Anthony Celebrates One Year Anniversary at Oskar Blues

Anthony, a resident at Imagine!'s Charles Family SmartHome, is proud to celebrate over one year of employment with Oskar Blues Brewery through Imagine!’s CORE/Labor Source department. Since its inception in 1984, CORE/Labor Source’s Supported Employment Program has been providing innovative employment opportunities to people with developmental disabilities. Today, Anthony received his own work shirts and has taken great pride in working for such a caring and supportive company.

Technology Tuesday

Imagine! has launched a new data system for the service records of the people that we serve. The new system is Netsmart’s Evolv.

Evolv is an EHR (electronic health record) system with well-designed functionalities for demographic management, service delivery tracking, and reporting. The switch to Evolv from our previous database was made necessary when the previous database no longer met our needs.

Imagine! is a large and incredibly complex organization, and our records reflect that complexity. We need a system to track the records of the people we serve that is able to navigate data, including the huge number of our funding sources and the huge variety of services we provide, all while protecting the personal health information of the 3,500+ individuals whose information we are storing.

No out of the box software was going to fit the bill, so the Imagine! Evolv team spent the better part of a year reworking the software to meet our needs. Even now that we have gone live, the Imagine! Evolv team is continue to work on fixing little issues that have cropped up. For the most part, however, the switchover has been very smooth, and most importantly, the folks we serve have not seen any disruption in their services.

Technology Tuesday

Save the Date! 

The 2017 Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities Conference on Cognitive Disabilities and Technology is set for November 2. 

To learn more about the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities and the upcoming conference click here.

Guess Who's Touring The SmartHomes?

Touring Imagine!’s SmartHome today: Nancy Rezac, Executive Director of Visit Longmont and Sharon O'Leary, a former special education professional. Helping out with the tour was Imagine! ambassador extraordinaire Leona Stoecker and, of course, some of our great staff members.

Technology Tuesday

Over the past 10 years, people have traveled from all over the country, and even from other countries, to tour Imagine!’s SmartHomes and see first-hand how technology is changing the way we can, and should, deliver services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (here’s a few examples of recent “tourists.”)

Of course, we understand that not everyone can make the trip to tour the homes in person. That is why a few weeks ago, we hosted a tour live on Facebook, and we’re sharing a video of that tour with you today. It is a bit lengthy, and the camera work isn’t perfect, but if you have the time, watching the video is a great way to learn about all the amazing things happening at the SmartHomes, and how Imagine! is working to create a world of opportunity for all abilities.

Thanks to Chris DiRosa, tour guide extraordinaire, for taking us on this journey.

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Guess Who's Touring The SmartHomes?

Touring Imagine!’s SmartHome today: Cindy Acree, from The Elizabeth Richardson Center in Arkansas. She is interested in incorporating assistive technology into The Elizabeth Richardson Center’s settings, especially remote supports. Thanks for taking the tour, Cindy!