REGIONAL UPDATES
Photo by Denise Maroney
REGION 2
REGIONAL UPDATES REGION 1
Tami Rucker, Region 1 Administrator
As spring arrives and flowers begin to bloom, we at Region 1 Home and Community Services are also BLOOMING with excitement as we return to the field for in-person assessments, which began April 1. We used a “phase” approach in this transition with our different setting types and transitioned to full in-person assessing at the end of April. Our goal with this phased approach is to ensure the transition is smooth for clients, providers, community partners and case managers. We, along with most other agencies around the state, have been impacted by the workforce shortage. In the last 6 months, we have hired 28 Social Service Specialists 3 (SSS3) and 8 Public Benefits Specialists 4 (PBS4). These new employees are currently in different stages of their training plans. This has required us to be creative and innovative in our planning, training strategies and support to ensure quality and timely service delivery to our clients as we phase back into in-person assessing. We continue to recruit for our vacant positions, which include 5 SSS3s and 2 PBS4s. As staff return to in-person assessing, safety continues to be a top priority. We will continue to follow the DSHS Roadmap to Recovery guidelines and continue to use source control/PPE and complete prescreening questions before in-person contact. We will continue to monitor and analyze our work if changes occur in the public emergency and as we’ve demonstrated in the last two years, we will reset and pivot as needed. I am so very grateful to have such amazing, dedicated, and committed professionals to work beside in serving our clients receiving Long-Term Services and Supports.
