March and April Visits
ABCD’s Quality Assurance Forum welcomed New Jersey’s statewide Ombudsman for Individuals with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities and their Families, Paul Aronsohn, to the March meeting. Paul provided the group with an overview of the history and evolution of the office in addition to the personal experience which he brought to this important role. The discussion that ensued from the group at large was thoughtful and heartfelt ending in two final questions, “how can we as providers teach all our staff to understand what families are going through” and “how can we better communicate with families so that they understand the agencies requirements?”
The Support Coordination Alliance welcomed PPMU Director Wendy Yosco to discuss access to provider liaisons, incomplete provider worksheets, reporting providers and/or concerns and SC anonymity, the future of the ISP worksheet, and the SOS process. Wendy detailed the responsibilities of PPMU as well as the many mental health services which are being developed and promulgated across the state. SCA came away with a clearer idea of PPMU and the important functions they serve on the continuum.
The Day Program Committee welcomed Assistant Direct of PPMU for Clinical Affairs Stacey Provenzano to their April meeting. Stacey described the current scope of clinical services as developing policies and procedures, redoing the template, assisting agencies in PBS, helping agencies develop crisis management services, and meeting and educating new agencies, etc., all of which involve collaboration (which she admits to love doing) with a lot of agencies. In answer to a few questions about (re)assigned acuity and the role of the support coordinator/provider, Stacy shared that they are exploring with Rutgers whether they can provide assistance when there are misinterpretations. Stacey has been in the field for 26 years, starting as a group home manager to the COO of Greystone, before coming a few years back to work in PPMU with some old colleagues and friends. She is happy to circle back to DD/MH and we are happy to have her. It was a very helpful and informative meeting.
