December 2024
Assistant Secretary Message: page 3
Director Updates: pages 4-11
Department Updates: pages 12-17
Kudos, News and Resources: pages 18-20
Thanks for the Feedback! Select this link to give us your feedback on the ALTSA Update!
Based on staff feedback, we have changed the “Thank you for your Service” section so you do not have to click on a link to go find a file that may be difficult to sort and read! We will now show the names every month, grouping folks by division and will include the link to send folks a RAVE review in the moment! Thanks for helping us on our continuous improvement journey!
Our DSHS Mission
We partner with people to access support, care, and resources.
Our DSHS Values
Welcome all with access and inclusion. Serve with respect and dignity. Collaborate with community. Improve services continually. Communicate with clarity and choices.
Our DSHS Vision People find human services to shape their own lives.
Our ALTSA Purpose Statement (Coming soon)
Staying Connected Link to InsideDSHS
ALTSA Teammates-
Reflecting on Resiliency
Bea Rector Assistant Secretary, Aging and Long-Term Support Administration
This is the time of year when many of us take time to reflect on the good things in our life. Science shows us that gratitude practices help us manage tough times and are a reminder that if we stop and pause, there is good that we can usually identify happening each day. As we round out 2024, I want to share some thoughts with you about resiliency, and especially resiliency in uncertain times.
At its core, resiliency is our ability to withstand and recover from difficult situations and setbacks. “Resiliency in uncertain times” refers to our ability to pivot, re-balance, and keep moving forward despite the unpredictable situations or challenges that lay before us.
We face many unknowns every day. As humans, we are wired to seek predictability and when we can’t see the future clearly, it leaves us feeling in a constant state of stress arousal, which is not healthy for any of us long-term.
I know many of you are concerned about the unknown impacts of upcoming leadership changes at the state and federal levels as well as the current budget concerns we are facing together.
While I can’t stop the unpredictable nature of things unfolding around us, I can tell you the best thing any of us can do is to invest in our own resiliency.
The more we do this as individuals, the better equipped we are to respond with resiliency as an organization that has many thousands of people
depending on it for vital supports and services every day.
Here are some things for all of us to practice building our resilience in uncertain times:
• Self-care: Prioritize your wellbeing by giving yourself the food, hydration, sleep and movement you need every day. Set aside time for mindfulness activities like deep breathing, journaling gratitude, and acknowledging emotions without judgment.
• Growth mindset: View challenges as opportunities for learning and development and add the word “yet” to thoughts like “I can’t do it” to help your brain make a shift from having a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
• Sphere of control: Focus on what you have control over and let go of everything else. Taking action on your self care, giving to others, maintaining boundaries, and keeping gratitude as daily priorities can help.
• Connection with others: Reach out to people who support you. Reach out to people you care about. Connection gives us meaning, fills our hearts and our resiliency gas tank, and serves as a diminisher of woes and a multiplier of joys.
Here’s to building our resiliency together as individuals and as an organization in service to better outcomes for ourselves and our communities.
With gratitude, Bea
Championing Human Rights: Protecting Vulnerable Adults from Trafficking
Kathy Morgan Director
December is Universal Human Rights Month, a time to reaffirm every individual’s universal dignity and worth.
This month is especially significant for highlighting human trafficking, a pervasive violation of human rights that deeply affects vulnerable adults.
Trafficking of vulnerable adults often stems from intersecting issues such as economic hardship, social isolation, and systemic inequality.
Many individuals who experience exploitation face additional challenges like cognitive or physical disabilities, aging-related limitations, or dependence on others for daily care.
Institutional vulnerabilities, such as gaps in caregiver oversight or underfunded support systems, also contribute to the prevalence of trafficking.
In addition to financial motivations, societal factors like discrimination, lack of social support, and inadequate access to healthcare or housing leave many vulnerable adults at heightened risk.
The isolation some individuals experience—whether living in remote areas, in under-regulated care facilities, or estranged from family—makes them susceptible to exploitation.
Perpetrators frequently exploit these factors, using manipulation, deceit, or coercion to trap individuals into exploitative situations.
