HOUSE | SUPPORT | ENRICH
By being committed to everyday excellence and engaging in meaningful collaboration, we were able to conquer every obstacle we faced while ensuring that the people in our care continued to receive the highest standard of quality, safety and service excellence.
ENRICHING LIVES
SPRING
2 021 2021
OU R EX PERIE NC E
01.
The Excel Society
Table of Contents 02.
Perkins Perspective
03.
Who We Are
04.
Our Excel Advatange
05.
Our Extrodinary Teams
07.
Our 2020 Accomplishments
10.
Our Committment to the Community.
12.
Join the Excel Advantage
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
02.
Perkins’ Perspective 2020 has been a year with challenges few of us would have imagined. COVID-19, the worldwide health Pandemic, has changed how we provide our services, how we interact with our community, how we stay healthy and how we may properly support those we know who have contracted the virus. Yet, I feel very grateful. I work with incredible people who care immensely. We are committed to doing the right thing and have come together to help each other. I have been forever positively changed through learning about the acts of kindness from so many of our team. I have been forever positively changed by the commitment we have and the willingness to find solutions together, to challenges none of us have experienced before. I have been forever positively changed through witnessing the incredible selfless acts and desire to help others. While the year ahead of us may provide us with new challenges, my choice is to be positive and to know we will get through this and we will return to a lifestyle we previously enjoyed. I am going to choose to feel grateful for working with you at Excel and for the support of our families. I am going to choose to be grateful for the healthcare we enjoy. I hope that when we return to a lifestyle closer to what we knew before COVID we can hang onto some of these positive experiences and build upon the connections we have made through the challenges we have faced. Thank you everyone. I am grateful to be part of this team and for everyone’s support. Take care, be safe and stay positive.
Brad Perkins President & CEO
The Excel Society
03.
Who We Are For over 55 years the Excel Society has been providing Exceptional Care through Meaningful Engagement to multiple individuals with disabilities or complex needs in Alberta. We want the people who come to the Excel Society to feel accepted, valued, cared for, and connected to a meaningful community of support. Though the people in our care come from many walks of life, they all seek a safe and supportive living environment within the community. This is why we are committed to providing these individuals with access to community-based opportunities that facilitate the development of interpersonal relations, occupational and independent living skill sets, personal responsibility and independence. As we strive to remain at the forefront of everyday excellence and innovation in Community Living and Supportive Services, it is our duty to provide each individual in our care with the highest standards of quality, safety and service Excellence.
Currently, We Care For Over 575 People Each Year In Edmonton And Calgary, And Employ Approximately 850 People On Our Team.
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
04.
Our Excel Advantage At the Excel Society, we care about the people we serve, our teams and their families, and the broader community. we do what is right and our values help guide us during our important work to ensure our actions reflect the commitments in our mission.
With the help of The Excel Advantage, we are able to realize our vision through our mission, guide our behaviours, set our priorities, and align our collaborative efforts. This new strategy recognizes that we each have a role in making the difference to our clients, team members and the community as a whole.
By providing exceptional care through meaningful engagement, we are able to house, support and enrich the people in our care to help them achieve their own physical, emotional, and psychological goals on their terms. Mission
Vision
Excel Society is committed to providing exceptional care through meaningful engagement and adherence to the highest standards of quality, safety, and service excellence.
Excel Society is at the forefront of everyday excellence and innovation in Community Living and Supportive Services.
Our Values People
Integrity
Excellence
Creativity
Collaboration
Our Pillars Exceptional Care
We partner with our clients, their families, and our funders, to provide the best possible care and to be the Service Provider of Choice.
Being at the Forefront
We are recognized as a partner/employer of choice and an industry leader in Community Living and Supportive Services.
Meaningful Engagement
We foster a culture of appreciation and recognition that achieves the highest possible employee engagement and satisfaction.
Organizational Stewardship
We are accountable to our stakeholders for executing our mission faithfully and managing our resources effectively.
05.
The Excel Society
Our Extrodinary Teams
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
06.
At the Excel Society, we do what is right and safely achieve superior results. Throughout the years we have faced many challenges to remain at the Forefront of Community living and Support Services, but none quite like the COVID-19 pandemic. This challenging time has greatly impacted every one of us as well as the services we provide. Thankfully, we have been fortunate enough to have the right people in the right positions that have enabled our team to overcome multiple outbreaks across our facilities and residences. These team members stepped-up during some of our most difficult moments and have truly been heroes throughout this pandemic. These team members ensured every person in Excel was properly prepared and cared for by covering any open shifts, modifying or extending their own shifts, working additional hours and even supporting the team during their personal time. They each understood that the people in our care are safer with the support of our team and ensured that the level of care our clients received did not digress.
