Darlene Scott called the Family Council meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Attending: June Bennett, Kate Dwyer, Pat Egan, Rose Joarnt, Larry Quist-Knox, Pat Smith, Mona Strom and staff Jody Docken, Mary Thirsten and Darlene Scott.

Invited not attending: Wally Sherseth, Gene & Florence Englebrecht, Jo Bredesen, and Roxanne Sands.

Darlene Scott reviewed the purpose of the Family Council. It is a vehicle to improve Phoenix programs and services. The Council will work with staff to problem solve issues from the perspective of the consumer of services and their family members. The group will work to identify and solve PROBLEMS. The focus of this group is not on all of the things that Phoenix does right but on the things that we can improve upon.

Recommendations from the Council will be shared with the Utilization Review and Human Rights Committee for consideration. Some recommendations will be immediately implemented.

Council members introduced themselves and their family member that resides at a Phoenix home.

Council members reviewed the outline of tasks and added items for discussion at future meetings.

Darlene invited members to volunteer and or elect officers: Kate Dwyer volunteered to be the Family Council Secretary. There are no volunteers for Chair at this time.

One of the major concerns presented today was that the family members do not know who the staff are. The Council recommends that each home purchase and hang a white board to write the names of the staff working on the shift. The manager will write the names on the board or designate someone to do this. The Council also recommends a picture board of all staff working within the home with their name written under the picture. Mangers will be asked to designate a place for the white and picture board. Darlene will communicate this to all managers and environmental services staff.

The Council reviewed and prioritized topics for discussion at future meetings: The top two priority issues are communication and hiring we will work on problem solving these issues at the next two meetings.

1. Communication to families after resident meetings with follow-up, communication between employees in the home, how is information shared so that everyone knows what is going, communication families and residents and staff about resident appointments.
2. Hiring / Turnover - why do staff leave, what are the issues, how can we improve the work environment, how do we make better hiring decisions, how do we get staff who are more social and talk to the residents as well as the family members.
3. Crisis Respite Services
4. Medication delivery at Day Program
5. Communication with Day Programs
6. Budget planning and management
7. Transportation Issues
8. Can in-house activities be consistently planned? What are residents doing when they are at home?
9. How do we really know that programs are being implemented/ Family members never see residents engaged in any activity. Families want to see what is happening in the homes. Are drop in visits unannounced ok?
10. Some staff do not seem very social with families, are they social with the residents, how do we get staff to be more social?
11. Who is working at the house?

The next meeting was scheduled June 28, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting was was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.