The motivations behind adult trafficking are primarily financial. Traffickers may exploit individuals for forced labor, financial gain through scams, or other forms of exploitation.
Vulnerable adults are often seen as “easier targets” because of their perceived inability to advocate for themselves or seek help.
The impacts of trafficking are far-reaching, causing profound physical, emotional, and financial harm.
Survivors often endure long-lasting trauma and struggle to rebuild autonomy after being exploited.
These realities underscore the need for targeted interventions that address systemic vulnerabilities while safeguarding individual rights.
As we observe Universal Human Rights Month, it is essential to understand that protecting vulnerable adults from trafficking requires a holistic approach.
(continued on page 5.)
Native American adult with caregiver’s hand on her shoulder.
(continued from page 4.)
Strengthening support networks, improving societal awareness, and addressing the root causes of vulnerability are critical steps to uphold every individual’s rights.
If you suspect abuse, neglect, or exploitation, contact APS online or call 1-877-734-6277 (TTY) 1-833-866-5595.
Every voice and action matters. Let’s work toward a future where every individual’s rights are upheld, and vulnerability is met with support, not exploitation.
For immediate assistance, the National Human Trafficking Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-888-373-7888 or via text at 233733.
Our Accomplishments and Our Path Forward
Cathy Kinnaman Director
As the year draws to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on the remarkable work we’ve accomplished together in 2024 and to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude for each of you—our dedicated Home and Community Services team.
This year has brought both challenges and triumphs. The rising demand for long-term support services, coupled with the pressures of workforce shortages and tightening budgets, underscores the vital role we play in ensuring that our clients and their families can live with dignity, independence, and security.
In the face of these challenges, your unwavering commitment has been nothing short of extraordinary. Together, we expanded access to vital programs, strengthened our partnerships with community organizations, and embraced innovative approaches to meet the diverse needs of those we serve.
As we move into 2025, we face some significant uncertainties, including projected budget deficits and an unclear policy and administrative landscape.
Yet, despite these trials, I remain confident in our collective ability to persevere. One thing remains steadfast: our resilience.
Resilience is what defines us as individuals and as a team. Time and again, you have risen to meet challenges head-on, demonstrating creativity, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to the people we serve.
When resources were stretched thin, you found innovative solutions. When the path ahead was unclear, you leaned on each other and pressed forward.
Your dedication reminds me daily why this work matters. As we prepare for the year ahead, let us hold onto the hope that sustains us.
Hope is not passive—it is an active choice to believe in the possibility of progress and to work tirelessly to achieve it.
Together, we will find ways to navigate the financial and systemic hurdles ahead, adapt to new realities, and continue to build a foundation of care and compassion for those who depend on us.
Let us approach the challenges before us with unity, determination, and a renewed sense of purpose and commitment. Know that your contributions make a profound difference in the lives of those we serve.
Thank you for your hard work and unwavering dedication to our mission and for the care you bring to your work every day.
It is your resilience and hope that will carry us through uncertain times and into a brighter future. I wish you and your loved ones a peaceful holiday season and a new year filled with strength and promise.
With gratitude and hope, Cathy Kinnaman
Hi everyone,
Getting Ready for Legislative Session
Welcome Amie Weeks!
Eric Mandt Director
On January 13th, the legislature will begin their long 105-day session. This is when they create the biennial budget for the next biennium, the twoyear period from July 2025 through June 2027.
This will likely be a challenge due to the state’s revenue staying essentially flat while caseloads, including those in ALTSA and DDA, are rising rapidly and driving up costs. It also will include another budget proposal from Governor Ferguson after Governor Inslee leaves office, which is the first Governor transition in 12 years in our state and increases the potential for surprises.
In MSD, our most visible, and likely most important role related to the session, is creating fiscal notes. For every new bill that the legislature proposes, the Governor’s Office of Financial Management determines if there is a cost or savings to the state if the bill is passed by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor.
Once OFM makes that request for any bill that affects ALTSA and/or DDA, we produce a cost estimate – within 48 hours.
This is not strictly a budget exercise. It usually involves program experts from other divisions, information technology, rates, accounting, and sometimes facilities information to provide an informed estimate in a short turnaround time.
