After several months of consultations with Alberta Health Services, Alberta Seniors, and Royal Oak Developments Ltd, we have decided that effective February 1, 2012, The Good Samaritan Society will transfer operational responsibility for the program to Royal Oak Developments Ltd.

There are two primary reasons for transitioning the program to Royal Oak Developments Ltd: 

• Royal Oak Developments Ltd. has always been the owner of Royal Oak Manor.  In operating the supportive living program The Good Samaritan Society has had a lease agreement with Royal Oak Developments Ltd.  The life lease portion of the building has always been operated by Royal Oak Developments Ltd.  
• With Royal Oak Developments Ltd. being awarded new beds on the adjoining property, it made sense for them to operate the entire facility.  Royal Oak Developments Ltd. and their parent company Christenson Developments Ltd. manage contracts for other supportive living facilities in Alberta. 

We know this decision is difficult for staff and residents that are currently being served by The Good Samaritan Society.  The decision to transition this program to Royal Oak Developments Ltd. in no way reflects the community of residents who live there, or the excellent work of the staff in supporting them.  Staff that have been working for The Good Samaritan Society will have the ability to transition to Royal Oak Developments Ltd. and continue their employment at the site.

This Christmas give someone the gift of comfort and joy.  Donation packages are available at all of our sites/programs or donate online.  Please give generously.

Accreditation Canada is a not-for-profit, independent organization that provides health organizations with an external peer review to assess the quality of their services based on standards of excellence.  The Accreditation process is an ongoing quality improvement process whereby the work continues over time. 

All of GSS was surveyed with the exception of:

• PPDD: who have their own accreditation process through another organization
• CHOICE programs:  who are accredited through Alberta Health Services
• Seniors’ Clinic and the other day programs: currently have not been assessed against accreditation standards

 Five Accreditation Teams were created in the following areas:  

1. Effective and Sustainable Governance
2. Effective Organization
3. Long Term Care
4. Infection Prevention and Control
5. Medication Management

The Accreditation Canada team of four spent four days reviewing these areas at various sites throughout the organization and at the end of their review, they informed us that The Good Samaritan Society met 421 of a possible 433 standards and had only 5 unmet standards.  The 5 unmet standards, including one Required Organizational Practice (ROP) are currently in the process of being addressed.

The outstanding ROP was in relation to not fully completed work for the Do Not Use Abbreviations for documentation in our clinical records and practice.

For comparison purposes, we met 99% of the standards this time as opposed to 94% of the standards during the last Accreditation survey in 2008. 

The surveyors were very complimentary of the organization as a whole and in particular of the way in which we live our values each and every day. They also said that we had best practices that they were planning to take back to their own organizations.

This year, as part of the annual Spirituality and Wholeness Workshops sponsored by The Good Samaritan Society, we had the privilege of presenting Rebecca Nordeman Servant Leadership: Leading from the Inside Out.  The quote above is from someone that has attended Rebecca's workshop.

The journey to become a more effective leader is a lifelong process.  It is an exciting journey for those with a sincere commitment to serve others.  The workshop explored 7 key practices of Servant Leadership that help explain why this way of leading really works.

Rebecca has graciously given her permission to share the presentation along with a couple of handouts from the workshop.

Servant Leadership: Leading from the Inside Out 
ASSUME Model for Courageous Conversations 
Prayer of a Servant and Watering Dirt 

Servant Leadership, though a seemingly paradoxical notion, is simple and elegant.  It begins, as Robert Greenleaf said, with “the natural feeling that one wants to serve.”  It ends with the legacy a Servant Leader leaves in the lives of those whom they have served. 

Documents for this expression of interest can be found on the MERX website at www.merx.com under the Private Tenders tab.  The closing date for this Request for Expression of Interest will be November 4, 2011 at 14:00 hours MST. 

The closing date for this Request for Proposal will be October 25, 2011 at 1400 hours MST.  Please visit www.merx.com for the complete tenders package which can be found under the private tenders tab.

Mike and Debbie were the owners of the local Joey’s Only Seafood Restaurant which they recently sold.  They have been very generous supporters of Mountain View Centre and have hosted three successful fundraising benefit dinners in support of the Mountain View Centre dementia program. 

The residents thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  Sally, the Assisted Living Coordinator stated, “I have never heard the dining room so quiet and Residents and staff enjoying dinner, conversation and lighthearted bantering.  It was really wonderful”.

The community of Hinton lost two very community minded, kind and generous people, and we can say with absolute certainty that GSS will miss Deb and Mike tremendously.

The entire evening was AWESOME!!

We will be taking our first resident on July 25.

This is our 30th opening of a resident site and we are thrilled to be a part of the Taber community. The Linden View name was derived from the Linden tree, which is indigenous to the area and known for its strength and resilience. It is also known as the “family” tree, making it a perfect fit for our newest site.

Link to more information about Linden View