education program as well as funding provided for external continuing education participation by staff at all levels of the organization.
• Staff from the organization collaborate and serve as expert speakers at conferences to educate colleagues in the community and nationally. They are involved in other community activities, including serving on local boards and running support groups.
• The organization provides many opportunities for staff recognition as an important element of retention efforts.
• The clinical team working in the program consists of highly dedicated professionals who effectively communicate and collaborate together in providing the persons served with high quality services.
• Persons served expressed a high degree of satisfaction regarding the services received from the interdisciplinary team.
• The involvement and collaboration of neuropsychiatry, physiatry, and neuropsychology address the needs of the persons served with brain injury.
• Staff members are educated on issues related to persons with brain injury that are relevant, including non-violent crisis prevention procedures, setting professional boundaries, behavioral interventions, and home health safety.
• High concerns for safety is evident. A nightly safety checklist is done in the residential program. Red safety binders are in each residential department and are reviewed with the persons served.
• Monthly fire drills are performed with residents.
• Resources and technology are up to date and beneficial to the consumer. Examples of this are Dynavision, SMART Balance Master System, and a horticulture greenhouse. Staff members are always looking to the future and considering electronic medication systems and use of electronic mobile devices.
• Persons served reported feeling that they were treated like whole persons and that their goals meshed with the goals of the staff. They also conveyed that staff inspired them to meet their goals and to think outside the box to find ways to meet their goals.
• All staff members appeared warm, wonderful, and compassionate. High attention was paid to the medical care and understanding of medications.
• Communication with external case managers is timely. The team conferences are productive and keep the team focused on the same goals. Issues are dealt with quickly. The external case managers are consulted on a decision and have access to persons served after hours.
• The independent living instructors are diligent in keeping up to date on medical appointments with the persons served and managing medications.
• The interdisciplinary team works with the school systems and the person served to ensure a smooth transition. Members of the team give written recommendations to the teachers and have also spoken to the peers in the classroom setting.
• The organization has developed an integrated network of services that provides localized service availability to the more rural populations in Michigan.
• There is an extensive therapeutic recreation department that develops activity programs for the persons served across the locations in the network.
• The behavioral program provides in-home programming for the persons served who reside in rural locations, with a behavioral analyst who travels to their homes on a regular basis to update the programs.
• Since its last survey, Hope Network has enhanced its neurobehavioral services with additional psychiatrists who have specialized training and knowledge. Their use of alternative medications has allowed the organization to admit persons served with increased acuity levels and to enhance cognitive recovery.
• Hope Network Rehabilitation Services is commended for relocating its facility in Mt. Pleasant to a very pleasant, therapeutic and accessible location and for increasing its size by approximately one third in anticipation of growth opportunities.
• Hope Network is commended for its efforts to develop consistency in all of its program sites regarding policies, procedures, assessments, and treatment paradigms. The use of the intranet, matrix directors, and discipline-specific teams made this happen.
• The cognitive and behavioral changes seen in persons served with brain injury requires a focused and team-wide approach. The staff members of psychology, neuropsychiatry, and physiatry are complementary to each other and enhance each other's effectiveness.
• Hope Network Rehabilitation Services utilizes a thorough admission evaluation process that allows its staff to focus on the extensive list of issues that must be satisfied to lead to a successful discharge back to the home and community and ongoing into the future.
• Hope Network serves many persons in many settings, some of which may have limited numbers of persons served. Nevertheless, the persons served in any of the settings may have needs for very specialized assessment and therapy. To overcome this critical mass problem, the system employs appropriate specialists and empowers them to travel to the site where they are needed and provide care to the individual person served.
• Input is gathered from the person served, school sites, treatment team, and vocational evaluator to ensure that each potential employee is able to reach his or her vocational aspirations.
• The Hope Network Business Council provides an excellent opportunity for community employers to partner with Hope Network in an effort to strengthen and expand workforce opportunities specific to business needs. This provides an overview of current trends.
• Hope Network has impressive staff members who are experienced, caring, and professional individuals. The tenure of a majority of staff members exceeds 15 years.
• In Lansing, the greenhouse program is a creative and innovative adjunct to the programs.

In the following areas, CARF states that Hope Network Rehabilitation Services demonstrates exemplary conformance to the standards:

• The organization utilizes a booklet entitled, "All About Me," which is designed for elementary and middle school students as an educational and advocacy tool. The goal is to help the student identify areas of strengths and challenges and to communicate this information to families, teachers, and other members of the community. This practice is innovative in its use for the adolescent with brain injury to help with the transition to school.
• Hope Network Rehabilitation Services is commended for the collaboration with Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the local school district to provide Project SEARCH. The cornerstone of Project SEARCH is total immersion in a large business. Students are given support by certified special education teachers and through on the job training. The ultimate goal for students upon program completion and graduation is to utilize their internship skills for gainful employment. This innovative program provides persons served with opportunities for workforce and career development.

Questions? Feel free to Ask Jenny.