The fiscal note cost estimate is often the single most important factor in determining whether the
With Julia Mosier’s departure, we conducted a recruitment for a new Finance Chief in Management Services Division. I am pleased and excited to announce that our own Amie Weeks was the best qualified candidate, and she will start next week! Many of you already know Amie, as she has been working with DSHS for a number of years, both with MSD and HQ Office of Accounting Services. I can’t say how happy I am that she is taking over as the lead of the Finance team. Please welcome Amie to her new role!
legislature passes a bill or if the Governor chooses to sign it into law or veto the bill.
A new wrinkle this year is that DSHS has dropped the BATS bill analysis system and will not be switching to BEARS.
Instead, we will be using the new Lobby.gov system. The bill analysis usually gives the budget team a clear view of what costs or savings may be if the bill passes.
So far Lobby.gov seems to be easier to use, and based on reports from other organizations that already use it Lobby.gov is more stable (BATS had a bad habit of crashing frequently, resulting in lost work).
Before session starts, I hope everyone gets a chance to take some time off work to rest up and recharge and spend time with friends and family over the holidays.
Communicating With Your Loved Ones: “Dinner Table Syndrome”
Earnest Covington, III Director
Greetings from Office of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing!
The holidays can be a stressful time, especially for people with hearing loss.
With many of us now starting preparations for family gatherings during the holiday season, here’s an opportunity to learn more about what you can do to communicate better with your loved ones with hearing loss.
In the weeks leading up to the holidays, people with hearing loss may begin to anticipate social gatherings with trepidation.
Each year, we share this feature on “Dinner Table Syndrome,” where we share some tips and tricks for communicating with your loved ones while being sensitive to their hearing loss.
A person with hearing loss (a grandparent, a parent, an older cousin, or an uncle or aunt) may be at your dinner table during the holidays.
Dinner Table Syndrome describes a scenario in which a a person with hearing loss feels alone and invisible in a family or group setting.
Imagine a long table covered with food, and people sitting all around the table chatting, or playing the game “Trivial Pursuit.“
A person with hearing loss may be watching everyone laugh and joke and argue and play games. But they are not a part of these conversations. Even more difficult: in some homes people may still be
Nearly 35% of adults between age 65-75 experience hearing loss and nearly half of all adults age 75+ experience hearing loss.
Many of the 630,000-plus people in Washington state who experience hearing loss will experience Dinner Table Syndrome during the holiday season.
masking (masks are a barrier to accessing many forms of visual communication - including spoken language, facial expressions that reflect tone, intensity and mood - and can also hinder knowing who’s talking at that moment).
What may happen when a person with hearing loss does not understand conversation: they may ask, “what is going on?”
Responses can vary from: “I will tell you later,” to “never mind,” or “it’s not important.” If they are lucky they may get a brief conversational summary.
These responses do not support equitable participation in conversational settings.
It can be a lonely feeling. People with hearing loss may feel unimportant or invisible to their family or friends.
As a result, people with hearing loss can become isolated, lonely, frustrated and angry and may cope by retreating from the family or friend gathering.
You may see a person with hearing loss retreat to the comfort of reading a book, texting their friends on their mobile devices, taking the dog for a walk, or even self-medicating to numb their feelings.
(Tips and strategies to address Dinner Table Syndrome, page 9.)
(continued from page 8.)
Tips and Strategies to Help Beat Dinner Table Syndrome
Strategic Seating: Sit near or opposite each other for easy visual communication.
Light It Up: Make sure the room has good lighting to see each other clearly.
Case Management
The newly-founded Case Management program is more than halfway to our service goal with eight months left in the year!
Our team had a great month of working with community partners and leaders to expand supports and services networks statewide.
Our case managers are providing services and supports to people statewide and in previously unserved counties, and developing partnerships with local community organizations and DSHS administrations and offices.
The Office continues outreach and presentations about long-term services and supports to local and statewide community partners.
In November, we presented at the Washington State Deaf Senior Citizen’s 10th Annual Gala, hosted a booth at Deafopia at the Seattle Museum of Flight, presented to the Senior Lobby, and provided legislative training to our service communities. Contact us for training and education!
