Celebrating Imagine!'s Care Coordination Team

Today, we'd like to congratulate and thank Imagine!'s Care Coordination Team on their efforts to end the waiting list for services in Boulder and Broomfield County's.

Can't see the video, click HERE!

Preschedule Your 2015 Gift for Colorado Gives Day

Now that November has begun, prescheduling your Colorado Gives Day (Dec. 8) gift is available.

The Colorado Gives Day $1 Million Incentive Fund will boost your donation, making your dollars do more to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. When prescheduling, be sure to select “Dec. 8” as your donation date to have your contribution qualify for the Incentive Fund boost. The $1 Million Incentive Fund is a pool of dollars, provided by Community First Foundation and FirstBank, to boost every donation made through ColoradoGives.org on Colorado Gives Day. For example, if Imagine! receives 10% of the total donations made on Colorado Gives Day, Imagine! also receives 10% of the $1 Million Incentive Fund.

Preschedule your gift today!

Imagine!'s Family Support Services Program

Learn more about Imagine!'s Family Support Services Program by viewing the brief video below!

Can't see the video, click HERE!

Congratulations Mandy!!!

Mandy, who lives in Imagine!’s Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome, has published another book – this time it is about Halloween. Yes, the holiday just passed, but why not get it now to beat the rush for next year?

You can check out each of Mandy's books by clicking HERE.

Imagine! Excellence in Customer Service Award: November 2015

Congratulations are in order to the staff members at Imagine!’s Foothills Group Home for being selected as the November 2015 recipients of the Imagine! Excellence in Customer Service Award.

Though this honor is usually given to one Imagine! employee per month, the team at Foothills is incredibly deserving of this award as a group. Check out some information from their nomination to learn why:

The Foothills Group Home staff members have shown incredible resiliency and determination in recent months. Although they were confronted with a sudden, unexpected change in leadership they did not let their standards or ethics of care waiver. They used this change as an opportunity to make improvements to their work, as well as in the lives the individuals they serve. Being able to handle change proactively and with positivity is an especially difficult, and important, part of our work, and I would like to recognize these actions in the Foothills staff.

Great work, Foothills Group Home team, and congratulations on this well-deserved honor!

Team members pictured above include: (left to right, front-row) Josh Semba, Pete Dwyer, Stacey Rooney, Courtney Looser, and Anh-Hong Huynh, (left to right, back-row) Chris Eddington, Cameron Navis, Claudette Maloney, and Mallory Webb. Team members not pictured are: Shira Diamond-Malka, Dipak Kansakar, Chelsea O'Day, and Taylor Welsh.

Innovations Super Hero

One of Imagine!’s Innovations department’s recognition programs is to name staff members each month who have gone above and beyond in providing services.  This program was designed to recognize and thank employees and providers in the categories of: Health, Safety, and Wellbeing; Effectiveness and Efficiency; Respect and Dignity; Opportunities; Integrity; and Care (HEROIC). All employees who are given a Heroic Award within a month time period become eligible for being named the “Super Hero of the Month.”

We are very proud to announce that this month’s Innovations “Super Hero of the Month” is Christie Talkington, who works in our Innovations for Children program as a Foster Care Placement Worker.

 Christie was nominated by her supervisor because:

The past month has been very challenging for two foster children who Christie is the placement worker for, involving an investigation, a move, safety planning, interaction with caseworkers, schools, guardians, and the foster parents.  As soon as things settled down, one of the children had a health crisis and needed emergency care and surgery, and Christie coordinated everything. She drove all over the metro area, and even stayed at the hospital until midnight with the kiddo so that the child would not be alone in their hospital room. It was tough work for everyone during this crisis, and it involved a great deal of problem solving throughout. This crisis was eventualy resolved when a new foster family, with children of their own, opened their hearts and created a safe place for the children in crisis.

Through it all Christie maintained her smile, contageous laughter, and a sense of calm. Christie does a phenomenal job, and the children are fortunate to have her as their advocate and placement worker. Christie, you ROCK!

When you see Christie, please congratulate her for her hard work and dedication.

Case Management Unsung Hero

Imagine!’s Case Management department works with a lot of great people. To show how much they are all appreciated, each month they choose “Unsung Heroes” within the department. Case Managers, support staff, and Case Management supervisors all put in nominations describing what the person has contributed to Case Management to go above and beyond to support those we serve.

For October, we’d like to recognize James Staiger as our Case Management Unsung Hero.

The nomination for James came from a parent who emailed the ACL after meeting with James. Here is what the ACL shared:

I received some really great feedback from a parent the other day regarding James Staiger, from a mom who was so relieved to have such a competent Case Manager that she was in tears! As she related it, James was able to gather and forward her all of the resources and information she needed for her daughter before she was even off the phone with him. It was a great relief to her and her family to know that they’re in such capable hands.

Congratulations James and thank you for representing all of us at Imagine so well.