Human Resources
One of the challenges of today’s world for all agencies is keeping a balance betweenthe quality of services offered while controlling cost. Yet, it is important to have the right staff for the right job at the right time. The Rose has been able to do this through its many professional connections. By subcontracting with and to other organizations and individuals, The Rose not only meets community requests but also, finds faculty and speakers to implement its programs. It is the give and take of these relationships that provides the platform for our cost effective organization.
By maximizing the internet as a resource for professional development, the staff and volunteers can keep up with current information, often at no cost to the organization. Webinars keep us up to date with the most recent guidelines for girls and women’s issues such as a recent program “When Girls Drop Out of School” sponsored by National Women’s Law Center. Additional Webcasts and on-line CEU offerings keep us abreast in areas such as women and heart disease, hormone replacement therapy, cultural issues, bullying, and the latest advances in treatment options.
Staff at The Rose takes advantages of free state and national offerings, such as the US Diabetes Conversation MAPS and the BODYWORKS training. These programs are consistent with our mission and provide consumers in our area with the latest in evidenced based practice.
Volunteers continue to be our biggest asset whether they help us tend the gardens, make phone calls, wash windows or sit on our board. It gives credence to the belief that giving of self and caring for others makes the world go round.
Restructuring this year from a membership organization to a defined committee structure allows a clearer definition of specific tasks to be accomplished by both the professional staff and our volunteers.
Involvement Efforts
One of its greatest gifts to the community is its ability to participate at many different levels with many different community groups. This participation gives us the ability to connect with resources that are needed to operationalize our vision.
Some of these involvements are along the traditional lines of health care such as serving on the Dutchess and Ulster County American Heart Association Board, participation on the Mid-Hudson Catskill Diabetes Coalition, the Mid-Hudson Perinatal Consortium, the AHA Advisory Council of Ulster County, The Community Heart Health Coalition of Ulster County, the Alzheimer’s Association Planning Committee, and the Allocations Committee for the March of Dimes.
In our commitment to provide services across all economic and cultural populations, the staff participates in various community groups such as the Hispanic Outreach Committee, SAGE (Saugerties is About Growth Experiences), the Wawarsing Coucil, Prevention Connections Steering Committee, The Birds and the Bees Project, the ABCD Health and Safety Advisory Committee, and the Ulster Children’s Advocate Network (UCAN).
Specific programs, such as B.I.R.T.H.E., have driven partnerships with the YWCA of Ulster County, the Pregnancy Support Center, and the Ulster County Youth Bureau. These may take the form of actual contractual relationships while others serve as a referral source where we can send clients in need of services.
These activities bring us in contact with and make the staff acutely aware of some of the real basic needs of women and families in the community. Because of this, new ventures for our staff included serving at the Queen’s Galley Soup Kitchen, the Baby Showers in Kingston and Ellenville, the Highland Rotary Ribfest in August and active participation on the Advisory Council and the Allocation Committee of HOPE’s Fund. HOPE’s Fund is a local women’s movement to provide Hope, Opportunity, Passion and Empowerment for women of Ulster County that are experiencing life transition.
Organizational Identity
One of the highlights of the year came when one of our staff members and co-founder was recognized by the YWCA of Ulster County as woman of the year at their Tribute to Women Celebration. In keeping with this honor we would like to include in our annual report a summary of
What Make’s Linda Special
Maybe it’s because she’s a nurse and nurses take care of others
Maybe it’s because she’s a Mother—but so are many of us
Maybe it’s because she’s been to all corners of the earth as a military wife--she’s seen much and has lived within many cultures
Maybe it’s the way she is able to believe in her pregnant teens Maybe it’s because she is the keeper of all information great and small—We all know that Linda has all of the many resources at her fingertips or as she likes to call it in her “Brains” you know that big black book that she carries around
Maybe it’s the way she gives relentlessly to this committee, or that agency, or that group, or that individual
Maybe it’s about the respect that she has for herself and for others.
But, in fact, it’s about all of these.
However, if you’ve been around Linda for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve been exposed to Linda’s favorite handout.
I’m Special.
And so above more than anything else, it’s because Linda knows in no uncertain terms that every child born is special. She sees that potential light, that potential spark, that potential hope that is often deeply hidden in each of us and works to help us let it shine.
Why do we see fit to include this accolade in an annual report? Mostly because it is the face by which The Rose wishes to be identified. It’s about recognizing and finding the strengths that are within each and every individual.
The presence of The Rose at health, community and human service events is increasing not only in Ulster County but throughout the Hudson Valley. This year has found staff in Middletown and Fishkill for Baby’s R Us to provide information on baby care to expectant parents, in Newburgh and Nanuet for Wellcare blood pressure screenings, in Latham to represent the March of Dimes at a health fair, as well as continued participation in Mid-town Make A Difference Day in Kingston, Make A Difference Day in Saugerties, the Caregiver’s Conference in Ulster County, Plattekill Day, The Blueberry Festival in Ellenville, the U.C. DSS Expo, and multiple high school health fairs.