Round Table Seating: Make it easier for people to see each other.
Love and Support: Be patient and find ways to support each other.
Family Mentor Services
The Family Mentor Services program, begun in 2019 with the first Deaf Mentor Training, assigns specially trained mentors to serve families of Deaf, DeafBlind, Deaf Disabled and Hard of Hearing children. Family Mentors are Deaf, DeafBlind, Deaf Disabled and Hard of Hearing people serving as family language and cultural role models.
The program provides supports and resources to parents of Deaf, DeafBlind, Deaf Disabled and Hard of Hearing children (e.g. mentors connect parents with other parents and may provide referrals to IEP advocacy services).
Families share they feel more confident in communicating with their child in American Sign Language and parents demonstrate vast improvements in their communication with their child, including enhanced social interactions and greater access to language.
We express our gratitude for our Family Mentors for all they have done to enhance the learning environment at various homes and locations for these families.
RCS Returns to Fully Virtual Forums in 2025
Amy Abbott Director
I want to take time to celebrate a Residential Care Services (RCS) success story with you.
RCS conducts adult family home, assisted living facility, and nursing home provider forums four times a year. Providers and associations requested the forums years back as a venue to meet RCS field staff and ask questions.
Prior to the pandemic, these forums were in-person and held in regional offices. Unfortunately, the pandemic halted the forums.
The division resumed these critical meetings virtually in 2022. Rather than continuing the forums regionally, the forums became statewide sessions.
The agreed-on forum structure we use provides updates on division organizational structure, staffing updates, statewide facility counts, program specific top deficiencies, Dear Provider Letters (DPLs) and is inclusive of an educational microsession.
The providers assist us in determining the educational topics. We invite providers to send us questions prior to the forums and we research and share our answers during the meeting. We also encourage providers to ask questions in the forums. They ask a variety of questions about program laws, regulations, regulatory processes, and DPLs.
Today, these gatherings have grown into joint partnerships among field managers, regional administrators, field service administrators, staff and providers helping build relationships and trust.
We have learned a virtual medium is more helpful for providers to attend while still working in their homes, offices and facilities.
We attempted a hybrid (in-person and virtual) process twice for the Nursing Home and Assisted Living Facility forums in 2024 but had low attendance in the in-person process so we will return to fully virtual meetings in 2025.
If RCS is unable to answer a question, we will take the question back to our subject matter experts and work on preparing a response.
After each forum meeting, the associations will post the PowerPoint presentations on their member websites so providers unable to attend can view and learn. These postings are offered on a public facing page so even non-members can access the information.
This past year we learned how to offer providers interactive forum experiences. They have a vast interest in hearing noncompliance scenarios and corrective actions for compliance sustainability.
They enjoy story-telling engagement. We design each of the PowerPoint presentations to assure this engagement.
The associations also offer CEs for attendance. As a result, we found provider attendance increased.
RCS has gained a great deal from these forums: valued insights, knowledge of provider challenges and successes, recommendations for policy or processes needing refinement, a fostering of collaboration and a recognition of industry issues before they escalate or need heightened critical support.
These forums create a place for open discussion and strong relationship building so we work together and address issues related to quality of care and resident rights.
Recently, our DSHS refreshed its brand. The forums are a great example of RCS applying the new branding, with the community and the Department working together to find solutions.
Thank you to the RCS staff who strategize with providers and associations, and establishing the footpath for these meaningful forums.
Also, great news! In 2024, RCS started Certified Community Residential Service and Supports (CCRSS) virtual forums using a similar structure as the other programs.
Our division forum activities are noteworthy not only for our previous work, but also where we are heading in the future.
They are well received, based on the feedback we receive both during the forums as well as after forums.
Let’s all celebrate!
2025 ONLINE PROVIDER FORUMS
Dates TBA
Provider registration links will be sent via GovDelivery.
Thanks to the Adult Family Home Council, Leading Age and Washington Health Care Association community partners enjoining with us in the planning and facilitation of these forums.
