The Connect Care Difference
Our son had been in a group home for over 18 years with two different providers managing his group home before we discovered Connect Care Australia. In contrast to our experience with the other providers, we immediately found the Connect Care approach refreshing and reassuring. Some of the differences we appreciate are how Connect Care operate their group homes with a medication process that eliminates any mistakes using a system called Best Meds and that all care staff are provided with smart device to document many times over a shift, notes on each participant, allowing management to track staff and participants progress throughout the day.
As a family, we had an immediate sense of relief that a provider who takes such care in the detail exists. Connect Care Australia communicated with us on a regular basis over the three months it took for the group home changeover to take place. We were welcomed and supported in every step of the transition process and our son was introduced to his new home by visiting the Connect Care Australia group home three afternoons a week to allow him to get to know the house and staff whilst waiting for approval from NDIS for the change of circumstances.
As a family, before relocating our son, we researched many group home providers and found that most operated under the old model of operation as they did when ADHAC were the funding body, and now under NDIS most continued to operate their business under the same model as they had in the past. We were looking for a modern, innovative, accountable, and transparent relationship with a provider to know that when we were no longer around, our son would not be at risk and would have the opportunity to reach his full potential, being happy and relaxed in a calming environment that meets his needs.
Looking back, we realise that we did not have to put up with the many issues that we had regarded as “standard” in the past, such as overpopulated and understaffed group homes resulting in a lack of support for our son’s personal needs. In one instance our son was in a home with three other participants, who like our son also had complex behaviors and needs and the carers were just not able to give everyone the attention they required.
When the NDIS was introduced, the group homes experienced lots of job opportunities for managers and care workers, resulting in frequent changes in staff, which would take place without communication. The lack of continuity of staff on all levels of the organisation left our son vulnerable and us as parents anxious about the future of our son. Being in our 70’s we had a real sense of urgency to find a provider with systems in place to capture our sons needs and goals.
We realised that what was lacking in the past was a strong management structure, group service manager, team leader, well trained staff, a computer program that captures incidents as well as our son’s likes, dislikes and strategies to support any behaviours of concern, while also identifying his strengths and weaknesses throughout the day and on a daily basis.
The operational structure of Connect Care Australia allows us to retire from having to de-brief yet another new house manager and chase up incidents of concern that we were stumbling across.
In the past when our son’s NDIS Plan Review was approaching, past providers of his group home at the time could not produce any incident reports taken over the previous twelve months and there was no documentation in place to track whether he was achieving his goals or not. As a result, it created a barrier for us, when making requests to the NDIS for intervention supports to meet his needs.
Connect Care Australia has certainly met our son’s needs as well as our needs as a family, giving us the reassurance that these important issues are no longer a stress factor and that our son is well taken care of. – Patricia & Bryan Roles