Health & Wellness Magazine Community Of Caring - Summer 2019 | Page 28

MOMENTUM
BUILDING MOMENTUM
MOMENTUM DEVELOPMENTAL Support
is an organization committed to enhancing
the futures of individuals with developmental
disabilities. Chad Perrin, Executive
Director of Momentum, has been with the
organization from the beginning, leading the
development of programming and tools that
have enabled the organization to expand
its offerings throughout the province.
“It started with senior care, and then
we expanded to child and youth care
through Blue Sky, but there was another
group of adults being looked after as part
of CareGivers, who were living with an
intellectual disability,” notes Chad.
“We knew we could
do more for them – we
just didn’t know what
‘more’ looked like yet.”
“To understand how to better serve these
individuals, we went to visit some other
types of programs on the mainland,
did a lot of literature review to see how
services for persons with a developmental
disability should be offered, and built
relationships with people in the field
who were experts,” Chad adds.
“For persons with disabilities, especially
for adults, it’s not so much about doing
28
things for them as it is trying to help them
to do things for themselves – to help them
build their abilities,” continues Chad. “And
so, it was – and still is – about trying to
create a better future for our clients.”
In 2016, having built out individualized
programming and recognizing that
the supports being offered to this
group were much different than
traditional home support, Momentum
Developmental Support was carved
out as a division of CareGivers.
“Being part of a group of likeminded
organizations – Blue Sky, CareGivers,
Momentum, and Aurelia – is definitely
advantageous,” Chad notes. “We have
people who are knowledgeable in
advocacy for clients, we have nursing
support, we have people who know
about licensing – so in some way, shape
or form, everyone here has some piece
of the health care sector figured out.
Someone’s got the answer to whatever
questions may arise, because we’re just so
broad in the experience we have here.”
Our electronic record keeping focuses on
outcomes reporting and goal progress to
see if our clients are meeting the goals they
set out for themselves, analyzing trends in
things such as incident reporting to see how
we can improve, medication management,
and client assessments to ensure we’re
meeting the needs of our clients.
“We want our clients to be engaged in
the community,” Chad continues. “To
be able to participate in the things they
want to do, and to have some support to
meet their goals given their ability level.
That’s where the mission for Momentum
– enhancing futures – came from; we
don’t want to create a future for them,
we want them to create their own, and
I can confidently say every member
of our team buys into that mission.”
The team at Momentum, now comprised
of more than a dozen management
employees and 150 Developmental Support
Workers, continues to work closely with the
regional health authorities in the Province
and experts throughout North America,
educating themselves on the possibilities
and exploring new care delivery models.
Momentum Centre, a bi-weekly day
program, is one of our newest initiatives
in St. John’s. Clients come together to
participate in activities aligned with
their abilities – from making pizzas to
playing bingo – and it’s really taking off.
“It’s about creating the supports we know
we’ll need in the province,” continues
Chad. “We’ve been other places and
we’ve seen the programs they have, and
the programs work. We just don’t have
them all here yet; but we’re building it
and that’s exciting to be a part of.”