There were multiple extraordinary contributors at each site that stepped-up, collaborated with their teams, and made these site outbreaks as brief as possible.
2020 challenged us to grow and we accepted. As an organization we have been able to overcome multiple out breaks by making drastic changes to our procedures and services. Though, these incredible successes would not be possible if we did not possess such a dedicated and committed team. We would like to thank each member of the Excel team for their extraordinary efforts during this time. By collaborating with one another, our team was able to create innovative ways to support and enrich our clients while ensuring they continued to receive the highest level of care.
The Excel Society
07.
Our 2020 Accomplishments Conquering COVID-19 Together At the Excel Society, we are committed to building healthy work environments where our team can connect and build with one another. As COVID-19 began to introduce more social isolation, our team created an initiative to share positive stories with one another that we called Conquering COVID-19. From the moment it was released to our team, stories began to pour in. We learned firsthand about all the amazing things our teams were doing across Alberta, and how they were each making the best of this unprecedented time. From converting a gymnasium to a distribution centre and organizing staff appreciation drive-bys to creating residence-specific activities and teaching them new lifelong skills, our team did incredible things this past year despite all of the restrictions. These stories have inspired us, but most importantly, solidified that we are all in this together, and through our team’s ability and commitment, we have all been able to overcome this pandemic.
Excel Calgary’s 15 Year Anniversary Since 2005, the Excel Society has enriched the lives of Calgarians by providing exceptional care through meaningful engagement in our communities. Fortunately, this milestone came before the COVID-19 pandemic so we were able to celebrate with the Calgary team and our clients. There were multiple extraordinary contributors at each site that rose to the challenge, collaborated with their teams, and made these site outbreaks as brief as possible.
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
08.
Balwin Villa’s Distribution Centre For our Direct Care team, the need for proper personal protective equipment (PPE) is more important than ever. Thankfully, our team has set up a central distribution centre within the Excel Society’s Balwin Villa to ensure all of our team members across Alberta are equipped with the items they need.
Our entire team engaged in meaningful collaboration to ensure the absolute success of our new distribution centre. It began with our IT team creating a network connection for enhanced service while our leadership team coordinated with Alberta Health Services to receive the required PPE. At the same time our Finance team handled all client spending request and collected receipts to ensure everyone was receiving the items they needed before they needed it. We even had staff members collecting items while they shop for their own supplies and used their single item purchase limit on toilet paper for our clients! By transforming the gym at Balwin Villa to an organization-wide distribution centre, we have been able to: Ensure all staff obtained the proper PPE requirements for their positions; Effectively fulfill any emergency orders for clients or team members as outbreaks arise; Effectively coordinate the logistics of various items; and Provide a space for our team to organize materials while ensuring our clients continued to receive the highest level of care and support despite the strict health measures.
Several members of our team from different departments continue to engage in meaningful collaboration to ensure the continual success of the distribution centre. Each of you have been the difference to our clients during this time, and we cannot thank you enough for your commitment to our clients, your fellow team members, and our entire organization.
The Excel Society
09.
Our 2020 Accomplishments Continued
Calgary’s New COVID-19 Space. At the Excel Society, we collaborate with one another to find new and innovative ways to achieve the highest standard of quality, safety, and service excellence. Under regular circumstances the Calgary day program is community-based, meaning one or more team members support our clients while they engage in various activities across the city.
However, as many of these public facilities have temporarily closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, our clients were left with limited options that only accounted for a few hours of enrichment each day. Our team recognized that this level of service was not meeting the needs of our clients, so they began to search for a space where they could deliver daily programming for a small cohort group of day program individuals.
The team explored several different options and fortunately came to a solution when they reached out to the agency that currently leases the Calgary office. They inquired about any unused office space they could temporarily use for a reasonable price and after the parties discussed the details, our team in Calgary was able to gain access to a new space for no cost at all!
Since the second week of December, the Calgary team has been able to provide our clients with quality daily programming and support to our clients during the pandemic. As the day program before relied on community activities, the team engaged in meaningful collaboration to develop new and innovative activities to engage our clients while complying with all health orders. The team created several programs ranging from Zumba and music therapy to themed learning and life skill sessions that were well received by all of the clients. We are so pleased to have a space to allow our clients the ability to socialize and participate in a variety of programs during this particularly isolating time.
By collaborating with one another the Calgary team was able to transform an ordinary office unit into a welcoming space that provides enriching opportunities to the people in our care.
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
10.
Our Committment to the Community Stewards of the Society Each member of the Excel team understands that our actions and decisions effect the long-term success of the Excel Society. Thankfully, we have several dedicated team members who embody a steward of the Excel Society, and we would like to recognize their continual dedication especially during this challenging time.
