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From time to time, we'll be sharing news and events related to GTBHC (Good To Be Home Care). Let me know if there's any personal news you want to share with the world.
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08/13/2008
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| It has obviously been a while since we've updated our News page. In the last year we've been focusing on developing our relationship with the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD). Brian and Kim's past volunteer relationship with Special Olympics led to our commitment to serving persons with disabilities such as Down's Syndrome, autism, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. Last year, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) terminated the majority of contracts with home care agencies who served DDD clients but not other Medicaid clients. We are one of the relatively few such home care agencies in Washington still authorized to provide Medicaid Personal Care services and Respite Services to DDD clients, and we are understandably proud of that fact. Good To Be Home Care continues to grow, and continues to maintain the high standards which foster that growth. |
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We'll be opening our new office in Olympia on June 1st, and we're pretty excited about it. The office is in a professional building near downtown, and will help both our clients and employees as we expand in Thurston County. More details as opening day approaches. |
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Congratulations to the first graduating class of Good To Be Home Care's new training center. All eight Home Care Aides successfully completed 28 classroom hours of Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving training. Certificates were awarded to Mary H., Patricia H., Jessica J., Shandel J., Ruth L., Diana R., Stephanie R., and Brenda V. While all of these valued employees had prior experience in the field, they gained valuable new knowledge and updated their existing skills. The class was taught by Brian Davis, GTBHC's Director of Client Care. |
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Good To Be Home Care has expanded its Lakewood office to include the two offices next door. We will be using the additional space for meetings, staff training, and a breakroom. We're already buying the durable medical equipment and supplies needed to outfit the training center as a mock-up of a client's home. |
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Welcome to Wendy K, who will be handling front desk duties and representing Good To Be Home Care as our Community Liaison. We look forward to a long and happy relationship with Wendy!
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Brian and Kim were pleased to offer a number of our employees significant raises over the last month. Good To Be Home Care is in the process of negotiating a number of employee benefits. We've arranged for enhanced banking privileges for our employees who choose to bank with Key Bank. This has been a boon to several staff who had felt they had no "banking" option other than expensive check-cashing businesses. |
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As the community becomes ever more aware of our services and reputation, Good To Be Home Care continues to grow. Dianna Byrd is now working full time (and more!) as Supervisor of Client Care. She is also responding to phone calls to the office on weekends, while Brian continues to handle after hours calls on weekdays. Jessica Johnson is now working at the front desk during peak hours, and caring for clients as well. We are continuing our policy of striving to provide full employment for our caregivers, rather than having a larger staff with many employees working part-time and on-call. We feel this makes for a more dedicated staff. |
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Congratulations to Home Care Aides Stephanie R. and Jessica J. They each were awarded $100 for agreeing to be available "any time, anywhere" throughout the holidays. Both were called upon to assist clients this last month with little notice, and the clients were happily surprised that we could fill their requests. Stephanie was also up for her performance review, and reports that she is pleased with the raise she got based on her last three months of service. We're glad, too - we really appreciate our employees who go above and beyond for their clients. Jessica's observational and reporting skills while on duty initiated a CPS investigation on behalf of one of our clients, and we are gratified that the family welcomed the assistance which resulted from her concern. GTBHC's Home Care Aides are "mandated reporters" of abuse and neglect, and we take this responsibility seriously. Thankfully, this case is one of those quiet success stories that don't make the news..
An electrical malfunction resulted in a serious house fire at the home of one of our Aides. She had homeowner's insurance, but she and her children won't be able to move back to their turn of the century home for some time. Our thoughts are with her during this difficult time.
Our thanks to those clients and families who chose to give gifts to their Aides this Christmas season. We appreciate your letting us know about such gestures, so that we can note your gift in the employee's file. Aides are not to accept any gift without first informing their supervisor.
Congratulations to Sabryna Klug, who will be taking on responsibilities as Community Liason in addition to her role as Lead Caregiver. Sabryna's knowledge of our services and how they can benefit the local senior and health care services communities, as well as her friendly and outgoing personality, should make for a winning combination as we head into 2006. |
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12/5/2005 |
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Owners Brian and Kim Davis hosted GTBHC's Holiday Christmas Party yesterday evening. Employees brought one adult guest, and most were able to attend, as coverage was previously arranged for all our clients. Everyone enjoyed a great meal of roast beef and chicken marsala with a variety of side dishes and a scrumptious assortment of desserts. Numerous awards were presented, and employees found cash hidden under their chair seats. Lots of gifts were raffled off (TV, DVD player, stereo, popcorn popper, and more), and the raffle money was raffled back to the employees. Our employees' kids weren't forgotten, as parents were invited to select gifts from a table loaded with children's toys. Brian and Kim took the opportunity to thank the staff for their efforts and contributions to the growth of the Good To Be Home Care team, and especially for their great care and attention to the needs of their clients. Merry Christmas, everyone! |
| 9/18/2005 |
Effective today, Good To Be Home Care has adopted a strict employee non-smoking policy. We have always had a strong policy forbidding smoking while on duty, and have removed smoker Home Care Aides from specific assignments if their clients objected to the smell they brought in to the client's home. Our new policy is to reject any potential applicant who is a smoker. This policy is perfectly permissable in our State. We are not dismissing any of our current employees on the basis of being a smoker, as they have established good relationships with their clients.
