We did it! After months of hard work in preparing for Accreditation, it’s finally over! The CARF surveyors came, met with our BACI teams and other stakeholders and were very impressed!
As you know, CARF (The Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission) has developed “best practice” standards by gathering feedback and expertise from families, people with disabilities and the employees throughout North America who are connected with the Community Social Services sector.
We were surveyed on 1,428 Standards of Practice and received only 1 formal Recommendation and a number of great suggestions that will help us improve!
Of the 8 CARF surveys we’ve participated in over the years, this was our most meaningful one by far — led by a team of 5 surveyors with decades of experience who looked deeply at our policies, procedures and evidence of good quality of service.
Throughout the survey, the depth of our collective leadership was acknowledged — from the people and families served to our employees and Board members. Our openness and transparency, our willingness to share information, and our eagerness to learn and improve, was also noted by the surveyors.
As mentioned above, while the survey highlighted our strengths, it also provided us with one recommendation and a number of good suggestions. We are taking those seriously and will continue to improve the quality of our supports in the coming months and years. We will receive the formal CARF Report in the next 6-8 weeks and will share more details of the suggestions — and our reflections and learnings — at that time.
Last but not least, thank you to everyone who helped us prepare for and participate in this outstanding accreditation survey — our staff, who were recognized by the surveyors as being “one of BACI’s greatest strengths — vibrant, enthusiastic, energetic and compassionate,” the amazing people and families we serve, our “supportive and engaged Board of Directors,” and our wonderful partners in the broader community. Your hard work in preparing for this survey truly made a difference and is something to be proud of!
Way to go, Team BACI!