Winter Inclement Weather
Serena Segura Emergency Manager and Risk Officer Communications, Government and External Relations
A slow-developing La Nina is favored to influence conditions for the upcoming winter. In the PNW, this typically means that it will be wetter-than-average and colder-than-average conditions with a more northerly storm track. NOAA models for the threemonth outlook from November through January indicate that we will see seasonal temperatures that are equal changes or normal and precipitation that is above average (graphic below).
In Washington, winter weather hazards are windstorms, avalanches in the mountains, snow, ice storms, and extreme cold. These hazards can impact us when there are disruptions to transportation routes, school and office delays and closures, and power outages. We can all prepare for inclement winter weather by making sure we are 2-weeks ready, prepare our homes to keep out the cold, make sure our vehicles are winter weather ready and have an emergency car kit, and know how to stay safe.
Two maps of the United States showing Season Temperature Outlook and Seasonal Precipitation Outlook for the November 2024 - January 2025 period.
Stay safe during winter weather by avoiding carbon monoxide poisoning. Only use generators and grills outdoors and away from windows. Never heat your home with a gas stove top or oven. Install working carbon monoxide detectors in your home.
Resource Links:
• NOAA News Release – Winter Outlook (10/17/24)
• NOAA Climate Prediction Center
• Ready.gov – Winter Weather
• Department of Health Fact Sheets on Disasters
• Vehicle Safety and Preparedness
Greetings Everyone,
EDAI Conversation Starters: December
Jamie Wiggins ALTSA EDAI Administrator
Thanks for all you do to support DSHS and ALTSA’s Equity, Diversity, Access, and Inclusion (EDAI) efforts, growing a culture of true belonging.
The EDAI Team will be providing you with conversation starters each month. This is not required. This is a suggested tool to support everyone on their EDAI journey. This is not intended to be a training or the expectation that it is treated as such.
We know there are many definitions and terms within the EDAI field that are unknown, have changed from one meaning to another, or may be misinterpreted. The Governor’s Office of Financial Management (OFM) has a glossary of EDAI terms for shared meaning across state government.
Our goal with the ALTSA EDAI Conversation Starter Tool Kit is to help promote shared understanding. This month’s ALTSA EDAI Conversation Starter tool is called Leading Equity Across Dimension - Audism and provides you with some brief videos and question prompts you may find helpful in exploring your understanding of Audism.
Audism is the discrimination or prejudice against individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing (Merriam-Webster).
Our ask is that you consider prioritizing time in a team meeting or huddle to discuss these this subject with your teammates.
This is not mandatory but rather offered as a tool to help ease into a meaningful and connecting conversation where you explore and grow together. Instructions:
• Set aside 10-15 minutes during a meeting or huddle to start a discussion.
• Facilitator/Manager/Supervisor/Lead Worker introduce the discussion starter by reviewing the provided definition.
• This supports the development of EDAI competencies identified by OFM. The first competency is DEI Knowledge, Understanding, and Commitment which will be the focus for 2024. You can also journal and document your journey in preparation for employee performance evaluation season.
Need more support with this tool? Reach out and let us know.
On behalf of Claire Knight, Morgan Olson and myself, thanks for continuing the EDAI conversation in ALTSA.
News and Events for December 2024
Amy Besel
ALTSA Organizational Development Administrator
Thank you for all you do to support yourselves, each other and every individual impacted by our service delivery system. You are a valuable part of the whole and appreciated more than you know. Take care of yourself first, the rest will follow.
For easy access to all ALTSA Organizational Development happenings, please take a minute to review this one-page December update. You may always find the current update on our ALTSA Organizational Development SharePoint site, which you are encouraged to bookmark and follow.
Required Trainings: Reminder, go to your Learning Center Dashboard and double check if you completed the attestation form DSHS recently assigned. Thank you for working on getting your required trainings done by Dec 31, 2024. These are important for everyone’s safety and our agency risk as well as compliance with policy.
Caring for YOU: The end of the calendar year can be joyous, full of meaningful traditions and connection opportunities (let alone the delicious treats that often accompany them). It is also true all of those joyous things can turn into big stress rather quickly, in the form of “too much_____________” (fill in the blank: peopling, spending, food/drink etc.).
Here are some reminders to help you prioritize your wellbeing.