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| 7/11/2005 |
| At a time when there is an increasing industry-wide shortage of available caregivers, we've further tightened our personnel standards. In addition to our background investigations and requirements for previous caregiving experience or recognition by the State as Registered or Certified Nursing Assistants, we are also requiring applicants to pass a written skills test based on nationally standardized Home Health Aide examinations. While a passing score of 80% is acceptable, we've found that those who meet our other criteria have scores of 90% or higher on the 50 item test. We feel more confident than ever that our incoming employees have great existing skills, good common sense, and exceptional potential for success in the helping professions. |
| 7/1/2005 |
Dianna B. and Kimberly N. have been invaluable assets to the continued growth of GTBHC. Our clients and our employees are seeing and hearing from each of them more often as they've taken on related but distinct tasks of Client Care Supervisor (Dianna) and Field Supervisor (Kimberly). Dianna's seen more often at our front desk, fielding calls from potential and existing clients, as well as our referral sources. The more complex or critical issues are relayed to Brian, who has promoted himself to the position of Director of Client Care. Dianna also increasingly conducts employee reviews. Kimberly is visiting clients' homes during employee shifts, helping to coordinate any changes needed in the Care Plans, and reinforcing the bond that we share as we try to meet our clients' individual needs.
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| 6/01/2005 |
Jo Lynn is back on the job, and as good as ever! We hope she'll be with us for a long time to come. Though her clients were in capable hands during Jo's absence, they're glad to see her back, too. We didn't have any breaks in care, and our commitment to long-term relationships between our clients and our Aides was borne out in this incident.
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| 5/16/2005 |
Our prayers and best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Home Care Aide Jo Lynn, whose car was broadsided while she was driving to work in the rain this morning. While she reports that there were no broken bones, she does have some major bruises and her car was totalled. We miss you, Jo, and look forward to your complete recovery and return to work!
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| 5/11/2005 |
No sooner had Abby started settling in to her new position at the front desk, than she informed us that she was admitted for her first post-grad classes starting next month! Congratulations again, Abby, I guess. Our loss will be the school's gain. Dianna B., freshly returned from a well-deserved Florida family vacation, got the word from Brian and Kim that she'll be caring for clients, assisting in the office and coordinating care for a number of our clients. She's excited to step in, and so are we.
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| 5/1/2005 |
Congratulations to Jeanette K. on her one year anniversary working with GTBHC. Jeannette is working exclusively with clients again (her preference), and over the last couple of months has turned over office duties to two other staff with great office administration skills. One of them is Jeannette's newlywed daughter, Abby. Congratulations go to both her and her groom, Eric. Abby will be with us until she begins work on her teaching credential at Washington State University in the fall. Kimberly N. is also working in the office part-time, as well as taking courses in supervision at TCC to further enhance her skills as a field supervisor. In other news, we are pleased to be serving clients referred by Sound Options, whose care manager nurses provide superior coordination and monitoring of their clients' varied physical, financial, legal, and other needs.
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| 4/8/2005 |
We're all moved in and we couldn't be more pleased with ourselves! Business has increased, and our employees are now able to come in and talk with us, which several of them do nearly daily. Our Open House was a big success. Thank you everybody for coming by. Thank you, Dianna, for all the help with setup. The place looked really festive. Now if only Brian could get those computers networked properly, we'd be all set!
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| 2/28/2005 |
| We got the keys to our new office this last weekend! We're moving up from a cozy 120 square feet in a former beauty salon on Anderson Island to an 884 square foot suite in Lakewood. The new address is 7905 Steilacoom Blvd. SW, Lakewood WA 98498, at the north end of the Oakbrook Shopping Center. We'll post the new phone numbers when they are activated in a week. This is an important milestone for Good To Be Home Care, making us more accessible to our clients, caregivers and community contacts. The move also reflects the successful growth of our Home Care service, which we attribute to our careful selection of the best caregivers we can find, and GTBHC's attention to each client and their loved ones. We will keep you posted as we set dates for our Open House to introduce ourselves to the community. |
| 02/06/05 |
| We're proud to announce the promotion of two of our existing staff - Jeannette K is our new office manager, and Kimberly N has advanced to the position of field supervisor. Both continue to maintain responsibilities as Home Care Aides to clients who won't let them go! |
| 02/01/05 |
| Congratulations to the four newest additions to our caregiving team: Bethany C, Michael S, Kimberly H, and Dianna B. |
| 01/29/05 |
| GTBHC is pleased to announce that our client base extends from Gig Harbor to Orting to Olympia, and all points between. We are growing at the rate we had planned for in our original business plan, which is reassuring. In addition to private homes, we have been serving residents in three Tacoma area retirement communities, and look forward to working with others in the near future. |
| 01/03/05 |
| GTBHC welcomes back owner and Supervisor of Direct Care, Brian Davis, following his recuperation from emergency open heart surgery. On November 27th, Brian experienced a life-threatening aortic dissection attributable to a congenital condition known as Marfan Syndrome. Without going into too much detail, the aortic dissection resulted in the "shredding" of the lining of the aorta, through which all blood is pumped into and out of the heart. Brian had long known about his Marfan's, and took all the recommended precautions to lessen his chances of aortic dissection, which is a leading cause of death for those with the Marfan Syndrome. His wife Kim was his constant support, and held the agency together during a very difficult period. Thank you, Kim! I love you! And thanks to all of you who offered their prayers, best wishes, and delicious covered dishes to Brian and Kim. You made a difference! |
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