CARF Honors ABD With High Rating

BETHEL — Ability Beyond Disability has once again received a three-year certification — the highest rating possible — for its employment and residential services for people with disabilities by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), it was announced recently by President & CEO Thomas H. Fanning.

This marks the second time in a row the agency has received a three-year certification from the Tucson-based agency that assesses the performance of more than 38,000 programs around the world.

“We’re very proud that CARF has given us the three-year accreditation each time it considered us for such a rating. And we’re especially delighted that it said we were ‘exemplary’ in 13 areas, while only making two recommendations for improvements in our services,” Mr Fanning noted. “In our last review, CARF cited two ‘exemplaries’ while offering 22 recommendations — which still placed us among the highest ranked agencies that it assesses.”

“The rating goes to the agency but the credit for this belongs to our employees, consumers, and their families,” added Charles R. Perrin, Ability Beyond Disabilities chairman of the board. “We have a dedicated and hardworking staff, consumers committed to demonstrating their abilities, and family members providing invaluable support. That’s a fantastic combination.”

The 2005 review of Ability Beyond Disability’s services was conducted by a team of four CARF surveyors who examined 25 percent of the agency’s homes and worksites and all of its new facilities since the last CARF survey.

Included among the comments made by the surveyors to Ability Beyond Disability after talking with its employees and consumers were:

“I would like to have each and every one of you on my team and I would be honored to be on yours.”

“The leadership and staff of your organization are awesome.”

“The backing you receive from your board of directors is unbelievable.”

“The jobs you have been able to get for people are fabulous.”

“The homes are great...they are not houses, they are homes.”

As a consequence, the surveyors concluded, “Ability Beyond Disability has strength in many areas.”

It also cited “the commitments and passions of the board of directors and the dedication, enthusiasm, and skills of the staff” plus commenting positively on the representation of “a wide variety of community entities” on the board.

“The overall attitude among the staff members is that the person served should be considered first and foremost,” the report added. “The organization has succeeded in providing meaningful, safe, and comfortable work and home environments while providing numerous opportunities for participating in community activities.”

The CARF surveyors also made special reference to Ability Beyond Disability’s community integration services and the impact this has on the self-worth of the people served.

Of the 13 areas labeled “exemplary” by CARF, Mr Fanning said he derived special satisfaction from seeing the agency’s staff orientation and training, commitment to community integration, and work opportunities for its consumers, and Money Club among those cited. The Money Club, he pointed out, has an emergency fund for helping people served by Ability Beyond Disability to participate in local activities.

“We knew, simply by talking with our consumers, their families, and the organizations at which we find jobs for the people we train and recommend, that we were meeting our mission of helping people live independently to the fullest extent of their capabilities,” said Mr Fanning. “But having this assessment reinforced by an organization that has been evaluating agencies throughout the world for close to 40 years is a true morale builder. Our employees, directors, and community allies are invigorated by the results of the survey.”

CARF was established in 1966 to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that carefully reviews organizational management and service delivery.

It maintains an office in Edmonton, Canada, and a Continuing Care Accreditation Commission in Washington, D.C., in addition to its Tucson headquarters. CARF’s accreditation outcomes are a three-year accreditation, one-year accreditation, provisional accreditation, and no accreditation.

Ability Beyond Disability (formerly Datahr Rehabilitation Institute) is a 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Bethel, with additional offices in Mount Kisco, N.Y. It provides a wide range of services for people with a disability that inhibits their activities of daily living — including numerous residential alternatives, employment training, career counseling, job placement services, cognitive and life skills instruction, clinical and therapeutic support, and volunteer and recreational activities — for approximately 800 people.

Today, its services extend far beyond the Danbury community and range from west of Hartford, throughout Fairfield County and into Westchester and Putnam Counties in New York.