• Set boundaries for yourself (and be prepared to keep them)
• Be patient and kind with others (you don’t know what others are going through)
• Move, eat, hydrate, and sleep (no one can do these things for you)
Special Focal Point Offering Dec 11th: Based upon a request from our leadership team, ALTSA EDAI Administrator, Jamie Wiggins and I will be offering two, identical, one-hour Focal Point sessions called “Resiliency in Uncertain Times” on December 11; one at 11:00 a.m. and one at 3:00 p.m. Depending on feedback, we may offer more sessions in 2025. If you are struggling right now, know you are not alone and there are supports around you. Use this link to register.
Your Wellbeing Matters
Please be sure to check out the latest ALTSA Wellness Note and explore the links! The ALTSA Wellness Note is created just for you each month with tips, resources, and support for your wellbeing. Here’s where you may find notes from past months.
Join Derrick Ross, ALTSA’s Engagement and Wellbeing Manager, at the next ALTSA Thrives Connection Café to grow your mindset, skills, and relationships in an inclusive, safe, and positive space. Bring a friend! You’ll be glad you did!
The Benefits of Giving
Derrick Ross ALTSA Engagement and Wellbeing Manager
Giving back to the community is a powerful way to make a difference.
You do it every day through your public service with ALTSA and you are appreciated for all you do.
Did you know there are additional ways and benefits to giving you may not have considered? Sharing your gifts of money, resources and time builds communities and creates a ripple effect of positivity that echoes throughout society.
Whether you’re donating money, volunteering your time, or lending your skills and expertise, every contribution matters and helps create a brighter and more compassionate community. We are all about community here.
Here are some of the benefits of giving:
• Personal growth: Understand your selfawareness with empathy, humility, compassion and connection to people and community with greater perspective.
• Personal wellbeing: Releases positive brain chemicals that promote healthy outcomes such as lower blood pressure, calmness, joy, and harmony.
• Social issues: Impacts social issues like poverty, hunger, homelessness, and increases social justice awareness.
• Community: Strengthens relationships, builds trust, and creates a sense of community.
• Resources: Builds community organizations and offers resources for your family and the people you care about.
Do what works for you. Whether it is volunteering, performing random acts of kindness, raising awareness of social issues, donating goods or donating money through our Combined Fund Drive (CFD) payroll donation program (which is safe and allowed on state time).
Any effort you make helps ALTSA fulfill our DSHS Mission: We partner with people to access support, care, and resources.
Special thanks to our teammates who give through the CFD and to those who may do so today.
Your generosity means everything to the charities enrolled with the CFD. Thank you for being a part of something bigger than all of us and making our world a better place by giving what you can.
Improving Outcomes By Promoting Choice
Nina Banken Interim Director Communications, Government and External Relations
ALTSA’s Six Strategic Priorities are becoming a part of our everyday language as we seek to improve outcomes by promoting CHOICE.
We CHAMPION access, choice, and integration
We HONOR independence, rights, health, and safety
We OPTIMIZE partnerships and lived experiences
We IMPROVE quality, accountability, and responsiveness
We CULTIVATE strong workforce and technology supports
We EMPOWER belonging, engagement, innovation, and wellbeing
Ask yourself: how have you contributed to a great outcome today?
Share your story @ nina.banken1@dshs.wa.gov
New Strategic Plans
Explore these links (which are a road map to the future of our services). Take a few minutes to review and talk to your supervisor and teammates about how your work connects!
• The new DSHS Strategic Plan may be found here.
• ALTSA’s goals in the plan may be found here.
New Mission, Vision and Values
Take time to find your connections and use these branding resources. Additional resources have been added based on staff feedback to VisualCommunications@dshs.wa.gov
Click on the House of Strategic Planning to see the full graphic.
Remembering and Recognizing Our Roots
Tamara Gaston Tribal Affairs Administrator
Tribal Affairs ends the year with continued relationships and new relationships with Sovereign Nations. We wrap up the year with an astounding 56 tribal visits through November. This was an increase from last year’s 25 tribal visits.
Tribal Affairs was able to work with peers in securing contracts for long term services and supports programs such as Health Homes, Money Follows the Person Tribal Initiative and Lifespan Respite. We also provided information on long term care programs the Administration offers.