Program Components
Every year, The Rose examines what programs should be offered to meet the needs of the community that we are serving. We must determine what programs are successful, and just as important, what programs will be created to meet the ever changing needs in a shifting society. With that in mind some of our programs have served us through the years while others are created to meet the new requests.
The B.I.R.T.H.E. program is in its 9th year and on an average connects with 90+ pregnant teens a year. In partnership with the YWCA of Ulster County and through a grant from the March of Dimes, its content and referral process was presented to 80 plus individuals or sites such as schools, doctors offices, family court judges, etc. It not only created increased community awareness about the availability of this individualized health service but, was also successful in allowing visits to incarcerated pregnant teens in the Ulster County Jail. Outcomes from the program include higher than national averages in access to health care and other services, breastfeeding initiation and a lower rate of prematurity and low-birth weights. The Rose has the reputation of being the agency in the county that provides health education for pregnant teens.
The Babysitting Basics classes continue to be offered at the Woodstock Day School, the Girls Scouts, the Everette Hodge Center and the Riccardi School. The success of this program can be measured by the repeat requests and placement on their yearly calendars as well as the expansions to Westchester County as a result of the regional reorganization of the Girl Scouts.
Mom, We Need to Talk, is a program that offers a frank and open discussion of the issues surrounding the transition from child to adolescent where, both mom and daughter learn valuable information and communication techniques to enhance future personal interactions. Comments from attendees praise the class for its comfortable presentation and easy to understand curriculum.
With the belief that you can live well even with chronic diseases, The Rose has made a commitment to offer programs that speak to maximizing an individual’s wellness potential. Through a community planning process and a grant from the NYSDOH, Chronic Disease Division, we were able to coordinate a three pronged approach that brought a six session Arthritis Foundation Self Help Course to the Kingston Mid-Town Recreation Center, the People with Arthritis Can Exercise to the YWCA and an Arthritis Support Group to RCAL.
Heart disease is recognized as the number one killer of women in the United States. Embracing this national issue on the local level, The Rose continues to offer programs for both primary and secondary prevention and to participate in local AHA initiatives such as the Lighting of the Poughkeepsie Bridge in Red for the month of February and the Women’s Breakfast in Ulster County. Both events serve to raise awareness about women and heart disease in the Hudson Valley.
Ulster Schools for CPR, a project of the regional office of the American Heart Association and chaired by our staff, is a two part program that works with 6th grade students. “What Does it Mean to Be Fit” and a hands on skill station that teaches adult CPR has trained 850+ students. In addition,we volunteer staff for the annual free community based adult CPR program--Save-A-Life Saturday event held at SUNY Ulster.
An opportunity for a new twist on “The Differences in A Woman’s Heart” came with a request from the LGBTQ Community to present at their fall Conference in November of 2007. Through participation in this event, we gained additional insight into the barriers, struggles, fears and limited access to services that this population is faced with on a daily basis. It also sent the message that The Rose is a safe place for this population to come. Keeping with our commitment to provide services to minority populations.
New on the horizon…..
The Rose joined forces with a midwifery student to present a lecture with theatrical scenarios to nursing students, hospital staff, medical professionals and social workers in order to provide more insight into the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual impact that domestic violence has, not only during pregnancy, but how, it effects relationships, parenting and life in general.
STD and teen pregnancy issues are prevalent in the Wawarsing and Ellenville area. To address these topics The Rose, presented a week long series of classes for the Ellenville High School Health Class with a focus on STD’s and birth control.
Consistent with the increasing national concerns regarding the obesity epidemic and its link to the development of diabetes, The Rose saw the need to offer programs that dealt with this issue.
With the goal of preventing obesity and diabetes in adolescent girls, The Rose, contracting with the Community Heart Health Coalition of Ulster County, offered a program created by The Office of Women’s Health called Bodyworks. The purpose of this eight (8) session program is:
- To provide parents with tools and strategies to improve family eating and activity habits;
- To support adolescent girls in reaching and maintaining a healthy weight; and
- To prevent obesity among adolescent girls.
In addition to the three programs conducted for the consumers in Ulster County, we have trained 10 additional workshop facilitators that will take the program to other areas of the Hudson Valley.
A second offering, Conversation MapsTM was created by iHealth and offered throughout Canada and the United States is now available in Ulster County through The Rose Women's Care Service. The sessions offer a forum for individuals to engage with each other and a healthcare professional, to share stories, to ask questions and to develop individualized action plans to make behavior changes that will help them control their diabetes.
In September 2008, we were awarded a grant from the Medicare Diabetes Screening Project (MDSP). Its goal, to increase awareness of diabetes in the 65+ population and the need for appropriate screening is in line with our mission and nicely complements other disease prevention and health promotion activities already underway. Plans include doing presentations to professionals, service groups, church groups, senior groups and setting up table displays with free literature.