Congratulations to Ellen Facciolo for receiving a Max Service Excellence award at a ceremony at their conference on March 29, 2017.
“Ellen has shown a tremendous amount of commitment to the individuals she supports. Ellen does an excellent job of motivating and encouraging her staff to see the positives in individuals we support. She encourages them to take time to listen to what people need and to find ways to support individuals to live their dreams.”
Thanks, Ellen!
Kathy Lilly is a Supports Coordinator at Partnership for Community Supports. Kathy excels in her position always going well above and beyond the criteria of the job description. She takes her job very seriously. She has located non-waiver funded supports such as: pet therapy for one individual, special shoes for another in need and she has found numerous resources in the community for those she serves. Kathy believes that each and every individual she serves is the person in charge of their own life. Individuals, families and staff frequently comment on Kathy’s superb listening skills. In order to understand what an individual needs and wants, listening skills are essential. Kathy listens intently and sincerely to those who communicate non-verbally or someone whose communication style is not typical. She inspires others on teams by showing them that there is always a new way to understand those she serves. She is inspired by the challenge and she is not one to back away from difficult situations. Kathy has shown that by understanding what an individual wants she is better prepared to support them. Her leadership skills coupled with her listening skills has given her a reputation of being an outstanding Supports Coordinator.
Kathy is a person who thanks people for the tiniest things and she is grateful to those who work with her in supporting others. She has some extremely difficult situations that she deals with on a daily basis. As a Supports Coordinator she is responsible to facilitate team meetings which, at times, can be very challenging. Kathy is the kind of professional that moves the team meetings in productive directions without offending anyone. She redirects team members back to topic and assists everyone to stay on track. Kathy quietly supports individuals and facilitates team meetings in a way that everyone feels respected, but that the individuals’ choices are always central to the discussion. Kathy is an excellent problem solver who is not thrown by difficult circumstances and she always looks for a way to resolves problems. Kathy has since been promoted to a supervisor in Early Intervention.
CONGRATULATIONS KATHY!!!
On March 7, 2014 at the Bright Futures Award Ceremony our support coordinators were honored with certificates. Ellen Kaplan, Kathy Lilly, and Beth Davis all received Honorable Mentions for their Nominations on their Outstanding Care and Work with individuals with Intellectual Disabilities! Great Job Ladies!
Philadelphia County honored Staff throughout Philadelphia who make a difference in the lives of individuals with disabilities! Congratulations to all of the winners and honorable mentions, especially our very own staff!
Supports Coordination Supervisor Special Mention Honoree, Bill Wyce!
Bill has worked at Partnership for Community Supports, first as a Supports Coordinator and now as a Supports Coordination Supervisor. Bill is nothing short of professional, available, kind and knowledgeable. A family stated that they can imagine how stressful the day-to-day responsibilities are and the gift of maintaining a calm, day in and day out, is probably not the easiest thing to do. The family member went on to state, “Bill was always available to us and treated us with respect regardless of the simplicity of our questions or issues. He went out of his way to make required meetings as convenient as possible, always what was easiest for us, never what was convenient for him. Bill never complains, never gets upset, and never shows any irritation or impatience. He provided us with options for our son to participate in recreational and social activities we didn’t know existed. “
“But, I think the most striking example of how Bill exemplifies the values and ideals of Support Coordination was when he attended my mothers viewing. I did not notify him, but it is obvious he is informed and aware of his client’s situations. He came to support my son, he relayed his condolences to our family and then he sat with my son for the remainder of the evening. I am sure that Bill had many other things he could have done that evening. I will always be grateful that he chose to support my son that evening. Bill is genuine, he is real, and he is caring. Bill deserves this award. It is nice to know that Bill is supervising others and that his values are being transferred to those he supervises.”
Supports Coordinator Special Mention Honoree, David Fields-Asare!
David is a Supports Coordinator with Partnership for Community Supports. His commitment to those he serves and his professionalism were noted by those who nominated him for this award. One family commented that he quietly builds relationships with his consumers and families with compassion and respect. Other families complimented David for being knowledgeable, personable and going beyond the job description to help.
The father of a family consisting of seven individuals with special needs shared his feelings about David. He said his family was going through a tumultuous time. He shared that he and his wife were parents, confronting parenting issues of not willing or able to let go of their children. “David told us in a professional way that we could not see that our children wanted to grow up. David never said those words but he found ways to address it. David was so professional throughout a very tough time in our family. We were emotionally unbalanced and David supported us by asking us to look at the best interest of our children. David kept himself together when he could have easily lost it himself.”
“We as parents had to grow up. When our first child was born with special needs we knew we would parent until we die, forever. David helped us see that our parenting was not allowing our children to grow up on their own. My wife and I never realized our time of parenting needed to end and allow each child their personal growth. David helped keep us on track and he kept us addressing the need to change our roles in our children’s lives. Our children will always need us and depend on us but now we see it differently. We needed to begin to trust the world, trust them and trust others. David helped us do this.”
“Now, two of our girls no longer are frustrated, angry and fighting. They live in a CLA and they are happy. I never thought I would ever experience them calling me on the phone at night and say, ‘I love you’. When times of stress come to your family and your life, you loose sanity. We always believed our job was to protect our children and we still do believe this, but with David’s kindness and involvement in our lives, we realized it was time for us to change and to let go. David is a remarkable man. He is a ‘stand-up’ person.”