Tribal Affairs would like to thank you, our partners and colleagues within ALTSA, for your partnership and rapid responses in supporting the tribes in accessing services.
I want to also acknowledge a debuted Business Resource Group, SOVEREIGN, which had its first quarterly meeting with an astounding 208 attendees. When we met, we discussed issues impacting tribes, such as land acknowledgment, the principles of allyship and accomplice, and generational trauma.
Our BRG meeting chat was filled with tribal members from various Sovereign Nations and individuals who were seeking to connect to their roots. The one takeaway I was able to leave with is that something my unci (un-chee) shared with me back home that I was able to share with the group:
“Our spirit will never leave us, no matter what, we will always be called to home. No matter what we faced when taken away from our land.
Our Indigenous roots stays connected to the land, the air, the water.
Our feet walk on the land that takes us back to the home we know, the air we breathe guides us to home and the water we drink provides the thirst that is innate in us.”
– Ho’nagila Unci, (Grandma Fly)
This month, as a Lakota tribal member, we celebrate this month in recognition of the Dakota 38 +2, honoring those who lost their lives striving to survive.
For 14 years, beginning in 2005, we honored their memory and history by riding horses on December 10th. Each year, tribes across many states gather to ride from the Lower Brule, SD to Mankato, Minnesota.
This tradition ended in 2022, and I am excited to learn, this year it has resumed!
Another tradition is winter solstice, for my tribe, the natural world teaches us about the natural and universal laws in which we are interconnected to all things within the planet, stars, moon and sun.
Celebrating Our People: Service Anniversaries
If you know any of these folks, please take a moment to send them a RAVE review which will be cc’d to their supervisor! Or send them a Teams message to thank them for their service. Either way, peer recognition matters, and is one more way we all contribute to ALTSA being the culture we want it to be and our Employer of Choice!
Employer of Choice
Please use this EOC Ideas Submission Form to share your ideas for helping DSHS be an employer of choice.
Check out the new SharePoint site Employer of Choice - Home (sharepoint.com)
Alternative Dispute Resolution Service
Explore this new resource from the DSHS Office of Justice and Civil Rights to learn more about Mediation, Facilitation, Conflict Coaching, and Training.
Appreciation!
Take time to appreciate others by sending them a RAVE Review! Bookmark the link! It’s so easy and can really impact a sense of connection and belonging for both the sender and receiver! Who do you appreciate? Tell them now!
Shared Leave
Check out the Shared Leave site. Did you know you may donate your leave to a coworker in need of leave if you have over 80 hours of Annual Leave, over 176 hours of Sick Leave, and/or Personal Holiday available? Any amount of leave donated would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your consideration.
Fall Marketing Campaign Highlights Caregivers as Community Heroes
This fall, the Workforce Development Unit launched a new paid marketing campaign focused on caregiver recruitment, while reinforcing retention.
The campaign theme, titled “Caregivers are Community Heroes” is designed to recognize caregivers as the community heroes they are in the service they perform.
The campaign rolled out to the public on September 30 and concluded November 24.
The campaign was advertised in numerous channels, including animated social media ads on several DSHS sites, interior bus transit panel ads, a commercial played on dozens of streaming platforms, emails matching the social media content were sent to 1,500+ subscribers and a poster to build awareness, interest and activity was supplied to partners statewide.
The campaign promoted caregiving as a career that can make a real difference in your community. From fueling a passion to serve others, to enjoying a flexible schedule and the opportunity to find more opportunities in the growing healthcare field,caregiving is a rewarding way to give back.
We also publicized the three types of caregiving roles (Home Care Aide, Nursing Assistant, Family Caregiver) and the Workforce Navigators located regionally across Washington state that personally guide those seeking a career as a caregiver through the obstacles of training, certification and employment.
• 69,574 impressions delivered to those interested in elder care and job seekers.
• 528 hours interaction.
• 91% of impressions viewed in full.
• Over 90% delivered on the big screen (connected TV) to engaged viewers.
To watch streaming ads, click the photos above & below.
Transit ad placement