As One Vision moves toward spring, it’s encouraging to watch the organization busy with efforts that fall directly into the various goals outlined in our strategic plan. The upcoming redevelopment of our Clear Lake campus into a community focusing on active senior living is just one significant example of the efforts.

We also want to recognize and welcome the addition of numerous staff and supported individuals who recently joined the One Vision community from Mitchell County. In late January, One Vision acquired supervision and operation of two community-based homes in Osage that previously were supervised by Mitchell County. By all indications, the transition went smoothly and former Mitchell County employees have worked diligently in learning OV systems and processes.

In the first part of March, One Vision will also commence operation of a third home in the Osage area.

2018 Brings Positive Progress

As an organization, we are also accelerating our efforts to implement the use of the Personal Outcome Measures — or person-centered planning — as a guide to ensure we are meeting the individual goals, needs, and choices of the people we support. This work is part of a larger effort to move from our current CARF accreditation to pursue a higher level of accreditation from the Council on Quality Leadership. You will see more specific information about this effort in an upcoming newsletter.

Internally, we recently made several improvements in how we recruit, hire, train, and support One Vision employees. We restructured staff members and processes to centralize much of our hiring. This ensures consistency and the highest quality when it comes to new staff. With the addition of Mark Dodd to our leadership team this past fall, we are concentrating much of his knowledge on increasing the quality of staff training at all levels of the organization.

Finally, efforts continue to transition supported individuals from larger residential settings into smaller community-based homes throughout North Iowa. Construction on three new homes in the Mason City area has started, and eventually will be home to individuals currently living at the Ralph Schroeder Group Home and ICF cottages on the Clear Lake campus. This is a continuation of efforts started years ago to comply with federal mandates. One Vision will continue to support these individuals in their new homes and transitions to date are overwhelmingly positive.

As always, thank you for your continued support of One Vision and our goals. Thank you for continuing to be a part of our community and helping us to connect people with purpose. Please feel free to contact me if you have any feedback or any questions.

Warm regards,

Jeff Nichols
641-355-1210
jnichols@onevision.org