REGIONAL UPDATES

Photo by Denise Maroney REGIONAL UPDATES

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.

Sonya Sanders, Region 2 Administrator

Region 2 HCS, like other offices, has vacancies we are looking to fill. As of this writing, we have 34 open positions for social services, PBS and clerical. We are working as swiftly as possible as a region to fill positions with qualified, skilled and trained staff. This is the most vacancies R2 has ever seen, and it is an overwhelming task to fill these positions timely. A count of staff coming and going is just as daunting. In 2020, 61 new staff joined HCS and 24 staff left HCS. In 2021, 53 new staff joined HCS and 71 staff departed.

Congratulations are in order to Quyen Huynh for being nominated for the SnoKing/UWCFD Rookie Coordinator of the Year award. The Rookie of the Year award is given annually to new CFD coordinators who have gone the extra mile during the Combined Fund Drive campaign. Each agency or campus nominates its best and brightest coordinators who have helped make the campaign a success.

Quyen’s nomination stated, “Quyen was eager to assume the local coordinator role and she brought an enthusiasm and desire to do a good job. She asked questions, took trainings, and availed herself of the supports from both DSHS and CFD campaign managers. She tried using the credit card option, one not used very often within DSHS. She learned to use pledges, either paper or online, for ease of staff. She just wanted to do a great job which made her so valuable to the DSHS overall campaign, her manager, and her fellow workers. I hope she chooses to participate again next year. And build on her successes.” Quyen, R2 are very proud of you. Great job and service.

Region 2 HCS management went through a process to create a word of the year for 2022. Our 2022 Word of the Year is “Resilience.”

Resilience means the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; it means toughness. It is the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress. I think we all can agree that these past two years have been a source of stress for employees, clients, and community partners. However, R2 managers and employees continued the good fight with their dedication and professionalism. For example, many staff jumped to work overtime to assist with Acute Care Hospital work. Without this extra added support, we would not have met assessment timeframes and discharges.

R2 is resilient. We are also flexible, tough, proficient, skilled, humble, and vulnerable. These qualities make staff in Region 2 more than resilient. We are indestructible. I am thankful for all the R2 employees for sticking it out these last two years and assisting me in moving the region forward.

Debbie Willis, Region 3 Administrator

“We rise by lifting others.” – Robert Ingersoll Creating a culture of belonging is something Region 3 HCS continually strives to create. It is an important focus and one that takes continual effort and intentionality. It requires an ongoing inventory of ourselves and asking the questions to help get us where we want to be. These questions include: • How do we support our staff in meaningful and inclusive ways that create a culture of belonging? • How do we lift each other up and support each other in tough times, especially in our new virtual work world? • How do we work through some of the hard issues that bubble up through the employee surveys, evaluation feedback, all-staff meetings, etc.? These, and many more, are the questions and issues that we grapple with, and they are questions that cannot be answered alone, in a silo, by one person. This is where our HCS Regional Advisory Board comes in. The Regional Advisory Board consists of about 15 people, including line staff, supervisors, and members of our regional management team. The board is tasked with working on regional improvements. We take feedback from staff (via the employee survey, annual evaluations and other communication opportunities) and find the themes and areas where staff want to see improvements. We then set goals and develop implementation plans to make those improvements. The lens for this group is equity, diversity, and inclusion. The focus for the Regional Advisory Board in 2022 will be: Creating and enhancing job development opportunities that include: Roadmap for job development – Where do I start? That is the most common question! We are creating a Roadmap and SharePoint site that will include details and information on: • Current opportunities • Mentoring • Leadership workshops • Informational interviews (what are they and how to make the most of them) • Developmental Job Assignment (what is it and how does it work in our Region?) • New opportunities (in development) • Develop a Success Center • Interviewing workshops • “Day in the Life of a Supervisor” with panel of current supervisors Mastering the new work environment: We will be gathering regional staff input on how we make the most of our hybrid work environment (teleworking and in-office work). Our goals are to ensure our staff: • Have what they need in this new work environment (communication, training, tools, access to technology, etc.) • Feel included and part of a team while working remotely • Feel empowered and have the support they need to create opportunities to get know each other and build strong relationships in the workplace As a team we will continue to be intentional about creating a culture that is inclusive and supportive of each other and we will continue to push forward and grow. We are better together. “The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They’re always growing. They’re always pushing.” – Robert Kiyosaki