These stewards come into their positions every day and complete seemingly small tasks such as creating grocery lists and planning daily program activities. Though, many of these actions greatly benefit the people in our care by ensuring more effective use of their funds while also exposing them to enriching opportunities they may not have had experienced otherwise.
Small things, done constantly, add up to big things in the long run.
We would like to thank the many stewards of the Excel Society for their commitment and dedication to the people in our care. By being cognizant of the many ways we provide support, we are able to continually provide the highest standards of quality, safety and service excellence.
Preserving our Traditions - Excel’s Got Talent Excel’s Got Talent (EGT) is another annual tradition where the people in our care showcase their talents on the main stage. This event is regularly scheduled for the end of November, though due to heavily reduced indoor gathering restrictions at that time, our team created another successful virtual event! In many ways the event’s process remained the same. Clients applied to perform in the event and team members offered support and guidance for each client’s performance. Though the key difference was that their performances were submitted as a photo or video to the committee. Once all of the submissions were collected, the committee created a video with all 22 performances and distributed the finished product to the clients that performed and the locations that requested a copy.
Many clients and team members enjoyed the process and were very please to receive their own copy of the event for them to view whenever they pleased.
The Excel Society
09.
Our Committment to the Community Continued Preserving our Traditions - Party in the Park At the Excel Society, we safely achieve superior results. The Excel Society’s Party in the Park is an annual tradition where our clients, team members, partners, and other members of the community would gather at Hawrelak Park in August to celebrate another great year with the Excel Society. Even though we were not able to physically gather this year, we were able to leverage technology to host our first major virtual event that connected clients and team members through virtual means. On the afternoon of Friday August 21st, over 250 pizzas were delivered to the residences in both Calgary and Edmonton so that our clients and direct care team members could begin the event with a meal together. While they were enjoying the pizza, other members of our team divided themselves into groups and created a small parade for each residence that included some donuts for dessert! Each group decorated their vehicles, created signs, and showed their appreciation for each residence they visited. From there, the clients and team members joined an organization-wide virtual Zoom video call. The call began with a few words from our CEO, Brad Perkins, and then was passed along to the residences where our clients socialized with one another. As many of them were not able to visit other houses, this virtual event gave them the chance to connect with some familiar faces they haven’t have a chance to see in a while. It was a very special date for many clients and they really appreciated that our team was able to make this event virtual! By being committed to providing exceptional care and meaningfully collaborating with one another, we were able to ensure our annual tradition was not postponed due to this pandemic!
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
10.
Preserving our Traditions - Angel Tree At the Excel Society, we care about the people we serve, our teams and their families and the broader community. Unfortunately, some of the people in our care are not fortunate enough to have loved ones to celebrate the holiday season with. This is why the tradition of The Excel Society’s Angel Tree was created to ensure every person in our care enjoys the excitement and connection that comes with each holiday season.
This year was especially important to the people in our care due to increasing restrictions and the inability to invite our clients' families to the Balwin Villa and Grand Manor annual holiday dinners.
The Angel Tree Committee engaged in meaningful collaboration to create compelling communications for both internal and external viewers, connected with the people in our care to develop a wish-list of items that donors could purchase directly for each client and utilized the Balwin Villa distribution center to ensure everyone got their gifts in time! By the time the holiday season was here, we had received over $2000 from multiple individuals and organizations to purchase gifts for the people in our care and to ensure they all had an enjoyable break from this challenging year.
Thank you to everyone who contributed their time and/or donated to this year’s Angel Tree. Each of you truly made the difference this holiday season!
The Excel Society
11.
Join the Excel Advantage
We want anyone in Alberta, regardless of diagnosis, to be able to express themselves, create meaning in their life, and feel connected to their community.
We strive every day to make this a reality for the people who come to the Excel Society by providing meaningful and engaging programming.
*Photo taken pre-COVID-19.
Our Advantage: Spring 2021
12.
The Excel Society’s Enrichment Fund We are people who care about people. Join the Excel Society with a gift to the Excel Advantage Enrichment Fund. We house, support, and enrich the lives of people living with disabilities and complex mental health needs. Our unique approach to providing exceptional care through meaningful engagement includes intentional personal enrichment. The Excel Advantage Enrichment Fund is a way to give to the Excel Society that assures you that your gift will directly support client enrichment.
Artistic Enrichment
Musical Enrichment
Recreational Enrichment
Holiday Enrichment
Helps a client access artistic supplies and experiences.
Helps a client access sport, leisure or recreational experience.
Helps a client access musical instruments and experiences.
Helps a client a holiday or special occasion.
By making a donation to the Excel Advantage Enrichment Fund, you will be directly enriching one of the many people in our care!
O U R A D VA N A G E : S P R I N G 2 0 2 1
HOUSE | SUPPORT | ENRICH
SPRING
2021 2 021
ENRICHING LIVES